Ditch The Bun And Eat A Burger Bowl With Rice

While constructing our tuna poke bowl recipe we wondered – “What else would work in rice bowl?” Chicken fajitas? Sure. An omelette? Of course. (Admittedly, the Japanese already have that on covered.)

Cheeseburgers? Why not?

It’s not that we don’t love bread. We do. But our carb horizons expanded once we’ve discovered the utter wholesome goodness of Japanese short grain rice. Japonica rice, commonly called sushi rice, has a satisfying bite and nutty flavor. Sushi chefs have used high quality rice to elevate raw fish. Why couldn’t we use sushi rice to do the same for burgers?

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During a normal workday, hungering for lunch and tiring of salad, we noticed a leftover hamburger sitting in the fridge. Before we knew it, our first cheeseburger bowl was born.

In this dish, rice brings the burger components together in a magnificent mishmash where familiar flavors integrate to create something straight out of taste memory.

We get that this re-imagined burger dish may sound silly or even weird. However, once you’ve plowed through one burger rice bowl (with either chopsticks or a fork, your choice), you’ll be wondering where it’s been all your life.

And, in a way, creating this unique burger and rice combo will give you a greater understanding of how to build flavors in any recipe.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

We season our burgers with generous amount of salt and ground pepper. You’ll want to do the same.

Assembling a burger bowl is easy and fun whether you’re alone or with friends. We love eating it though we disagree about the best utensil for the dish. Daryl likes chopsticks while Mindi prefers using a fork.

The first step is to mold ground burger meat into a loose ball. Don’t overpack the burger meat or else you’ll create something closer to the texture of meatloaf or a sausage.

After you’ve created a ball, flatten the ball to create a burger patty.

We’ve found that flattening the burger in a 4-inch ring mold makes for an excellent shaped patty. You can lightly round out the corners of the patty if you wish. You can alternatively flatten the burger with your palm but the finished burger may not portion evenly.

Heat up a pan, preferably cast iron, on high heat over a stove. Once it’s ripping hot, pour in about a teaspoon of vegetable oil for lubrication.

Place your burger on the hot pan and cook it for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until about medium to medium well (130°f / 55°c). You can also cook your burger medium rare (125°f / 51°c) or well (140°f / 60°c). It’s up to you.

When the ground beef is cooked, remove the burger and loosely cover it with foil to keep it warm.

Fluff the cooked rice and remove from the rice cooker or stove. Lay it evenly in two bowls.

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