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–+ servings

Teriyaki Burgers (Unique Japanese Style)

Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Resting time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Author Yuto Omura
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients  

Patty

  • 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs Japanese panko preferred, regular breadcrumbs work
  • 2 tbsp sake for the panade, dry sherry or dry white wine at same volume
  • 1 tsp grated ginger root fresh or ginger paste
  • 300 g ground pork around 20% fat
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp white miso paste do not swap for red miso
  • 1 tsp lard skip if your pork is already fatty, bump up if it runs lean
  • potato starch (katakuriko) about ½ tbsp per patty, or cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil for the skillet

Teriyaki Glaze

To Assemble

  • 2 burger buns
  • lettuce leaves a few leaves, trimmed to bun size
  • ground white pepper
  • red pickled ginger (benishoga) or other pickles of choice
  • tomato 5 mm to 1 cm thick slices, 1 per burger
  • Japanese mayonnaise a thin smear under the top bun, or regular mayonnaise

Instructions 

  • Pour 3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs into a small bowl with 2 tbsp sake. Mix and leave to soak for a few minutes. Mix the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl (1½ tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu), 1½ tbsp sake, 1½ tbsp mirin and 1 tbsp honey) and set by the stove for later. Prepare 1 tsp grated ginger root and keep in arms reach.
    grated ginger, teriyaki sauce and a panade made with panko breadcrumbs and sake in three glass bowls
  • Take a large bowl and add 300 g ground pork, ¼ tsp salt and 1 tsp white miso paste. Knead by hand until it turns slightly tacky, then add the soaked panko and knead again.
    Adding soaked panko panade to ground pork in a steel mixing bowl
  • Add 1 tsp lard and the grated ginger. Knead once more until evenly distributed. If the mixture feels dry, add more lard, about ½ tsp at a time.
    adding grated ginger to kneaded ground pork to make teriyaki burgers
  • Cover the bowl and refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.
    kneaded ground pork for teriyaki burger patties in a steel mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap
  • Rub your palms with a thin layer of cooking oil. Take the patty mixture from the fridge and divide into equal portions (the base recipe makes 2). Toss each portion from one hand to the other 5-6 times to knock the air out, then shape into rounds a little larger than your buns, and about 1.5-2cm (0.6 to 0.8 inch) thick. Press a dent in the center to prevent doming.
    two ground pork patties shaped and placed in steel containers
  • Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tbsp cooking oil. While it heats, dust the patties with a thin layer of potato starch (katakuriko), about ½ tbsp each.
    ground pork patties coated with potato starch in separate steel containers
  • Place the patties in the preheated skillet and fry for about 6 minutes on each side or until the internal temperature reaches 75°C (167°F) for 1 minute at the thickest part.
    two browned ground pork patties frying in a stainless steel pan
  • Transfer the patties to a wire rack to rest.
    two cooked pork patties resting on a wire rack
  • Cut 2 burger buns in half and place the cut side down in the skillet with the pork fat. Fry for about 1 minute, until perfectly crisp, then transfer to a warm plate for now.
    crisping halved burger buns in rendered pork fat in a pan
  • Reduce the heat and use kitchen paper to wipe any leftover fat from the skillet. Pour in the prepared teriyaki sauce from earlier, scrape the pan to lift any fond, and mix it into the sauce.
    deglazing the frying pan using teriyaki sauce
  • Once the sauce has reduced and thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, add the patties back in and move them around in the sauce to coat. Flip and repeat until fully covered.
    thickened teriyaki sauce coating two pork patties in a frying pan
  • Assemble the burger. Place the bottom bun on a flat surface and top with lettuce leaves, the patties, a sprinkle of ground white pepper, red pickled ginger (benishoga), a slice of tomato, a drizzle of leftover sauce from the pan and Japanese mayonnaise to taste.
    tomato slices topped with Japanese mayonnaise and leftover teriyaki sauce
  • Finish assembly with the top bun and press gently with your palm to secure. Serve immediately and enjoy!
    Two hands holding a teriyaki burger with lettuce, tomato and pickled ginger

Notes

Read the pork fat. After kneading, the mix should feel glossy in the bowl, not matte. If it seems dry, add lard in half-teaspoon increments until it shifts glossy.
Honey is not sugar. The glaze is rebuilt sweetness-forward for burger duty, and the honey is the structural lever, so swapping white sugar at the same volume reverts the glaze to a salt-first balance. Maple syrup works as a secondary fallback, but white sugar does not.
Dust both sides, then glaze. The starch on the patty acts as a magnet for the glaze, without it, the sauce runs off and pools at the bottom of the bun. Dust thin and even, both sides, tap off the excess, then proceed to the glaze.
Rest the mix cold, 30 minutes. The myosin mesh from the knead sets in cold, and the patty holds shape during cooking because of this rest. Skip the rest and you get a patty that splits or flattens in the pan.
Want to try this recipe on a BBQ grill? Skip the dusting of starch (the grill grates will tear the coating off) and brush the patty with oil. Lay it directly on a clean grate over medium-high heat and glaze in the last ninety seconds only, by brushing and flipping continuously until coated. If using a griddle, you can follow the recipe as usual.