If you've never tried some ground pork burgers, then this recipe is for you. It's an easy, fast and delicious way to get acquainted with these delightful beef burger alternatives. We are going to make some impossibly good burgers with incredibly rich flavor. It's a tall order, but this recipe stands up to it! Let's check out why these porky patties are so tasty.
THIS PORK BURGERS RECIPE IS: GLUTEN FREE, PALEO, LOW CARB, JUICY AND DELICIOUS.
WHY GROUND PORK BURGERS?
Want to know why to make ground pork burgers instead of beef? The answer is simple: they are juicy, delicious and less expensive than beef. At my local market, ground pork is about $2 less than beef per pound, and that is compared against 80/20 beef, not the super lean and expensive 90/10 mixes that people seem to love now. I typically buy about 6 pounds of ground pork at a time, break it down into three bags about 2 pounds each and freeze them off. Whenever I need it, I have just about the right amount of pork for meatballs, burgers or taco filling for the family with some leftovers to spare.
Aside from the economics, pork burgers are incredibly delicious, tender and juicy. My kids actually prefer the pork patties over beef patties. The reason they are so tender and juicy is simple: there is more fat in ground pork than in ground beef. Typically grocery stores that sell "sausage grade" pork usually mix it at about 75/25 to 70/30 lean meat to fat. The most fatty ground beef you will find is 80/20. Yes, the extra fat means more flavor, juice and less risk of drying out the meat while cooking. Yum!
MAKING PORK PATTIES
I'm sure that you have heard pork being called the "other white meat." I suppose that it is comparing pork to chicken, which I never quite understood. What I do understand is that neither chicken nor pork taste particularly wonderful on their own. They need spices, sauces or other flavors to make them taste good. Comparatively speaking, beef will taste beefy when cooked by itself.
All that being said, when we are making pork patties we need to add in a lot of spice and other aromatics to punch up the flavor from boring to badass. So, we're going to add in some sauteed onion, some garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, mustard powder and more. We'll add in an egg yolk, which is natures food glue, to make sure that the patties retain their shape and don't fall apart while cooking. When we form the patties, we are going to grab a tennis ball sized handful of meat and work it gently into pork discs that will be cooked to perfection.
QUICK COOKING TIP: One thing to keep in mind when working with ground pork: do NOT to add in any acids. Please don't add in balsamic vinegar, cider or red wine vinegar or prepared mustard. It will make the meat granular, crumbly and not wonderful at all. If you want to add in acid, do so as a sauce or add it into a topping. Maybe you would make some balsamic glazed onions or something. The same holds true for making sausage- don't add in acids otherwise the sausage will have a strange mouthfeel.
Ok. We've talked a lot about pork burgers, now let's get to the recipe.
GROUND PORK BURGERS
A delicious and juicy pork burgers recipe with tons of flavor. Pork burgers are easy to make and cost less than beef burgers!
Author: Scott G
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Onion,, diced (Spanish, about ½ an onion)
- 1 tablespoon Rendered Bacon Fat,, Duck Fat or Lard
- 1 Pinch Kosher Salt
- 1.5 LBS Ground Pork
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Garlic Powder
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- ¼ teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground Pepper
- 2 TSBP Duck Fat, Bacon Fat or Lard
- 6 Slices Jarlsberg Cheese, (optional)
Instructions
- Warm a heavy bottom skillet over high heat. Add in the bacon fat. When the fat shimmers, add in the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for six to eight minutes. I like the onions in this recipe to have a little char on them, so I cook them over high heat the whole time.
- When the onions are done, transfer them to a bowl. Add in the ground pork and all remaining ingredients. Mix well with your hands to incorporate all the spices and egg yolk.
- Break off tennis ball sized portions of the pork mixture. Form them into patties with your hands. Set aside until all the pork patties have been made.
- Reheat the skillet and add in the duck fat, bacon fat or lard. Heat at medium-high. When the fat is hot, add in the pork burgers. Don’t crowd the pan, otherwise they will just steam rather than brown. I typically can only fit five of the six into my pan, so I just cook the extra one after the first batch is done.
- After 3 minutes, carefully flip the burgers in the pan. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 6-8 minutes more. Flip one more time, cover and cook for another 5-6 minutes or until cooked through. If you’re adding on cheese, go ahead and do so about a minute before removing from the pan.
- Remove the burgers from the pan when they are cooked through and serve hot. Happy eating!
Notes
When cooking pork burgers, you want to make sure that they are cooked all the way through. That means taking them to 160 degrees internally. Although chops, steaks and roasts only need to hit 145, ground pork needs to hit 160. A quick read thermometer will do the trick!
