Aloha Teriyaki Burgers

After seeing all the great burgers on Pinterest and Facebook lately I decided I needed a few new ones for my blog.

I saw this Big Kahuna Hawaiian Burger over on The Slow Roasted Italian's blog and knew I had to try a teriyaki burger.

Everyone in my family LOVES teriyaki and when we go to Red Robin we all order the same thing...Banzi Teriyaki Burgers!

I adapted Donna's recipe to suit our tastes and we fell in love with this burger.  What amazed me most about the flavor was that just from the spices alone that I added to the meat it tasted like a teriyaki burger; before I even added the sauce!

You should have heard all the ooohhh's and aaahhhhh's at the table last night.  It was heavenly :)

Now I can't wait to hunt down the next flavor I'm going to try!

I will definitely be posting more burger recipes in the coming weeks.  Enjoy!


Here's what you need:

2 pounds ground beef or chuck, 1 use a 15% fat content for more flavor
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. soy
15 grinds of fresh pepper
20 oz. can pineapple slices, or fresh if you can find it ripe; you need two slices per burger
4 big potato buns, or buns of your choice
4 slices Swiss cheese, or cheese of your choice
lettuce
mayo
thin sliced red onion

For the sauce
1 bottle Soyaki, I buy mine at Trader Joe's
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice, reserved from pineapple slices

In a pan pour the Soyaki sauce and add the brown sugar and pineapple juice.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and cook for 15- 30 minutes to thicken, time just depends on how long you have before you need the sauce.  The more time you cook it the thicker it will become.

 

Turn off and set aside when the sauce has had a chance to thicken.  This makes a lot of sauce and can be used on several different dishes, just place the leftovers back in the bottle in the fridge so it's ready to go next time.

To cook the pineapple either place it in a heated cast iron pan like I did and cook 2 minutes per side.  Basting with the teriyaki sauce to add more flavor.  Or it can be grilled on the barbecue also.

In a medium bowl mix the ground beef, ginger, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and soy sauce with light fingers until mixed well.

 

Section into four equal burgers and press (lightly) into a round patty a little larger than the size of the bun.

Make a slight indentation in the top of each burger to prevent a dome from appearing when cooking.

Heat a cast iron skillet or the barbecue or grill pan; however you prefer to cook burgers (I like cast iron)

on medium high.  Add the burgers and DO NOT TOUCH once they are in the pan or on the grill!  Especially DO NOT EVER press on a burger; you'll just lose all the juice. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, flipping only once during the cooking.

Sorry, I forgot the picture of the cooked burgers.  But they were the juiciest burgers I've ever cooked!

If you are using cheese you can put it on the beef a minute before the cooking is done or put it on the patty as soon as you place it on the bun.

You can heat the buns on a skillet by adding a little butter to each side and cooking on a dry pan for a few minutes until toasty.  Or you can eat them soft and uncooked like we do :)

To assemble spread mayonnaise on the bun then teriyaki sauce, then top with a burger, cheese, two pineapple slices, more sauce, onion, lettuce and the second bun.  

I even put some of the extra sauce in a bowl for dipping or spooning on the burgers as we ate.

Deeeeelish!

Oh ya, I'm definitely making these again!

Serves 4 large burgers, or 6 small to regular size burgers

Enjoy!

Here's the handy printable - Aloha Teriyaki Burgers