A quinoa burger I would like? The jury’s still out on this one

Giant, juicy hamburgers are one of the foods I miss the most since switching to my low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar diet after my 2012 angioplasty. I have substituted turkey burgers and burgers I make from 96% lean ground beef. But there’s nothing like a half-pound beef burger, in my opinion.

So I was a bit skeptical about this recipe I saw in Bon Appetit that was headlined Make a Quinoa Burger You Actually Want when it landed in my e-mail inbox one day.

Here’s the ingredient list and modifications I’d make to it:

• 1 small sweet potato
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper (I would eliminate the salt)
• 1 portobello mushroom
• ½ small zucchini
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I’m not a big fan of these)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa (from about ½ uncooked)
• ¾ cup dried breadcrumbs (I’d use panko breadcrumbs to cut the salt)
• 1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 English muffins, split, toasted (I’d use whole wheat, low-sodium ones)
• Guacamole, tomato chutney, and sprouts (for serving;
  (I don’t like Guac or chutney would pass on these)

This list makes four burgers, click here for mixing and cooking instructions.

The fat content on this, 23 grams, seems high to me, not sure how much comes from the Quac or how much is considered “good fat” these days. The salt content at 370 mgs also seems high but my modifications would cut that a bit.

I’ll eventually try this, but if you try it first, let me know how it turns out.
John