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 606Total Fat 47gSaturated Fat 19gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 24gCholesterol 177mgSodium 367mgCarbohydrates 7gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 38g
This website provides approximate nutrition data and information for convenience and as a courtesy only.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE JUICY PORK BURGERS RECIPE:
Do I think that pork burgers are as good as a juicy, all beef patty? Yes and no. My thoughts are that pork burgers have a place in the culinary arsenal along with the beef burger. I like that you can pair the pork burger with different, fun toppings like my Super Easy Sauerkraut Recipe. You can also treat the pork burger like a reuben and add on coleslaw (or sauerkraut) with cheese and Thousand Island Dressing, which is really something special.
Sometimes I like to combine both beef and pork to make a beef and pork burger (that is a delicious recipe too). They are delicious and combine the best of both worlds!
The only glaring drawback I find with a pork burger is that amount of fat. I'm not worried about the fat for health reasons (fat does not make us fat!), but if you try to grill these burgers they flare up incredibly fast. I have a hard time getting them cooked through before they are charred to a crisp. I've tried cooking them on indirect heat, but they take forever to cook through that way. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but I've found that the best way to cook pork burgers is right in a frying pan.
However you cook them, I hope that you enjoy this recipe.
What an awesome twist on your typical burger! Those onions on their own have me drooling. Gotta try them soon!
Hi Karly-
Thanks for writing- they are really tasty! Sorry for the late response too- was having an issue with my site that has just been fixed!
Take care-
Scott
This recipe certainly lives up to your aim of making people happy with good food, I've only tried pork burgers a few times and they were never as nice as good old fashioned Beef burgers , but I'll certainly be trying these ones.
Hi Allison-
Thanks so much- they are really yummy burgers. I love cooking Paleo and have been working hard to stick within the guidelines, but I tend to stray more toward Primal simply because of my addiction to dairy.
Hope you're having a great day-
Scott
[…] that you want something a little different? How about trying these sauteed mushrooms on some Pork Burgers. Just […]
sounds very tasty! I've only used ground pork for sauces, need to give these burgers a try.
Hi David:
They are really tasty. We eat a lot of burgers so I have to mix it up a little bit.
Let me know if there are any other kinds of recipes you would like to see too-
Thanks!
Scott
These are AMAZING! This is also the first comment I have ever written for a recipe I've tried, only because the recipes I've tried usually turn out okay for me, but not my very good for my 2 very picky boys...but everybody loved them!!! I did omit the red pepper flakes. The one complaint was that they were messy, but however way supper gets eaten, I'm singin'!
Thank you Scott, for such a good recipe. You've earned a hamburger badge :).
Hi Suzie:
I'm amazed that my burgers made you write your first comment and I hope there will be more to come. My kids adore these recipes, so there's a good chance that yours will love them too. Just give them a try. And let me know how it went, please.
Have a beautiful day!
Scott
[…] pan seared pork chops. But it would be equally delicious with a porterhouse steak or yummy pork burgers. Some other thoughts would be to roast some cherry tomatoes and add into a frittata with the […]
This tatsted outstanding. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Simon
Hi,
Always a pleasure to share a good burger. Thank you!
Take care.
Scott
So juicy and flavorful. I've never made pork burgers before (always worried that they wouldn't cook all the way through) but these are fantastic. Nice work.
Hi Jill:
You never know until you try, right? I'm happy when my recipes make someone else happy. Wait 'til you see what's coming next.
Until then, have a marvelous day!
Scott
First time making them. Unfortunately I thought I had 2x the meat so I doubled the spices and they were too spicy. Very tasty but too spicy. I'll definitely try again!
Hi Wendy:
That's a bummer that they were too spicy. Did you get a chance to try them again?
Take care and have a great day in the kitchen-
Scott
Mine were too spicy as well... Not sure what I. did wrong.
Amazing! Fantastic!! Marvelous!! Thanks so much!! Wish I could give it 10 stars!!!
Hey Donna:
Wow, I truly appreciate you trying the burgers and offering such a nice feedback.
Hope you're having a marvelous day!
Scott
These were sensational. I normally tweak recipes but didn’t need to with these. Super tasty. Everyone was pleased!
Agh! I didn’t get to add my stars!
Hi Liv:
Thank you for your appreciation. Nice to hear that you and your family enjoyed these tasty burgers.
Have a great day!
Scott
These are absolutely sensational! I usually tweek recipes and didnt with this one. It was bursting with flavour! Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Liv:
So glad to hear you tried it. Thank you for the vote of confidence and for letting me know how it went.
Take care,
Scott
[…] Grilled Pork Burgers […]
These were terrible. Way too much garlic and onion powder, gave the whole burger an off-putting taste. Also, the cook time was way too long, really dried out the burgers.
[…] Grilled Pork Burgers […]
Scott G., These were by far the best pork burgers ever. Thanks, just what I was looking for.
😘