Eating a burger in a bowl instead of on a bun is no sacrifice. You get satisfying protein from the beef, vegetal crunch plus sweet and sour flavors from the pickle and onion, sweet umami from the ketchup, fresh tomato flavor from (duh!) fresh tomatoes, pungency from the yellow mustard and rich salty depth from cheddar cheese.
You can call it deconstructed or even misconstructed. We call it lunch. It’s as fun to make as it is to eat. Here’s what you need to make it:
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
Ground Beef
When cooking any burger, we recommend buying ground beef with at least 20% fat. If you, like us, live in place where American beef is difficult to find, you can have your butcher grind meat to your specifications.
You CAN use a premade burger patty but only if its of excellent quality. For ease, we like to mold and cook a single six-ounce patty in a cast iron pan. We then split the patty to feed two people. You can easily double the recipe to feed four but you’ll need to make two patties. We cook the burger to medium for this rice bowl dish but you can cook it to your preference.
Pro Tip
Replace the ground beef with ground turkey or even a veggie burger if you’re not a beef eater.
Rice
We love short grain Japanese rice. It’s available at most Asian markets (and some better supermarkets) and it’s worth a splurge. If you can find Koshihikari rice – buy it. It’s the best quality Japonica rice available.
That being said, while it’s not quite as good, you can also use everyday long grain white rice if that pleases you or if Japanese short grain rice isn’t readily available where you live.
We choose to cook our rice in a rice cooker but you can also cook rice on a stove, following instructions on the rice box or bag. Generally, you’ll use a stove ratio of 300 grams of rice to 375 grams of water.
If you use a rice cooker, like a Zojirushi, follow the machine instructions for Japanese rice. Once the rice is finished, run a fork or rice paddle through the rice to fluff it up and cool it down slightly.
Pro Tip
Season the rice with a generous pinch of sea salt. Despite what other recipes recommend, vinegar and kombu are not necessary in this recipe.
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Cheddar cheese is a classic burger topping whether the burger is inside a bun or on top of rice.
We like cheddar that’s meltable and not aged. American slices or even (mon dieu!) Velveeta would work. You could even go highbrow and use gruyere or blue cheese.
Pro Tip
Grate the cheese from a block using the largest hole of a box grater.
Diced Tomato
The better tomatoes you buy, the better flavor you’ll get. The best ones are available in the summer.
For this recipe, we dice a ripe tomato. Doing so makes the tomato easier to mix with the rice.
Pickled Red Onion
Pickling the onion takes the burn out of the onion and brings out its sweetness.
We slice a medium red onion onion in thin rings. We then pickle the rings by mixing them with about a quarter cup of cider vinegar and a half teaspoon of salt.
Pro Tip
Pickle the onion about a half hour in advance of making this recipe.
Dill Pickle
Nothing improves a burger like a quality dill pickle.
We buy our dill pickles in a jar and slice them about a quarter-inch thick.
Pro Tip
You can use relish instead.
Ketchup
Ketchup is a classic burger condiment that requires no explanation to what it brings to the table.
We, like most Americans, prefer Heinz ketchup when we eat hamburgers. It’s also the brand we prefer in this burger bowl recipe.
Yellow Mustard
Yellow mustard provides an extra bite and pungency that makes the other ingredients come together.
Not everyone tops burgers with mustard. We can take it or leave it ourselves. However, after much experimentation, we’ve determined that yellow mustard completes the burger bowl.
Salt and Pepper
We season our burgers with generous amount of salt and ground pepper. You’ll want to do the same.
Optional Ingredients
You can add your favorite hot sauce. You can add lettuce or even pineapple. You can add a fried egg. You can even add Asian condiments like oyster sauce or gochajang. If you like something on a burger, then you’ll like it in this burger bowl.
