These delicious pork & apple burgers with quick slaw are ready in just 15 minutes, and they won’t break the bank either. Perfect for a quick family midweek meal!

Brilliant Burgers

Who doesn’t love a good burger?! 

A decent burger is often at the heart of many quick, easy and inexpensive family meals. Loved by kids and adults alike, there’s just so much scope when it comes to making the perfect burger! I’ve used this flexibility to my advantage when creating these delicious 15 minute pork and apple burgers with quick slaw. 

Burgers also usually cook quickly, which is another reason that I love making them. This perhaps isn’t all that surprising for a blog that’s all about quick cooking, as quick recipes are the name of the game here!

There are so many options for what ingredients you can use to create your perfect burger, whether meat, fish or veggie. Here, I’ve chosen lean pork mince. One of the reasons for this is the fact that it’s pretty inexpensive. You can get a 500 g pack of lean pork mince for not much money at all. This is so crucial in these times when so many of us are having to feed our families on less money.

Lean pork mince is also exactly that; lean! The fat content is pretty low which makes this healthier than some other types of meat. This also means the burgers don’t tend to shrink much during the cooking process. (How annoying is it when your huge uncooked burger patty mysteriously almost vanishes after cooking because the fat has all seeped out!) No danger of that happening here.

Aside from the fact that it’s packed with protein, lean pork mince contains a range of other important nutrients including iron, thiamine, vitamin B12 and zinc which is excellent news. I don’t like compromising on taste and nutrition so lean pork mince really fits the bill for a delicious and versatile protein that is healthy and cheap to boot! 

If you’re looking for some other brilliantly quick 15 minute main course recipes, do check out some of my other favourite ones; like my 15 Minute Beef Ramen, my 15 Minute Mediterranean Basa Fish with Lemon Couscous, my 15 Minute Miso Salmon with Spinach and my 15 Minute Kedgeree to name just a few!

Amazing Apple

Of course creating the perfect pork burger requires some consideration of the flavourings to go with it. And what could be a more classic combination than pork with that old fruity favourite; the apple? These 15 minute pork and apple burgers with quick slaw use applesauce mixed in with the mince.

Applesauce can be easily bought in jars and it adds such a lovely subtle sweetness to the burger. I also include some chopped up apple in the coleslaw that sits happily on top of the burger meat. This adds an extra apple kick and a pleasing crunchy texture.

Creamy Coleslaw

A hearty helping of coleslaw accompanies these quick pork & apple burgers. Coleslaw as a side dish just really can’t be beaten! For a start, you can get a good few portions of veg into a helping of coleslaw, making it super healthy.

The vegetables that go into making coleslaw – primarily onions cabbage and carrots – are also super cheap. Cabbage in particular is such a brilliant economical ingredient – a little bit goes a long way, especially in coleslaw. As a final bonus, coleslaw is pretty quick to make (especially with my recipe) making it perfect for this blog.

Now, when it comes to creating the perfect quick coleslaw, there are corners you can cut but others you cannot. 

Regular visitors to my blog will know that I’m basically in love with my food processor. You can make chopping, mincing and dicing 1000 times quicker with a quick click of a button! In this 15 minute pork & apple burgers with quick slaw recipe, I use my food processor to chop up the onion and apple. It takes literally 3-4 seconds! You get little chunks that are just perfect in size and shape.

However, after some experimenting, I realised you can’t use the food processor to chop up the carrot and cabbage. You just end up with little fine pieces that are very weird and not at all how coleslaw should be. You need the long, fine strings of these vegetables in order to make the coleslaw not weird in texture.

This means you have to grate the carrot and hand slice the cabbage. Thankfully though, neither task is very time consuming, meaning this burger recipe overall is still nice and quick.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MAKING THE PERFECT 15 MINUTE PORK & APPLE BURGERS WITH QUICK SLAW

Read further for a super helpful guide in making your perfectly quick pork and apple burgers with coleslaw. I’ve included some photos to give you some extra guidance. If you’d prefer though, you can just jump to the quick recipe instead.

STEP 1;

To get started, grab a largish frying pan and place it over medium/high heat on the hob. Add around 1 tsp of vegetable / olive oil to it and allow it to heat up nicely.

STEP 2;

Get a medium bowl and in it, place 500g (approx 18 oz) of lean pork mince. Also in the same bowl add one egg, 4 level tablespoons of apple sauce (the kind from a jar, either chunky or smooth is fine), 1 teaspoon dried tarragon, 1 teaspoon yellow mustard (the strong kind! I use English but French mustard is also fine), 1 teaspoon minced garlic (I use the kind from a jar), and a generous pinch of salt to taste.

With clean hands, mix the ingredients all together in the bowl until nicely combined.

STEP 3;

Divide the combined mincemeat mixture into four equal sized portions. Form each portion into a burger shape. Each raw patty should be around 1.5cm (half an inch) thick.

STEP 4;

Place the burger patties into the preheated frying pan. Fry for around 6-7 minutes on each side until cooked through and turning golden.

STEP 5;

Whilst the pork and apple burgers cook away, you can make the coleslaw. Place half a peeled red onion (or one whole very small one) into a food processor. Take one apple and slice it into quarters, discarding the core and ends. Place these quarters into the food processor with the onion.

Blend these together for around 3-4 seconds only. Don’t overblend! You want to end up with little chunks around 5-10mm in size.

STEP 5;

Take one medium carrot. Chop off and discard the ends. (You can also peel it if you like, although this isn’t essential as long as it’s nice and clean). Coarsely grate this carrot. Next, take 200g (7 oz) of red cabbage and chop this up into fine strands. The cabbage naturally separates into thin layers as you do this so this really shouldn’t take too much time.

Now it’s time to finish off your quick slaw! Combine the carrot and cabbage with the onion & apple mixture together in a large bowl. In this same bowl, add 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 level tablespoon wholegrain mustard, 4 level tablespoons mayonnaise and a generous pinch of salt to taste. Stir it all together to combine.

STEP 5;

Nearly there! Your burgers should be cooked about now. Remove these from the heat. Take four burger buns (I like the kind topped with seeds, but any sort will do). Open them up and place these on 4 serving plates.

Pop one cooked burger on each of the bun bases. Scoop a generous spoonful of coleslaw on top of each burger patty and place the top of each bun snugly on this. Serve the rest of the coleslaw on the side to accompany your burgers. Yum!