J Food Process Preserv. 2019;e13935. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfpp | 1 of 8 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.13935 © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 | INTRODUCTION Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the link between diet and health. This trend is leading to increasing interest in foods that are not only healthy and nutritious but that also confer additional benefits for the consumer (Grasso, Brunton, Lyng, Lalor, & Monahan, 2014). In this regard, functional foods constitute an excellent opportunity for the meat industry, to improve the quality and image of meat, not only to prevent the loss of market share attendant to a negative perception of meats, but also to achieve a much‐needed diversification in the activity of the sector, through the development of products with health beneficial properties (de Oliveira Fagundes et al., 2017; dos Santos et al., 2016; Lorenzo, Munekata, Pateiro, Campagnol, & Domínguez, 2016; Lorenzo, Pateiro, et al., 2018). Received: 15 November 2018 | Revised: 4 February 2019 | Accepted: 9 March 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jfpp.13935 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Replacement of meat by spinach on physicochemical and nutritional properties of chicken burgers Francisco Allan L. Carvalho 1 | Mirian Pateiro 2 | Rubén Domínguez 2 | Sonia Barba‐Orellana 3 | Jessy Mattar 4 | Suzana Rimac Brnčić 5 | Francisco José Barba 6 | José Manuel Lorenzo 2 1 Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Departamento de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil 2 Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, Ourense, Spain 3 Centro Sanitario Integrado de Xirivella, Consorci Hospital General Universitari València, Valencia, Spain 4 Faculty of Sciences, University of Balamand, Deir El Balamand, Tripoli, Lebanon 5 Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Department of Food Engineering, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia 6 Faculty of Pharmacy, Nutrition and Food Science Area, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Sciences, Toxicology and Forensic Medicine Department, Universitat de València, València, Spain Correspondence José Manuel Lorenzo, Centro Tecnológico de la Carne de Galicia, Parque Tecnológico de Galicia, rúa Galicia n° 4, San Cibrao das Viñas, Ourense 32900, Spain. Email: jmlorenzo@ceteca.net Funding information Axencia Galega de Innovación‐GAIN, Grant/Award Number: NUTRIGRUPS/2015 Abstract This study describes the replacement of meat by spinach on physicochemical and nutritional properties of chicken burgers. Three batches of chicken burgers were manufactured: control (burgers prepared with 100% of chicken meat), E10 (burgers manufactured with 10% of spinach and 90% of chicken meat), and E30 (burgers pre‐ pared with 30% of spinach and 70% of chicken meat). The replacement of meat by spinach significantly affected the color parameters, decreasing L *, a*, and b* values with the increasing of spinach amount addition. Burgers manufactured with 30% of spinach presented the lowest fat (5.76%), energy (146.75 Kcal/100 g), and NaCl (0.87%) contents. On the contrary, dietary fiber increased with the spinach amount added, showing the highest values in burgers from E30 group (4.27%).Regarding fatty acid profile, the highest values of PUFA were found in E30 samples, whereas the highest values of MUFA were found in E10 samples. Practical applications A significant improvement in the nutritional quality of chicken burgers formulated with spinach addition was achieved. Therefore, the inclusion in the market of a meat product that traditionally has an image of highly caloric and with high amounts of fat totally reformulated and nutritionally improved opens the possibility for meat indus‐ tries to reduce costs and manufacture products with better nutritional quality. Concerning to fatty acid profile and nutritional indices, burgers manufactured with spinach presented levels closer to the recommendation of healthier products.