Mushroom Fritter Burgers

 The 2019 Blended Burger Contest

The 2019 Blended Burger Contest was an event of Blenditarian by The Mushroom Council that was sponsored by Bon Appetit Magazine. Home chefs were invited to make a blended burger creation for the contest. What is that, you ask? It’s a burger consisting of at least 25% mushrooms (to 75% meat.)

The mission of the contest is to promote eating more plants in our meat-heavy American diets. We love mushrooms in our house, so this sounded like fun. A chance to win a $25,000 prize and all we had to do was create, make, and eat some burgers? We were in!

I bought plenty of baby portobello mushrooms from the grocery store and some ground pork from our local butcher, and we also used some wild ground turkey from his spring archery hunt. Then, we each brainstormed our ideas to come up with our “perfect” burgers.

(When you are done reading his recipe here, don’t forget to check out the recipe for my contest entry, Pizza Burgers!)

The Burger Entry

His creation was for this Mushroom Fritter Burger, and the ingredients included ground pork, ground wild turkey, baby portobello mushrooms, grilled onions, baby spinach, and creamy ranch yogurt sauce. This burger replicates the flavors of fried mushrooms dipped in ranch dressing. I used our Analog Kitchen Scale to measure the mushrooms and the meat, to make sure our ratios followed the contest rules.

We actually made his burger two times, with two different sauces. Attempt #1 the sauce used was the blueberry mustard I made in December. We decided it wasn’t quite right for the competition, though it was good. However, the ranch sauce we made for Attempt #2 was perfect.

Basically, this is a burger patty that’s dipped in diced mushrooms on both sides, dredged in a little egg and flour, and then pan-fried in butter in a 12-inch Cast Iron Pan. Add select toppings and our creamy ranch sauce, and stick it on a bun. It was delicious!

We like to make homemade french fries in our Air Fryer – as you can see in the photos, sometimes we just make potato wedges too  – they are also good in the air fryer!

If you make this recipe, please give us a comment and rating below and tell us how you liked it!

The Winner

The Blended Burger Contest ended on May 31, but the lucky (and talented) winner was just announced on July 10. Including my husband and me, there were 389 contest entries – that’s a lot of burgers to judge!

If you are curious about the winner of the contest, you can read the press release here. Congratulations to her on her winning Thai-inspired burger creation!

Print Recipe

Mushroom Fritter Burger

My husband's entry for the 2019 Blended Burger Contest was a Mushroom Fritter Burger with ranch sauce. We didn't win, so we get to share the recipe here! It mimics the rich and amazing flavors of a fried mushroom dipped in ranch dressing.

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: burger night, cook-at-home, cooking-contest, hamburger, mushroom-burger, mushroom-fritter, preserving-my-sanity

Servings: 4

Equipment

• 12-inch cast iron pan
• Taylor Stainless Steel Analog Kitchen Scale 
• Cutting board + knife
• Air Fryer for Homemade Fries

Ingredients

Burger Patties

• 8 ounces ground pork
• 8 ounces ground turkey (we used wild turkey)
• 1 tsp roasted pepper blend, ground* (equal parts fennel seed, coriander seed, and black peppercorns)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp thyme
• 1/8 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/8 tsp granulated onion

Mushroom Fritter Dredge

• 6 ounces baby portobello* mushrooms, finely chopped (or mushroom of your choice)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup flour

Burger Toppings

• 4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, sliced (or Gouda and/or Swiss, whatever you like)
• 1 sweet yellow onion, sliced in rings and grilled
• 2 handfuls fresh organic baby spinach, wilted
• 4 sesame hamburger buns (or bun of your choice)

Creamy Ranch Yogurt Sauce

• 3 Tbsp Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp chives
• 1/8 tsp dillweed
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Creamy Ranch Yogurt Sauce

• Make the sauce an hour or so ahead of time if possible, to allow flavors to fully combine. Mix the Greek yogurt and mayonnaise with the rest of the ingredients, and stir to combine. Refrigerate until needed for assembly.

Burger Patties + Mushroom Fritter Dredge

• Mix the pork and turkey with the seasonings, and divide into 4 equal patties.
• Firmly press the finely chopped mushrooms into the top and bottom of each patty. Dredge each patty in egg, and then flour.
• Gently place burgers into a medium-high preheated cast-iron skillet with 1 Tbsp bacon grease (or butter if you prefer.)
• Cook the burgers for 4-5 minutes on each side, until battered mushroom coating is golden brown and the burgers are done in the middle.

Assembling the Burgers

• While the burgers are cooking, grill yellow onion slices in a separate skillet so they are ready for the top of burgers.
• When the burgers are almost done, top each burger with Swiss cheese, grilled onion rings, and fresh baby spinach.
• Place each burger on a fresh sesame bun (we make our own using frozen bread dough, but you could just buy some good ones from your local bakery!) Top with Creamy Ranch Yogurt Sauce.
• We like to make homemade french fries in our Air Fryer to serve with our burgers. If you do this, you may want to make some extra sauce - it's delicious with the fries, too!
• Enjoy!