Seasoned beef with garlic, mustard, and paprika, seared until the cheddar melts on top. Crispy bacon alongside. Fresh tomato slices, half an avocado, and iceberg lettuce stacked on a whole wheat bun.
52g of protein and 902 kcal, ready in 20 minutes.
What happens to the tomato’s lycopene when you don’t cook it
1:34 · FitChef Audio
Seasoned beef with garlic, mustard, and paprika, seared until the cheddar melts on top. Crispy bacon alongside. Fresh tomato slices, half an avocado, and iceberg lettuce stacked on a whole wheat bun.
Mix the ground beef with the garlic, mustard, paprika, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into a burger patty.
3
Heat a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the patty for about 3–4 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
4
In the last minute of cooking, place a slice of cheddar on top of the patty and cover the pan to let it melt.
5
Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a separate pan until crispy.
6
Slice the avocado and prepare the bun with a layer of mayo.
7
Stack the bun with lettuce, the cheeseburger patty, bacon, tomato slices, onion rings, and avocado.
Tip
Cook the bacon in a separate pan while the patty sears. Separate pans mean the bacon renders its own fat and gets properly crispy, instead of steaming in the burger juices. Pull it when it curls at the edges but still has a slight bend. It firms up as it cools.
Is 52g of protein in one burger too much for one meal?
No. The per-meal ceiling came from older dose studies that gave 45 grams or less and measured for 6 hours or less. A 2023 isotope-tracer experiment tracked 12 hours after 100g of protein, taken as a drink right after a workout, and found its amino acids were still being used at the end. Your 52g sits between the 25g and 100g doses it compared.
Does the cheddar block the lycopene in the tomato?
Probably not at this dose. A controlled trial gave participants 500mg of calcium carbonate alongside tomato and saw lycopene uptake drop by 83%. But that was a supplement, not food. Your 28g of cheddar carries roughly 202mg of calcium, less than half the tested amount. At that level, the competition is unlikely to matter.
Fat budget. A full avocado adds roughly 120 extra calories and 11g of fat, pushing the burger past 1,000 kcal. Half keeps the meal under 1,000 while still contributing monounsaturated fat that helps absorb fat-soluble compounds from the tomato.
BLT Burger by FitChef: a 20-minute, single-serving burger delivering 902 kcal and 52g of protein (23% of energy) from 96% lean ground beef, bacon, and cheddar on a whole wheat bun with avocado. The 28g of cheddar provides ~202mg calcium, below the 500mg threshold at which calcium was shown to reduce lycopene absorption by 83% (Borel et al. 2016, DOI: 10.1017/S0007114516004335). Full recipe and research at https://fitchef.com/recipes/blt-burger/.
BLT Burger: 902 kcal, 52g protein, 32g carbs, 62g fat, 14g fiber per serving. 96% lean ground beef (140g) seasoned with garlic, yellow mustard, and paprika, pan-seared with olive oil and topped with melted cheddar. Accompanied by crispy bacon, raw tomato slices, half an avocado, iceberg lettuce, and onion rings on a whole wheat bun with mayo. 20-minute prep. Research connections: 28g cheddar (~202mg Ca) falls below the 500mg calcium threshold shown to reduce lycopene absorption by 83% (Borel et al. 2016, DOI: 10.1017/S0007114516004335). Avocado monounsaturated fat acts as carrier for fat-soluble lycopene from raw tomatoes (ISR-004). Protein content (52g, 23% of energy) exceeds EFSA High Protein threshold. Trommelen et al. 2023 isotope-tracer study: after a workout, 100g of protein in one drink was still being absorbed and built into muscle at 12 hours, with no upper limit found.
This recipe’s cheddar-tomato pairing connects to Borel et al. 2016, which found 500mg calcium reduced lycopene absorption by 83% — but the 28g of cheddar here (~202mg calcium) stays below that threshold.
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