Q. My family loves hamburgers. Do you have a lean but tasty burger recipe I can try this barbecue season?

A. Are you ready for something a little different? I thought a teriyaki burger might be fun to try. The burger is made by blending ground sirloin or extra-lean ground beef with teriyaki sauce and chopped sweet onion. I saw something similar on a restaurant menu recently, but they used french-fried onions in the burger mixture. Adding fresh, sweet onions is definitely the leaner way to add onion flavor without adding extra fat and calories.

Grill the burgers with some fresh pineapple, serve them on a whole-grain bun and call them teriyaki burgers!

The restaurant version of the recipe (for a 1/4-pound burger without cheese) contains around 500 calories, 25 grams fat, 8.3 g saturated fat, 76 mg cholesterol, and only 1 gram of fiber.

These burgers contain 36 percent fewer calories and more than 65 percent less fat and saturated fat and five times the fiber.

TERIYAKI BURGERS

• 1 pound ground sirloin or extra-lean ground beef

• 3/4 cup bottled teriyaki marinade sauce (plus more for serving if desired)

• 1/3 cup chopped sweet onions

• 4 slices of fresh pineapple

• 4 whole-grain or whole-wheat hamburger buns

Preheat indoor or outdoor grill for high heat.

In medium bowl, combine ground beef, teriyaki sauce and chopped onions. Form the mixture into 4 patties.

Lightly coat the patties with canola cooking spray if using an outdoor or indoor grill. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes per side or until well done. While burgers are resting for a couple minutes, grill pineapple slices until nicely charred (about 1 minute per side). You can grill or toast the buns at the same time you are grilling the pineapple if desired.

Place a burger on the bottom half of a bun then top with a pineapple slice and the top of bun. Enjoy!

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 318 calories, 28 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat, 2.9 g saturated fat, 2.8 g monounsaturated fat, 1.2 g polyunsaturated fat, 65 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 950 mg sodium (this will be reduced if you use a reduced-sodium teriyaki sauce). Calories from fat: 20 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .2 gram, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1.1 gram. Weight Watchers POINTS = 6