Teriyaki Sauce Is The Ingredient You Need For Savory, Aromatic Burgers

There's nothing like a classic burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, and ketchup, but sometimes you get tired of the same-old, same-old, and want to try something new. Mashed developer Kate Shungu suggests you try a teriyaki burger, instead. If you've ever had Red Robin's Banzai, you'll be familiar with the concept, as this burger is glazed with teriyaki sauce and topped with pineapple. Shungu's grilled teriyaki burger recipe, however, is dairy-free since she skips the cheese the chain uses and chooses jarred roasted red peppers instead.

While the grilled pineapple may make for a flamboyant garnish, Shungu insists that "the key to a restaurant-quality burger is building the flavor and varying the textures." So she employs all manner of contrasting elements ranging from the pineapple and peppers to the green onions and sesame seeds in the patties. What really ties everything together, though, is the teriyaki sauce because this condiment is both savory and sweet. For this reason, Shungu gives the burgers a double dose — some of the sauce is mixed into the meat while it's still raw, while the rest serves to glaze the burgers once they've been grilled.

Kate Shungu uses store-bought teriyaki sauce in this burger, which is both time-saving and convenient if this condiment is something you typically have in the house. If you don't tend to buy it, though, or you like to make things from scratch, teriyaki sauce is pretty easy to throw together. As a matter of fact, we just so happen to have a recipe for a traditional teriyaki sauce that requires only four different ingredients (plus water, which we don't really count since most kitchens come equipped with a fully operational sink). To make it, you'll need soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and a chunk of fresh ginger to boost the flavor.

If you don't care to have alcohol in the house, not even a cooking wine such as mirin, the best replacement for the stuff would be rice vinegar. While plain rice vinegar tends to be a trifle less sweet than mirin, there's so much sugar in the teriyaki sauce that you're hardly likely to notice. If you do want a sweeter substitute, though, seasoned rice vinegars often contain sugar.