Something Magically Flavorful Happens To Burger Patties When You Add This

Ever seasoned a patty to perfection only to have the final burger end up tasting a little... flat? A little one-dimensional? The missing piece you've been looking for could be miso paste. That's right, this Japanese fermented paste can improve even the most "all-American" of burgers, whether you mix it directly into ground beef or a homemade plant-based patty. A small amount of miso won't actually come through as miso in the burger; it will come through as an amplification of the already existing flavors — that's just what umami does. The science is simple: miso is full of glutamates, the compounds that create umami on our tongues. Those compounds turn the volume up on meat's natural savoriness. The same effect happens with mushroom or lentil patties — miso simply intensifies what's already there.

Miso paste is one of the best umami-boasting ingredients for this very reason. Throwing even a small spoonful of it into a burger mix adds flavors that no amount of salt or other seasonings could ever compete with. So whether you're cooking for meat-eaters, vegetarians, or both, miso is going to enhance your burger's base while doing nothing to change its core identity. It'll still be a burger, it'll just be a better one.

Actually, using miso paste in a burger couldn't be easier. A good starting point is to mix 1.5 tablespoons of white miso paste directly into 18 ounces of ground meat with the other seasonings. Because it's a harder paste, make sure you break it down gently and incorporate it throughout. Try not to overwork the mixture either, though, as this can make your burgers tough. Because miso is salty, you can scale back on the salt you'd normally add; otherwise, season as normal.  And from personal experience, plant-based burgers can benefit even more from adding miso. Meat contains umami naturally, whereas plant-based sources are often lacking. That's why mushrooms are so commonly used, either on their own or as the base of a patty, because they are a fantastic umami-rich plant-based ingredient. And when you stir miso paste into the mix? It's transformative.

With the addition of miso, your burger is already off to a strong start. You can keep it simple with just lettuce and ketchup or go big on toppings (there's no such thing as too many toppings on a burger as far as we're concerned). You can even allow the miso to let you take your burger in an Asian-inspired direction, think: sesame-slaw and mayo mixed with chilli crunch or wasabi. However you serve it, the best burgers are built on strong, flavor-rich foundations, and miso paste is one of the easiest ways to get there.