Pork Burgers Recipe (Juicy & Flavorful)

Incredibly delicious pork burger recipe made with ground pork, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Build them with our quick kimchi salad and yogurt sauce, and you will have one of the tastiest burgers ever.

This year, we have been stepping beyond classic hamburgers. We have already shared our chicken burgers, salmon burgers, and even smash burger tacos. Now, we are adding these ground pork burgers to the lineup. The patties are heavily seasoned with soy sauce, fresh garlic, and ginger, and they come together fast. We top them with a bright, crunchy kimchi salad and a simple yogurt sauce that’s perfect against the richness of the pork.

The combination is downright crave-worthy, and we cannot wait for you to try it. While we highly recommend serving the burgers with the salad and sauce, the boldly flavored pork patties can easily stand on their own. For more ways to cook with ground pork, try our easy pork tacos.

Key Ingredients

• Ground Pork: Buy bulk ground pork (it will have a pretty high fat content, but much of it renders). You can substitute ground chicken or beef, but expect the patties to be a little less juicy since they have less fat than ground pork.
• Garlic, Ginger, and Green Onions: This trio is our aromatics for the burger patties. They add so much flavor, and since we use a microplane to finely grate the garlic and ginger, the prep is quick, too.
• Soy Sauce: This seasons the pork. Use regular soy sauce, tamari, or shoyu.
• Gochujang: This is our secret ingredient in the burgers and in the yogurt sauce. It is a Korean fermented chili paste that is becoming more widely available in regular grocery stores. It’s thick, spicy, and a deep red. It adds a lot of flavor to this recipe. We also use it when making Korean dishes like beef bulgogi and Korean short ribs, and even for our spicy mayo.
• Sugar: We use a little brown sugar in the pork patties, a little regular sugar in the salad, and a bit of honey in the sauce. Each adds its own flavor, but if you only have one, feel free to use it for each component.
• Kimchi Salad: We mix cabbage kimchi (use store-bought or homemade kimchi), cucumber slices, cilantro, a little sugar, and a little rice wine vinegar. It’s fresh, crunchy, and really tasty with the burgers. Another option is to make our homemade coleslaw, broccoli slaw, or Asian slaw, which are also quite delicious with these burgers.
• Yogurt Sauce: We stir thick yogurt (whole milk Greek or Icelandic is my preference) with gochujang, honey, and a little rice wine vinegar. We are both totally in love, and plan to reuse this sauce in other recipes. I’m already planning to use it the next time we make egg roll bowls and fried rice.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Pork Burgers

When I’m shopping and walk by a package of ground pork, my mind immediately turns to these burgers. Here’s a brief overview of how to make them:

1. Gently combine the ground pork with the aromatics and seasonings, then form into patties. We usually make four ¼ pound patties, but if you’d prefer more generous burgers, opt for three larger ⅓ pound patties.
2. Refrigerate the patties while you prep the toppings. The salad and sauce take just minutes and only require stirring a few ingredients together.
3. Cook the burgers in a heavy-bottomed skillet for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until they reach an internal temperature of 160°F.
4. Layer the sauce, patties, and kimchi salad on toasted buns and enjoy!

Our Tips for Making Pork Burgers

Tip 1: Chill the burgers. We do this for almost all of our burger recipes. Once you make your patties, place them into the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. This allows the fat to firm up, ensuring they hold together perfectly in the pan or on the grill without falling apart. So, add all the burger ingredients to a bowl, mix well, form into patties, then slide them into the fridge for a bit. It’s worth it!

Tip 2: Do not skip the kimchi salad. We love some crunch on our burgers, and this kimchi salad is just perfect for that. Simply toss kimchi with cucumbers, a little vinegar, sugar, and cilantro. It’s so easy, and incredible with the pork.

Tip 3: The yogurt sauce is a secret weapon. While this sauce was originally created for these pork burgers, I’m convinced we will all see it again in future Inspired Taste recipes. It’s so simple and is absolutely incredible with the juices from the kimchi salad.

Tip 4: Expect quite a bit of fat left in the pan. Most of the ground pork sold in regular grocery stores is higher in fat than ground beef, so as these patties cook in the skillet, they will render some fat (expect a similar amount as when cooking bacon). You’ll leave all that fat behind, though, so don’t let it deter you from enjoying your burgers!

Serving Suggestions

In our photos, we’ve served these burgers with sliced apples (simple, I know, but it actually works really well with the kimchi and pork). Since you already have the salad and sauce, you don’t need that much else on the plate. Think about a simple side like pasta salad, potato salad, or a simple vegetable like garlic green beans, roasted potatoes, sweet potato fries, or even regular baked French fries.

More Pork Recipes