Juicy ginger pork burgers are flavored with simple ingredients for a bold and balanced taste. These burgers can be grilled or baked on a rack in the oven for an all-weather meal. Serve with red cabbage and two-ingredient creamy chili garlic sauce.
If there's an air of truth to 'April showers bring May flowers', we're in big trouble here in Nashville because our plants, including my herb garden, are already growing at an insane rate.
Which is totally not a bad thing, of course! But I wasn't quite ready for a large quantity of basil, oregano, parsley, cilantro, mint, dill, and rosemary to be ready to roll so quickly.
There are clearly many worse problems to have, so I'm looking forward to sharing plenty of recipes that make use of fresh herbs in the coming months. I started things off by taming my dill plant and whipping up these dill and ginger pork burgers for dinner recently and they were a big hit.
The ginger, garlic, and dill flavors meld together where one ingredient doesn't dominate the others. Instead you've got a boldly flavored but balanced burger that is super juicy and a nice change from the typical beef or turkey burgers you tend to see more often.
Recipe ingredients
You'll need just simple, fresh ingredients to make this ginger pork burgers.
One pound of ground pork forms the base of the patty mixture, which yields four burgers. To this base add diced onion, minced or pressed garlic, grated ginger root, fresh dill, salt and pepper.
If you don't have a fresh dill on hand, dried will certainly work, too. You'll just want to use less of it as dried herbs have a more concentrated flavor. One tablespoon of fresh dill is equal to about one teaspoon of dried dill.
Now let's talk sauce. Much like on five spice turkey burger sliders, a drizzle of chili garlic sauce makes a delicious burger topping. Usually I'm a ketchup-all-the-way kind of standard burger person, but ketchup wouldn't really mesh with the flavors here.
This is totally a cheater's recipe as there are just two ingredients: chili garlic sauce and sour cream. Or mayonnaise. Or Greek yogurt. Whichever one you like or have on hand will work. This sauce is spiced up with the creaminess from the sour cream (or mayo or yogurt) taking the edge off.
How to make them
After years of apartment living where grills were not allowed, I don't take a single second with it for granted now that we're homeowners.
That said, Mother Nature seems to want to send us a torrential downpour at precisely dinnertime each night, so for these photos I prepped these dill and ginger pork burgers in the oven. You know, I really like that manner of prep!
Generously spray an oven-safe wire rack with cooking spray and set it over a baking sheet. Once you mix up all of the burger ingredients in a bowl, place the patties on the rack and bake at 400°F for 23-25 minutes, or until the center of the thickest patty reaches 160°F. While fresh pork cuts can register a lower temperature, ground pork, per FoodSafety.gov, requires a higher minimum cooking temperature.
Another benefit of using a rack is that it's hands-off with no flipping required.
Serving suggestions
Along with your bun of choice, sliced red cabbage makes a wonderful ginger pork burger addition for added crunch.
If you're looking to avoid a bun, these pork burgers lend themselves well to becoming pseudo-lettuce wraps. Stack several large lettuce leaves on top of one another, wrap them around the burger, and use them to hold onto the burger instead of a bun. Butter or bibb lettuce varieties are popular for wraps, but really any that have some bend to them will do.
These are also great as a protein addition to a salad!
Related recipes
Another pork recipe that will help you make quick work of an abundance of fresh herbs is slow cooker pork tenderloin. This balsamic mushroom sauce is truly exceptional, and tastes much fancier than it really is. Fresh rosemary adds a wonderful complementary flavor to this one.
And if you're looking for ways to use up the rest of a ginger root, you might not think about cookies. But these orange ginger snickerdoodles add fresh ginger and orange zest to that classic cinnamon cookie flavor for a real treat.
Ginger Pork Burgers
Ingredients
Burgers:
- 1 lb ground pork
- ⅓ cup diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried dill)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 hamburger buns
- Red cabbage, sliced thin
Chili garlic sauce:
- 1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce
- 3 tablespoon light sour cream or mayonnaise or Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F, with one oven rack situated in the middle of the oven, and one near the top. Spray an oven-safe wire rack with cooking spray and place it over a rimmed baking sheet.
- Add ground pork, onion, garlic, ginger, dill, salt, and pepper to a bowl and mix with a spoon or with your hands until evenly combined.
- Form the mixture into four evenly-sized burger patties about 1 ¼"-thick, and place evenly-spaced on the wire rack.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the center of the thickest part reaches 160°F. While the burgers are cooking, stir together the chili garlic sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Remove burgers from the oven and set it to broil, at 500°F.
- Place them back in the oven and broil for 1-2 minutes, or until the burgers are golden-brown on the exterior.
- Serve with sliced red cabbage on hamburger buns, along with creamy chili garlic sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Food Safety and Nutrition Disclaimer
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