Italian Meatball Burgers

These saucy, family-friendly burgers might be best eaten with a knife and fork. If you'd like to go bunless, serve over spaghetti with extra sauce. We enjoyed these with a side of macaroni salad.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients

• 8  ounces  sweet turkey Italian sausage
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon  dried basil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/8  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1  pound  ground sirloin
• Cooking spray
• 2  ounces  fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
• 6  (2-ounce) Italian bread rolls, split
• 3/4  cup  fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce (such as Muir Glen)

Preparation

Prepare grill.

Remove casings from sausage. Combine sausage, oregano, basil, salt, fennel seeds, garlic powder, and ground sirloin. Divide beef mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes. Turn patties over; grill 2 minutes. Divide fresh mozzarella cheese evenly over patties, and grill an additional 5 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes.

Place rolls, cut sides down, on grill rack; grill 1 minute or until toasted. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each roll; top each serving with 2 tablespoons sauce and top half of roll.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

375 (33% from fat)

Fat:

13.9g (sat 5.3g,mono 4.4g,poly 1.7g)

Protein:

28.1g

Carbohydrate:

32.7g

Fiber:

1.8g

Cholesterol:

80mg

Iron:

4.5mg

Sodium:

894mg

Calcium:

130mg