Kimchi Pancake Burger
Two crispy and spicy kimchi pancakes make a perfect bun for a juicy burger topped with cheese and marinated cucumber! Kimchi is one of the best burger toppings anyways, so putting it right into the bun just makes sense! The crispy on the outside and gummy in the middle texture of a kimchi pancake just matches so well with a burger.
The inspiration for this recipe
Kimchi pancakes are my favorite thing to get as an app at a Korean restaurant. When they are nice and crispy they can be pretty sturdy so I decided to try making them as buns for a burger. I made the kimchi pancakes a little extra thick and finished them in the oven so they would be cooked through, and they were strong enough to hold the burger and all the toppings. I topped it with cucumbers marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey, and used some of the sauce to drizzle on the burgers at the last minute. I love how these came out and will definitely be making them again!
Make the cucumbers
The cucumbers have soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and honey. You could also add some gochugaru chili flakes to this. I am actually not sure why I didn’t
Make the kimchi pancakes
Mix potato starch, flour, kimchi, and scallions to make the batter. The juices from the kimchi should be enough to form the batter but if it feels too thick you can add a little water or more kimchi juice!
Cook the pancakes for a few minutes on each side until brown. I made the kimchi pancakes a little thicker than I typically would so they would make good burger buns! Then finish them in the oven. This will keep them warm while you make the rest.
Build the kimchi pancake burger
Load em up! Kimchi pancake first, then the burger topped with munster cheese, then the cucumber, mung beans, and some of the sauce from the cucumbers.
So good.
The textures in this were great from top to bottom! You have tender juicy burger, crunchy cucumber and bean sprouts, and that crispy/gummy combo you get from the pancakes. Perfection in every bite!
The potato starch is what adds the gummy texture that you can see in this cross section.
Twists on this recipe
You could do this kimchi pancake burger with store bought kimchi pancakes too! I find some great ones in the freezer section at my local Asian grocery store. I made mine a little thicker than you normally would, because I wanted them to be burger bun shaped.
For a traditional kimchi pancake recipe, I like this one.
For more great recipes with Korean style pancakes, check out my buffalo cauliflower pancakes, street corn kimchi pancakes, or this pickle pancake inspired by a kimchi pancake.
Kimchi Pancake Burger
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber chopped into rounds
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- pinch of salt
Kimchi Pancakes
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup chopped kimchi (overflowing cup)
- 1/2 cup kimchi juice
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions
- water if needed
Burgers
- 1 pound ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 3 slices munster cheese
- 1 cup bean sprouts
Instructions
- Mix the cucumbers with the sauces and seeds. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Mix the flour, starch, kimchi, kimchi juice, and scallions in a bowl and mix until combined. Add water if needed and mix until combined into a thick batter.
- Preheat oven to 300
- Put about a half cup of batter into a hot frying pan with a little oil. Make a few at a time depending on how large your pan is. Flip to brown on both sides and remove from heat to a rack on top of a baking sheet. Repeat until they are all done and put the rack into the oven to finish cooking for about 15 minutes while you make the burger.
- Form the burger patties and season with salt and pepper. Cook the burgers and top with cheese.
- Build the burger with one pancake first, then a burger patty, then the cucumbers, then the bean sprouts, then spoon on some of the juice from the cucumbers. Top with the remaining pancake and serve.