Looking for a new burger to try this summer? Look no further than this recipe for Asian-Style Burgers topped with low sodium Kimchi.
It’s summertime and that means breaking out the grill. What better way to celebrate than with a delicious burger? These burgers take a little bit of planning ahead, but are totally worth it. With notes of sesame, soy, and a little kick of spice, they are a great addition to any weeknight meal.
When we went to Korea a couple of years ago, we had all kinds of delicious foods. It was a challenge for Joe to stick to a low sodium diet, but we were able to find all kinds of things that he could eat without throwing his diet out of whack. Anyway… the trip inspired me to try making some Kimchi at home. I found a really great recipe from Sodium Girl for a Low-Sodium Kimchi Umami Burger. She uses a salt-free chili paste in her recipe, but I couldn’t find one so I decided to try sriracha instead. It does add some sodium, but spread across four servings, it ends up adding 60 mg per sodium per serving. Joe’s diet can tolerate this, but if yours is limited, you can cut back on the sriracha or use your favorite salt-free chili paste.
Make ahead tips:
Since the kimchi has to rest for a few hours in the fridge before you eat it, it is the sort of recipe that you can’t throw together at the last minute. But I have good news! you can make everything ahead and pull it out on a weeknight for a quick dinner. Here are some of my tips.
- Mix the meat up ahead. You can mix up the meat and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days. So you could mix it up on a weekend and pull it out on weeknight, form into patties, and cook.
- Make the kimchi ahead. Since the kimchi needs to rest a while in the fridge to let the flavors develop, this is the step that takes the most time. You can mix it up a few days ahead and pull it out for an easy weeknight meal.
- If you are ambitious and decide to make your own bread, mix it up on the weekend. Following the Favorite White Bread recipe, mix up the bread through the first rise (step 5 in the recipe). Punch the dough down and refrigerate until you are ready to use. Allow the dough to rest at room temp for about 45 minutes before shaping into buns. Allow the buns to rise on the pan for about 30 minutes. Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes. The Favorite White Bread recipe will make 24 buns. I usually split the dough in half to make it into one loaf and 12 buns.
Asian-Style Burgers with Kimchi
SODIUM COUNT: 181 mg per serving; 723 mg in the entire recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
Kimchi:
- ½ cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp sriracha
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 cloves garlic ((crushed))
- 3 cups Napa cabbage ((washed and chopped into chunks))
- 1 scallion ((sliced))
Burgers:
- 20 ounces lean ground beef*
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 clove garlic ((crushed))
- ½ tsp fresh ginger ((grated))
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Kimchi
- In a small saucepan, stir together the rice vinegar, sugar, sriracha, ginger, and garlic. Add the cabbage and stir to coat.
- Turn the heat to medium and allow it to cook until the cabbage begins to soften. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
- Once it has cooled a bit, add the scallions. Transfer the cabbage and juices to a sterilized glass jar and pack the cabbage down. If the juices don’t cover the cabbage, add a bit of water until it is covered.
- Put the jar in the refrigerator and allow the flavors to mature for at least 4 hours.
Burgers
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. It is easiest to use your hands to mix the meat thoroughly.
- Divide the meat into four balls. Shape the balls into patties.
- Preheat your grill or griddle and cook over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. On our grill, we cook these burgers on medium heat for 4-5 minutes per side. Your grill or griddle may vary slightly.
- To serve, top each burger with kimchi. The burgers are great open-faced, wrapped in lettuce, or on a low sodium hamburger bun made from the Favorite White Bread recipe on this site.
Notes
* The nutritional information here reflects 93/7 ground beef.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Burger with Kimchi: Yield: 4 servings (1 burger and ¼ of the kimchi)
Sodium: 180.7 mg, Calories: 210.0, Total Fat: 8.0 g, Saturated Fat: 3.2 g, Cholesterol: 77.9 mg, Carbohydrates: 5.4 g, Fiber: 0.9 g, Sugar: 3.3 g, Protein: 27.9 g.
Burger ONLY: Yield: 4 servings (1 burger)
Sodium: 114.7 mg, Calories: 187.3, Total Fat: 7.9 g, Saturated Fat: 3.2 g, Cholesterol: 77.9 mg, Carbohydrates: 0.4 g, Fiber: 0.0 g, Sugar: 0.0 g, Protein: 27.1 g.
Kimchi ONLY: Yield: 4 servings (¼ of the kimchi)
Sodium: 66.1 mg, Calories: 22.8, Total Fat: 0.1 g, Saturated Fat: 0.0 g, Cholesterol: 0.0 mg, Carbohydrates: 5.0 g, Fiber: 0.8 g, Sugar: 3.3 g, Protein: 0.9 g.
When I got the email with this recipe I was intrigued with the coleslaw recipe as I love Korean food. I just made it with some slight changes and it is delicious! I did not cook it.
I used bagged coleslaw mix and added 3 finely chopped scallions, 2 T roasted sesame seeds and about 1/4 cup crushed peanuts.
I did add more sugar and less sriracha because I had some Jarred Korean fried Chili pepper flakes in oil. I also added 2 teaspoons of sesame seed oil. Mixed that all up with the rest of the dressing ingredients and poured it over the coleslaw. Let it sit in the fridge for a while and it is so good!
I will try the burgers soon!
Thank you for all your low sodium efforts!
★★★★★