Portobello Pineapple Teriyaki Burgers

When ever I get hamburger at a restaurant, I always end up getting some sort of pineapple burger. I always tell myself I am going to try something new, but I always end up falling back to my favorite. My mouth is watering as I write this. While I do like a good hamburger at a restaurant every once in a while, I find myself cooking less and less with meat. I don’t really enjoy eating meat and I really don’t enjoy cooking with it. This burger completely satisfied my craving for a pineapple teriyaki burger, but I didn’t have to wash my hands twenty times before I felt like they were rid of raw meat germs.

I found this recipe at Whole Foods Market. I love Whole Foods. It is such a huge, fancy store and I love it. I always admire their beautiful produce, but it is quite expensive. Maybe someday I could afford to do all my grocery shopping there, but not for a long time. But I do like to go there occasionally and get things like “Forbidden Rice” and “Pink Madagascar Rice”. I found this recipe when I  went there the other day to get some bulk chia seeds and this delectable Black current apple cider drink (because I was craving apple cider in the spring):

This recipe is so easy! It’s a breeze to prepare and even meat lovers would enjoy this. The flavor from the sauce is sweet and tangy and I think I could drink it. If you like mushrooms and you just don’t want to deal with touching ground beef, give this recipe a try!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 4 Portobello mushrooms
• 1 can pineapple rings in pineapple juice
• 3 TBSP. soy sauce
• 2 TBSP. brown sugar
• 1 TBSP. minced garlic
• 1 TBSP. grated ginger
• 1 TBSP. toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 C. cold water
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• 4 hamburger buns
• toppings (cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, mayo, etc.)

Directions:

1. Pop the stem off of the mushrooms and scrape off the brown “gills” with a spoon. Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry. Set the mushrooms in a 9×13 baking dish. Put the pineapples in the dish too, but save the juice for the sauce.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 C. of the extra pineapple juice, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, and sesame oil. Pour sauce over the mushrooms and pineapples. Cover and put in the fridge to marinade for 1 or 2 hours. Turn the mushrooms and pineapple half way through.

3. After the mushrooms are done marinating, whisk together the cold water and cornstarch. Drain the marinade from the mushrooms and add it to the cornstarch mix. Heat to a boil, stirring occasionally. Let it boil for a minute or two more. Remove from heat.

4. Heat a small drizzle of oil in skillet (or use a grill) until sizzling. Cook the mushrooms and pineapple in the hot pan, flipping once. Toast the buns (here is a yummy bun recipe) and stack the mushrooms, pineapple, and what ever other topping you like. Use the thickened sauce as a dipping sauce. Save left over sauce for a spring roll dip (spring roll’s coming to this blog soon!) or as a stir-fry sauce.

Note: If you put the Portobello’s stem side up, it makes a nice little bowl for toppings. I topped mine with a very thin spread of mayo, sliced cherry tomatoes (I ran out of big tomatoes), yellow bell pepper, two pineapple rings (I think two is the magic number here), and lettuce fresh from my garden.

Recipe adapted from Whole Foods Market