I don’t know about you, but I could eat cheeseburgers all day, every day. Unfortunately, that’s frowned upon, for whatever reason. This bright side of this calamity, however, is that I’ve been forced to get creative with my cheeseburger love. And in this case, I’ve created healthy burger bites that have all the delicious qualities of a cheeseburger in a finger food shell.
Since the world healthy means something different to every person, I’ll clarify that these cheeseburger bites are healthy in my book because of their low calorie and high protein content. This is a protein-focused food blog, after all.
Each cheeseburger cup is the size of a mini muffin and contains 48 Calories, 6.8 grams of protein, 2.3 grams of carbs, and 1.3 grams of fat. So, I guess these would qualify as low carb cheeseburger bites as well. You can see where naming my recipes gets tricky.
Ingredients for Healthy Cheeseburger Bites
You won’t need much for these cheeseburger bites. I’ll touch on the breadcrumbs and how you can substitute them below but first, I’d like to touch on the condiments and beef that will make up your cheeseburger bites.
The recipe calls for the standard ketchup, mustard, and pickle. If you want to leave pickles out, you can do so without needing to tweak anything else since they’re in limited quantity. On the other hand, if you want to remove the ketchup or mustard, you may need to add a bit more liquid or add some of the remaining condiments.
As far as the meat goes for your cheeseburger bites, you can swap beef for ground chicken or turkey if you’d like.
The only note I have here is if you’re going to use a fattier cut of meat, you may want to reduce the egg whites in the recipe since you’ll have some fat run-off during cooking. If you go with a meat below the 85/15 mark, you’ll want to keep an eye to ensure no fat is at risk of dripping off the muffin tin. Now that I say it, it’s probably best to stick to a leaner cut of meat for this recipe.
Related: 30 Macro Friendly Ground Beef Recipes and 25 Healthy Ground Chicken Recipes
Breadcrumb Substitutes
If you need a gluten free option, others have successfully used gluten free breadcrumbs as well as crushed tortillas chips or chicharrones (pork rinds).
What to Serve with Your Burger Bites
I’ll mention a few higher protein side dishes or appetizers below, but my Wingstop Fries recipe, Air Fryer Carrot Fries, and Five Guys Cajun Fries recipes were the first that came to mind. If you’re unfamiliar with Wingstop fries, that’s okay. All you need to know is that they’re sweet, salty, and some of the tastiest fries you’ll find. And my version is a much lower calorie version that can be baked or air fried.
More recipes to pair with your cheeseburger bites:
- Balsamic Roasted Air Fryer Carrots
- Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
- Ninja Foodi Sweet Potato Fries
- Air Fryer Roasted Carrots and Potatoes
- Homemade Crinkle Cut Fries
- The Best Air Fried Green Beans
And if you need a burger sauce, check out my spin on ShackSauce in my copycat Shake Shack burgers or the sauces from my cheeseburger protein bowls or cheeseburger casserole.
Final Notes
All righty, that’s all ya need to know. When you try these healthy cheeseburger bites, I want to hear about it. Take a picture of your creation and tag me on Instagram and I’ll be sure to share it with the world! I also appreciate feedback (good or bad) in the form of recipe reviews. Let me know how I can make this recipe or future recipes better.
Healthy Cheeseburger Bites
Ingredients
- 1 lb Lean Ground Beef, macros with 96/4
- 3/4 C 184g Liquid Egg Whites, or 4 whole egg whites
- 1/2 C 56g Fat-Free Shredded Cheddar
- 1/2 C 56g Shredded Parmesan
- 1/2 C 56g Breadcrumbs
- 1/4 C 68g Reduced Sugar Ketchup
- 3 T 45g Mustard
- 5 small, 50g Dill Pickles, finely diced (relish may work here as well)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and spray a 24-muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- Brown the ground beef (or meat of choice) in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- While the meat cooks, mix the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- After briefly cooling, add the cooked meat to the remaining ingredients, stirring until even.
- Spoon the mixture into the mini muffin tin, making sure to remove any excess between slots.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes or until muffin tops are golden brown. (For a standard size muffin tin, add 3-5 minutes to the bake time.)
Notes
- Each cheeseburger bite has 1 Smart Point (blue plan).
- Modifying ingredients may affect cook time. If the bottoms of the burger bites are still soft, extend the cook time by a few minutes. Be careful not to overcook (don’t burn the tops).
- You can use any muffin tin you’d like but because people tend to ask, this is the one I use.
- Per bite (recipe makes 24): 48 Calories | 6.8P | 2.3C | 1.3F
- Per bite with full-fat cheddar: 54 Calories | 6.6P | 2.2C | 2.1F
- If you’re tracking your calorie intake, be sure to account for any additional condiments you top your cheeseburger bites with.
I made these for SuperBowl and was a little surprised at how big of a hit they were. I thought they’d mostly be a “healthy option” for myself, but turned out everyone LOVED them. I think next time I would add more pickles or maybe event try using relish to skip the step of cutting the pickles. Multiple people asked for the recipe as well. Maybe make them in a bigger muffin pan so they could be more of a meal instead of just an appetizer.
Love these, they are constant go to in our house. I always add extra pickles. They reheat well too!
I love these cheeseburger bites. I have made them several times. They are great for meal prep as they heat up well. They also freeze well. I have added mushrooms a couple of times. This is one of my favorite recipes.
We love to double the recipe and save it to our family of 5. My 3 teenage boys LOVE the cheeseburger bites and they have no clue they’re “kinda healthy”!
These are definitely a favorite! I follow the recipe (other than the pickles – just not a pickle/relish fan). One item next on my meal list is to try them with bacon. Not sure if anyone else has tried this? But thinking to add bacon and dip in Mayo.
One of the best parts about these is they end up being low carb, so leaves plenty of room for anyone of Mason’s fry recipes.
Delicious!
I’ve tried a bunch of your recipes and nearly all are home runs. This one is no exception. I planned them for my lunches this week, and have a little bit of G.Hughes ketchup and yellow mustard on the side for dipping. Tastes like the burgers our parents made us as kids. Next time I will season the ground beef a bit (completely forgot as I was following the instructions to the T), and I’ll probably also add a bit of finely chopped onion – equal portion to the relish.
My fiancé doesn’t eat cheese or onion or relish, or any of the good stuff for that matter, so I made a separate batch for him. I exchanged the cheese and relish for mushrooms I minced up in my Ninja, and used horseradish mustard instead of regular mustard. He loves his burger bites as well!
OH! And I also kept the juices from browning the ground beef and made sure it went into the mixture since the meat was very lean and I didn’t want them to dry out.
Thank you for your creativity!
i used famous dave’s sweet and spicy pickles to give it a extra kick and it did not disappoint!
This is such a great meal prep! I personally hate divvying things up into muffin tins, so I put it all in a 9×13 pan and baked at 350 and started checking it at 30 min for doneness. It also froze quite nicely and I just thawed leftovers in the fridge overnight and microwaved the next day.
This recipe is so easy to make, and you can add or take away things you like. I like using relish (sweet or dill) in this dish, it works well. I also add seasoning like I would a hamburger, I enjoy cayenne pepper! I bake in muffin pan and just watch to make sure they have a good color, not over cooking them is also key here. They stay fresh and heat up nicely! I usually throw them in rotation a couple times a month for meal prep!
Fun to eat and taste good too!