Sticky Garlic And Ginger Pork Burgers Recipe

With all the ground beef options available at grocery stores, ground pork might seem an unlikely candidate for making burgers. In my humble opinion, I find ground pork a fantastic beef alternative, and I'd go as far as to say it's an underrated meat that yields positively juicy burgers. Not only is it often a more affordable butcher counter purchase, ground pork is innately delicious with this savory-sweetness that lends itself to all manner of bold seasonings, sauces, or glazes.

For this sticky garlic and ginger pork burger recipe, I made sure to highlight all those above listed ground pork qualities with well-suited accompaniments. The glaze boasts a robust combination of soy sauce, honey, tahini, and sriracha, all infused with oodles of fresh garlic and ginger for an aromatic punch. The slaw is bright and vibrant, meant to balance the juiciness of the ground pork with green apple tartness and citrusy zing.

For those that've seen some of my recipes before, you might have noticed that I typically have a "more is more" approach to all things toppings, sauces, and condiments. I flipped the script with this recipe, showing a tad bit of restraint by featuring a burger with just three components: burger, glaze, and slaw (well, four, if you count the bun). That restraint paid off! This burger is an explosion of flavor, one that balances rich, aromatic, salty, citrusy, and acidic elements without any unnecessary ingredient bogging it down.

For the glaze, you will need soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, tahini or sesame paste, sriracha, mirin, garlic, ginger, and white sesame seeds. Then, to form the burger patties, you'll simply need ground pork and salt. For the slaw, you will need bagged, shredded coleslaw mix (without dressing), green apple, scallions, cilantro, lemon juice, honey, and sesame oil. Feel free to pick your favorite burger buns for this recipe. I opted for butter-flavored burger buns, and their pillowy texture and buttery flavor worked really well with the burgers and toppings.

Make the glaze by placing the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, tahini, sriracha, mirin, garlic, and ginger in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine and bring the sauce to a low simmer over medium-low heat.

Cook the glaze for 10 minutes, whisking frequently, until thickened.

Remove from the heat and sprinkle the sauce with sesame seeds. Whisk to combine and set aside to cool at room temperature.

Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.

Season the pork patties with salt.

Place the patties on the preheated grill and cook on one side for 5 minutes.

Flip the patties and baste in the glaze. Cook for 5 minutes more or until cooked through.

Remove the patties from the grill and baste with a little more glaze. Keep warm until ready to serve.

To make the slaw, place the coleslaw mix, apple, scallions, cilantro, lemon juice, honey, and sesame oil in a large bowl. Toss to combine.

To assemble the burgers, divide patties between buns.

Generously top the patties with slaw and cap with the top buns. Serve with any extra sauce on the side.

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The garlic and ginger glaze in this recipe packs that ideal blend of savory and sweet flavors, along with punchy aromatic notes and a pinch of zesty heat. If you happen to have leftovers or would like to double this glaze recipe for an alternative use, I would strongly recommend using it on pork ribs or chops. It would also be very tasty grilled on salmon or tuna. Apply the glaze during the last few minutes of the cooking process. This allows the honey in the glaze to caramelize without burning.

For the slaw, I was inspired by pa muchim, which is a Korean shredded scallion salad. Pa muchim is often served alongside grilled pork or beef to cut through all that meaty richness, which is exactly the approach that I took in this pork burger recipe, too. If you have leftover slaw, feel free to serve it alongside your favorite grilled meats. It's especially delightful paired with pork belly, though it'd work well with just about any type of pork out there. Beef or chicken would also make for great slaw pairings.

One of the things I like most about this recipe is its versatility. You can absolutely mix and match components to fit your preferences. If you are interested in swapping out the ground pork in this recipe, I recommend ground turkey or chicken. These more neutral proteins will work well with the robustly seasoned glaze.

Despite the inclusion of sriracha in the glaze, it's important to note that this sandwich is not really spicy at all. The sriracha's heat acts more as a flavor booster than anything else, and it balances nicely with the pork and slaw without coming across as overly spicy. Feel free to omit the sriracha if you don't even want a tiny kick of spice. If you want to feed the flames, I recommend adding some sriracha or hot sauce to the coleslaw. Speaking of coleslaw, you can absolutely improvise there as well. An assortment of bell peppers would make for a very fresh tasting addition, as would celery, radish, or fennel.

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