The Best Teriyaki Burger (a Japan x Hawaii Recipe)
Make the best homemade teriyaki burger of your life using this easy recipe based off teri burgers from both Hawaii and Japan. You're getting the best of both worlds!
Ingredients
Teriyaki Sauce
- 6 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
- 6 tbsp mirin
- 5 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp white miso
- 1 tsp grated ginger (from about half an inch piece of ginger)
Burgers
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 burger buns
- lettuce
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine all ingredients for teriyaki sauce except for the miso (soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, and ground ginger).
- Bring mixture to a simmer and let the alcohol from the mirin cook off, about two to three minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Place miso in a small bowl. Add a few spoonfuls of the cooked teriyaki sauce and stir to dissolve the miso into a thick but smooth sauce. Pour the miso sauce back into the saucepan with the rest of the teriyaki sauce ingredients and stir to evenly distribute. This method is to prevent the miso from clumping up when added to the sauce.
- At this point, the teriyaki sauce should be glossy and coat the back of a spoon. Set aside while you prepare the burgers.
- Put ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Add three tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce to the beef (this part is optional but highly recommended). Divide beef into four and shape into patties. I recommend flattening the patties until they are about four to five inches in diameter, as they will shrink and puff up slightly as they cook.
- Grill burger patties on medium high for about 4 minutes on each side for medium well. This can be done on an outdoor grill or indoor on the stovetop - adjust the time as needed according to your preference of doneness (less for medium, more for well done, etc). Brush some of the teriyaki sauce onto the patties in the last minute of cooking.
- Remove patties from heat and dunk into the remaining teriyaki sauce.
- Place patties, lettuce, and any other burger toppings onto your buns. Serve immediately. Leftover teriyaki burger patties can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
- Although teriyaki burgers at both Japan and Hawaii restaurants and food stalls may not include pineapple slices a la the Red Robin Banzai Burger, obviously you can do whatever you want and add toppings as you like! Cheese, tomato, kewpie mayo - customize to your preference.
- If you don't want to make the teriyaki sauce from scratch, I highly recommend Bachan's Original Japanese BBQ sauce as a substitute.