Current Events > How would you go about making a low calorie hamburger and fries?

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This may seem like an odd question but I figured some of you on CE would know how to go about this. Ive been doing a lot better with being healthy. Instead of eating junk 7 days a week Im eating junk 2-3 days a week. Still working on that.

Anyway, I have really been craving a good hamburger and some fries which I havent had in quite a long time. However, I want it to be somewhat healthy. I guess more lower calorie I guess.

I did get an air frier for Christmas I havent used yet so Im thinking about just cutting some potatoes and air frying them with no oil. Im assuming thats the best route for the fries. If not, please correct me.

Im not sure how to go about the hamburger patty though. I dont know how much beef to make per patty. In fact, maybe I should by some frozen patties that might be lower calorie? Im not sure.

Im not aiming for it to taste amazing. Ill be fine with mediocre. Thats how my cooking is anyway. So maybe there are some low calorie patties out there that is better for what I want instead of from scratch? Im not sure.

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It's easy, it's actually a naturally high protein low calorie meal, they just add ungodly amounts of oil to it at restaurants

Just throw some diced potatoes and the patty in the fryer, don't eat a bun. Put just enough cheese for flavor, salt and pepper and light on the condiments. Use lean beef or turkey burger

I make this a lot. Its like a 400 cal filling meal

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV5hDnongl4

edit: ninja'd lmao

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Lmao

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Minimize the amount of bun you eat

I never tried a turkey burger before. I guess no time better than the present to try it. I wont cook until this weekend though. How widely available is ground turkey? I live in a small town in the south. I have a Walmart, Publix and Harveys. Publix is probably the best place to find it right?

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lean patty of any kind, fries with no or minimal oil, hold the mayo and cheese

boom. low calories. fat has the most calories per gram so you just want to reduce that

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DepreceV2 posted...

I never tried a turkey burger before. I guess no time better than the present to try it. I wont cook until this weekend though. How widely available is ground turkey? I live in a small town in the south. I have a Walmart, Publix and Harveys. Publix is probably the best place to find it right?

Walmart has it, it's pretty popular. It says on the package "75% lean" etc, so just get the leanest one

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heres what i do

Buns: find some bread thats between 100-150 calories per bun. they might be small but you might be able to find a good sized one. what i do is i get Oroweat Double Fiber Bread. one slice is about 70 calories, so i just use two of those for 140 calories.

Meat: get 90% lean, 10% fat. compared to 80%, its about 20 calories less per ounce. i usually go for a quarter pound of beef so thats only 200 calories compared to almost 300.

Cheese: just use one slice. maybe 100 calories

Mayonnaise: dont. use greek yogurt or sour cream and mix in some hot sauce and a bit of salt. way better. a table spoon of mayo is like 45 or so calories and a tablespoon of greek yogurt is like 6.

veggies: unless you fry them up in oil i dont even count these. a CUP of lettuce is like 5 calories.

fries: just dont eat a lot lol. or bake up some potato wedges. potatoes by themselves arne't that bad, its frying them up in oil which is bad. 1 tablespoon of oil is about 100 calories when consumed.

burger is like 450 calories compared to something like a carls junior burger which is like fucking 1500

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Coloradough posted...

It's easy, it's actually a naturally high protein low calorie meal, they just add ungodly amounts of oil to it at restaurants

Just throw some diced potatoes and the patty in the fryer, don't eat a bun. Put just enough cheese for flavor, salt and pepper and light on the condiments. Use lean beef or turkey burger

I make this a lot. Its like a 400 cal filling meal

Oh wow. Its that low? Holy crap. I might have found a go to meal here. Thanks a lot fkr the input


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try substituting the fries for veggie chips.

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DepreceV2 posted...

Oh wow. Its that low? Holy crap. I might have found a go to meal here. Thanks a lot fkr the input

A whole sweet potato is only about 200 cal, a patty 250, lots of broccoli is like 50, so maybe 500-600 if you stuff yourself but yeah pretty good

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Tossing the bun knocks out a bunch of cals.

