Grilled Beef and Mushroom Burger

“Hey dad, wanna come over for lunch? We’re making mushroom burgers.” Radio silence. That’s weird. Usually an invitation for free food and the company of his firstborn is met with gleeful enthusiasm.

“Don’t worry, it’s a beef burger, with lots of mushrooms, you’ll love it.” Bingo, that was it. “Okay, sure! We’ll be right over.”

It used to be, “mushroom burger” just meant a hamburger with lots of mushrooms piled on top. These days it usually refers to a burger in which a portobello mushroom takes the place of the patty.

Nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t what my father wanted. A grilled beef patty with melted Swiss, and slathered with sautéed shiitakes and onions? Hard to resist.

So, this one was a big hit with my dad, and with my mom too, for that matter. The things that make it a step up from your typical retro mushroom burger are the dried mushroom powder mixed into the ground meat, intensifying the mushroom taste, and using shiitakes for the topping, which are highly flavorful mushrooms.

You can easily skip the dried mushroom bit it you don’t have any on hand, and you can easily sub button mushrooms, or any other mushrooms, for the shiitakes if you want.

Grilled Beef and Mushroom Burger Recipe

We call for fresh shiitake mushrooms, but only because they are so much more flavorful than regular button mushrooms. Feel free to use whatever mushroom you want, buttons, cremini, morels, etc. Although this recipe calls for using a grill, you can easily pan fry them on your stovetop. I would recommend using a large cast iron pan for pan frying.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• A 1-ounce package of dried mushrooms (porcini, morels or other mushrooms)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (add more if you like burgers a little saltier)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms (can substitute button or cremini), sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced thin (about 2 cups)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• 4-6 slices of Swiss cheese
• Burger buns

Read More: Grilled Beef and Mushroom Burger