Name: Beef Heart Burgers
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 24
Ingredients: 4 lbs ground beef; 2 lbs heart (chopped in 1” chunks); 4 eggs; 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 tbsp salt; 1 tsp onion powder; 1 tsp garlic powder

Beef heart burgers are quick and easy, perfect for making in bulk to freeze for future meals, and add a nutrient dense punch to your meal while being so yummy – no one will even know there is heart in their burger.

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Whether you are looking to add more nutrient organ meats into your diet or you bought a ¼ or ½ of beef and are wondering what to do with the heart – these beef heart burgers are the perfect recipe.

Our Experience

On our farmstead, we recently had our first cow that we raised processed for beef. While this was not easy, we are so grateful for her and her life. We know exactly how she was raised and that she was a robustly healthy cow. Every time we cook beef, we are genuinely thankful for the nourishment that she provides us. We are also very conscious about using up every part of meat she has given us, from the suet that we render to tallow, to organ meats, to ground beef, steaks, and roasts.

Beef heart stew is the most common recipe I see for using beef heart. While soups and stews are a regular part of our meal plan, our kids can be a little iffy on whether or not they will love it. However, one food that I know that they love and gobble up are burgers. By pureeing the heart and sneaking it into these beef heart burgers, it is a win/win. Our whole family gets the nourishment of adding this extremely nutrient dense meat to their diet and everyone eats up these beef heart burgers with all smiles and no complaints.

Why Eat Heart?

At some point, eating organ meats went out of style. However, from a traditional and ancestral perspective, the heart and other organ meats were a prized part of the animal and often the first to be consumed because of their superior nutritional content. In fact, side by side to other cuts of beef, heart is more robust in nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and protein.

Nutritional Benefits of Beef Heart

Beef heart is a complete protein meaning that it contains all 9 essential amino acids.
It is a significant source of vitamin B12, B2 (riboflavin), iron, selenium, zinc, and phosphorus.
It is a rich source of Coenzyme Q10, which is beneficial as an antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-stress.
The specific nutrient composition of beef heart has been found to increase energy levels and improve cardiovascular health, mood, and the immune system.

How to source beef heart?

For the health of the animal, the health of the consumer, and the health of the environment, we always encourage knowing where your meat comes from. Ideally, this would mean purchasing meat locally, raised on grass in a regenerative system. However, especially when it comes to organ meats and the heart, finding meat from animals that had a non-stressful life and death is important. Stress or low quality of life in the animal can lead to calcified deposits around the organs. In other words, a happy animal leads to more nutritious meat than an unhealthy, stressed out animal.

Recipe Notes

For this recipe, I took our standard burger recipe and scaled it up adding the beef heart puree to the mixture. I aim for a roughly 2:1 ratio of ground beef to heart. In this recipe I had a roughly 2-pound beef heart so I used 4 pounds of ground beef. In order to successfully puree the heart without difficulty, I’d recommend using either a high-powered blender, we use a Vitamix, or a food processor. Chopping the heart into smaller 1-to-2-inch chunks first will also help the blending process go more smoothly.

However, this beef heart burger recipe is versatile. You can adjust it to however you like to prepare burgers. Most importantly is to first puree the heart and add it in with the rest of the ingredients. From there, feel free to experiment with different seasonings and quantities. Sometimes, instead of adding garlic and onion powder, I will sauté a couple of onions and several garlic cloves and add them to the mixture. You can also omit the eggs but I find them helpful for binding everything together. Worcestershire sauce is also optional if you don’t have it or prefer it, but we love the flavor it adds to these beef heart burgers.

How to Prepare for the Freezer

When you make these, you will be cooking up several pounds of meat – likely more than you will need for a meal or two. That being said, these are a great candidate for making in bulk and then freezing for future use. After your burgers are cooked and cooled, place on a baking sheet in a single layer and flash freeze. I like to use a silicone baking mat or piece of parchment paper underneath the burgers for easy clean up. After the burgers are frozen through, store in a gallon size Ziploc bag or other freezer safe container. These beef heart burgers will safely store up to 6 months in the freezer or 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

beef heart burger with ketchup and mustard

How to serve Beef Heart Burgers

How you serve your burger is totally up to your preferences. On a bun, bed of lettuce, or on its own. With a side of roasted potatoes, carrot fries, or other side of choice. In our house, everyone has their own burger style – some prefer the traditional ketchup, mustard, and lacto-fermented pickles. Others go for a fried egg and avocado on top. Whatever way you like to serve your burgers, I would highly recommend adding beef heart to your burger for an extra dose of cardiovascular protection and immune, energy, and mood boosting nutrients to this favorite meal.