Also if you use an air fryer you can make some good ass fries with much less oil. In restaurants they're basically dumped into a vat of it whereas you can make plenty with a single tablespoon.

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What about replacing the bun with a tortilla? How would that work? Kinda like a Crunchwrap from Tacobell

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God I want taco bell.

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I'm pretty sure store bought flour tortillas are still like 120 to 200ish calories, depending on the tortilla. I think corn tortillas are less though, more like 60 to 100 or so calories.

Get a kitchen scale and weigh your food out. You can get a fairly decent one for like 20 bucks.

There's one prominent brand that has like 90 calorie hamburger buns but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Air fryer potatoes are really good but you have to babysit them if you don't have a big enough one.

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DepreceV2 posted...

What about replacing the bun with a tortilla? How would that work? Kinda like a Crunchwrap from Tacobell

If I were to do that I'd probably chop the meat up with the other ingredients and make a burrito. I think your typical flour tortilla might be comparable to a bun in calories tho

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DepreceV2 posted...

What about replacing the bun with a tortilla? How would that work? Kinda like a Crunchwrap from Tacobell

A burrito-sized tortilla clocks in around 200 calories, and a generic hamburger bun is around 150.

You're better off just with no bun and eating it with a fork and a knife and a side of baked potato thingies, or nixing the 'fries' completely
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A Wal-Mart bun is 110 calories. No biggie

I think 4 ounces of the leanest you can get at Wal-Mart is 280

Half tablespoon of lite mayo is like 25

2 tablespoons ketchup is 40

Mustard 0

Lettuce, a slice of tomato and a couple pickles is 20ish

Fries varies, but already cut crinkle fries Wal-Mart brand is 120 per 3 ounces I think. Air fry that at 400 for bout 10 minutes and you good to go

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If I was going to try to figure out a way to do a taco burger, I'd probably try using small corn tortillas like these - 2 of them should only be like 100 calories.



But yeah, if you're really trying to go healthy you're probably better off just getting used to forgoing a bun or substitute and just eating a meat patty and sides.

Tenlaar posted...

I'm pretty sure store bought flour tortillas are still like 120 to 200ish calories, depending on the tortilla. I think corn tortillas are less though, more like 60 to 100 or so calories.

There are fiber torillas at my walmart that are 50 cals a pop, really big and filled with fiber. Taste fine too

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Smackems posted...

There are fiber torillas at my walmart that are 50 cals a pop, really big and filled with fiber. Taste fine too

Really, do you know what brand they are? Full sized tortillas at 50 calories a pop sounds like something I need to try.

Tenlaar posted...

Really, do you know what brand they are? Full sized tortillas at 50 calories a pop sounds like something I need to try.

Also interested

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Tenlaar posted...

Really, do you know what brand they are? Full sized tortillas at 50 calories a pop sounds like something I need to try.

Gimme a minute

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I do not recommend lean beef for a burger. If you get something like 93/7 and try to make a burger out if it, it will be hard as a rock, dry as hell, and taste awful.

Ground turkey is the way to go. You can also do ground chicken but the texture is very rubbery and weird.

If you can find it, ground ostrich tastes more like beef but with 1/4th the calories of beef. It's not that expensive either.

For fries, don't use potatoes. Just don't. If you MUST use potatoes, then sweet potatoes have less calories.

Apples (cut into fry shapes) will bake surprisingly well but you'll have to experiment with the temp & time to get them how you want.

And for the bun, I recommend going bunless. If you can't, then look up a product called egg thins which are crepes made with egg & cauliflower for a very thin & low carb good enough substitute

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Tyranthraxus posted...

For fries, don't use potatoes. Just don't. If you MUST use potatoes, then sweet potatoes have less calories.

Apples (cut into fry shapes) will bake surprisingly well but you'll have to experiment with the temp & time to get them how you want.

I've never experimented with baking things like apple, I really should. Kale chips is another thing I've heard can be surprisingly easy to make and good, supposed to be able to get a real nice crisp to them.

I have a bad habit of relying on the "staples" too much, just doing standard things like burger patty - sweet potato- veggie medley.

I find them at the bakery part of my walmart but different walmarts are different

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Kale chips require a dehydrator but if you have one it's easy.

There's also dehydrators that cook at the same time. Don't know what they cost.

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call me a philistine, but I'm a big believer in the chicken burger

stuff that baby with some pepper jack cheese, and mmmmm...

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Tyranthraxus posted...

. If you MUST use potatoes, then sweet potatoes have less calories.

Sweet potatoes have like 98% the calories of white potatoes, and a negligent amount more fiber. Way more vitamin A but that's the only major difference.

100g of potatoes is ~90 calories. 100g of (granny smith) apple is ~60 calories. Pending portion size a difference might be present between the two...
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In my experience cutting out the things you love is a bad idea. Instead take a look at how you prepare them. If you eat shit you hate then you will burn out. But if you eat what you love, but with "less crap in it" then you'll stay faithful to eating better

But that's only my experience

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Smackems posted...

I find them at the bakery part of my walmart but different walmarts are different

Thanks, definitely going to check mine for them on Friday when I do my weekly grocery trip. Might be incorporating more tacos and wraps into my life soon! For some reason I've had a chicken salad wrap on the brain.

Tenlaar posted...

Thanks, definitely going to check mine for them on Friday when I do my weekly grocery trip. Might be incorporating more tacos and wraps into my life soon! For some reason I've had a chicken salad wrap on the brain.

Those little boogers are awesome ngl

They'll also make you shit like a mortar

BUT. They taste lesser than the good shit, so be ready for that

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get the low fat ground beef obviously
turkey bacon
cheese squares around 45 cals
lowest calorie buns, I know there's a brand of 80 cal buns that aren't bad, but pretty hard to find
condiments(skip mayo but if you cant get the low cal one and go light on it

fries: Honestly just get frozen fries and just measure them out. Don't listen to the sweet potato nonsense, the nutritional difference is nothing unless you prefer them

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Tyranthraxus posted...

I do not recommend lean beef for a burger. If you get something like 93/7 and try to make a burger out if it, it will be dry as hell,

i can vouch for that. gotta have 80/20 for a burger.
no calorie sriracha could save it though one needs plenty of it to solve the dry.
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My low cal burgers come out dry too but I like dry food. Win win

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kingdrake2 posted...

i can vouch for that. gotta have 80/20 for a burger.
no calorie sriracha could save it though one needs plenty of it to solve the dry.

it literally tastes the same lmao, you just aren't cooking them right

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Smackems posted...

My low cal burgers come out dry too but I like dry food. Win win

are you prepping your beef/cooking correctly

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Smackems posted...

Those little boogers are awesome ngl

They'll also make you shit like a mortar

BUT. They taste lesser than the good shit, so be ready for that

Oh yeah, there is more than enough on the packaging for me to know to manage expectations, but I'll definitely take a step down in taste to be able to have a couple of full size tortillas at 100 calories instead of 300-400.

JBaLLEN66 posted...

are you prepping your beef/cooking correctly

Probably not

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Dice up a couple potatoes and toss with some spices and bake. Way better than french fries

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SF_Okami posted...

Dice up a couple potatoes and toss with some spices and bake. Way better than french fries

I like to do that and toss them with a taco seasoning (home made mix to avoid the high sodium.)

Smackems posted...

Probably not

lol thats why

SF_Okami posted...

Dice up a couple potatoes and toss with some spices and bake. Way better than french fries

thinking about doing this tonight

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It's no big deal to me though if it's dry like I said

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Smackems posted...

It's no big deal to me though if it's dry like I said

tbh making a good juicy burger is a pain in the ass without an outdoor grill so I honestly just only eat burgers when I eat out lol

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Well shit, now I'm definitely making myself home made spicy potato soft tacos this weekend.

Tenlaar posted...

Well shit, now I'm definitely making myself home made spicy potato soft tacos this weekend.

I'm doing this and air frying some mexican chicken :)

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