As much as I love a nice low-carb/keto lettuce wrapped burger from In-N-Out, we often eat Japanese style hamburger steak too. Yes, these both technically have the term ‘hamburger’ in them, but that’s pretty much where all and any similarities end!
Japanese hamburgers are served with just the patty, a side of vegetables and some sauce, which makes it more of an À la carte kind of meal than an American style ‘burger’.
So if you’ve wondered what a Japanese hamburger taste like, here’s a low-carb/keto Japanese style hamburger steak with asparagus recipe just for you!
We start with your basic hamburger mix and form your patties. One of the main difference between American and Japanese style hamburger is the blend of the meat. Japanese burgers will use at least a 50% ground pork ratio as it’s believed that’s how you attain a nice soft burger.
From there, we add the various ingredients such as grilled onions, garlic, Unflavored Pork Rinds to replace the traditional bread crumbs, egg, half and half and various seasoning including the all so important nutmeg. The nutmeg seasoning is really what gives the distinguished flavor found in Japanese hamburger steaks.
Next, we cook it on a frying pan and once that’s done, we lather the hamburger in our low-carb/keto Japanese style demi-glace sauce.
Now, this sauce is what makes this dish! It’s a rich ketchup beef broth sauce that just makes the hamburger tastes so good and pairs perfectly with the nutmeg seasoned patty!
On top of that, it’s pretty easy to put together and at only ~2g net carbs per patties (including sauce), how can you say no!?!
For this dish, you will need Swerve/Monkfruit, Sugar-Free Ketchup and Unflavored Pork Rinds, all of which can be purchased on Amazon or a local specialty supermarket.
Now, let’s get cooking!
Prepping Time 20M
Cooking Time 10M
Total Time 30M
Net Carb/Serv ~3g
Serving 4 Patties
Ingredients
Hamburger
- 1/2 lb Ground Pork (fat>20% preferred)
- 1/2 lb Ground Beef (fat>20% preferred)
- 1/2 tbsp Butter
- 1/8 Onion
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 1 oz Unflavored Pork Rinds (2 tbsp if using Pork Panko)
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Egg
- 1 1/2 tbsp Half & Half
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 10 Asparagus Stalks
Demi-Glace Sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Butter
- 1 1/2 tsp Swerve/Monkfruit
- 4 1/2 tbsp Red Wine
- 4 1/2 tbsp Water
- 4 1/2 tbsp Sugar-Free Ketchup
- 4 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Directions
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) Dice onions. In a medium sized fry pan, add 1/2 tbsp butter on medium heat. Once butter is melted, add onion, cook until browned and set aside. Should take around 2-3 minutes.
3) Grate garlic with a grinder or a garlic press. Put into a large mixing bowl.
4) Pour Unflavored Pork Rinds into a food processor and pulse until ground into very fine crumbs and transfer into the mixing bowl. You can also use your hands to crush the pork rinds if you don’t have a food processor. Note – if you’re using Pork Panko, place directly into the mixing bowl.
5) In mixing bowl, add ground pork, ground beef, salt, pepper, egg, half & half, nutmeg, cooked onions from step 2). Combine with hands until mixed well.
6) Take 1/4 of the mix and throw from one hand to another while gently cupping the mix with the palm and hand forming a ball. Place the ball onto a plate and press down on it with the palm of your hand to form a patty. The patty should be around 1 inch thick. Afterwards, take your thumb and gently press and make an indent in the middle of the hamburger patty. This ensures the hamburger will retain it’s shape during the cooking process (otherwise it will expand upwards).
7) Boil enough water in a stove top pot to cook asparagus.
8) In the meantime, prepare asparagus by trimming off ends as needed and cutting it into halves.
9) Once the water is boiling, add asparagus and cook for 1.5 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached. Remove and set aside.
10) In a small fry pan, add 1 1/2 tbsp butter, red wine, water, Sugar-Free Ketchup, Swerve/Monkfruit and Worcestershire sauce on medium-low heat. Mix and reduce until the sauce thickens. Should be around 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat once thickened.
11) In a large fry pan, spray cooking oil and bring up to temperature on medium heat (about 2 minutes). Carefully place patties with indented side upwards, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until browned. Flip to the other side and repeat.
12) Once hamburgers are cooked, remove cover pour sauce on top. Swirl the large fry pan around and cook for 15 more seconds. Transfer hamburgers onto serving plate along with cooked asparagus. Drizzle remaining sauce onto of the hamburgers and asparagus. Enjoy hot!
Hope you enjoy your low-carb/keto Japanese Style Hamburger Steak with Asparagus!
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Japanese Style Hamburger Steak with Asparagus
Ingredients
Hamburger
- 1/2 lb Ground Pork fat>20% preferred
- 1/2 lb Ground Beef fat>20% preferred
- 1/2 tbsp Butter
- 1/8 Whole Onion
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1 oz Unflavored Pork Rinds or 2 tbsp pork panko
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1 1/2 tbsp Half & Half
- 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
- 10 Stalks Asparagus
Demi-Glace Sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Butter
- 1 1/2 tsp Swerve or Monkfruit
- 4 1/2 tbsp Red Wine
- 4 1/2 tbsp Water
- 4 1/2 tbsp Sugar-Free Ketchup
- 4 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Dice onions. In a medium sized fry pan, add 1/2 tbsp butter on medium heat. Once butter is melted, add onion, cook until browned and set aside. Should take around 2-3 minutes.
- Grate garlic with a grinder or a garlic press. Put into a large mixing bowl.
- Pour Unflavored Pork Rinds into a food processor and pulse until ground into very fine crumbs and transfer into the mixing bowl. You can also use your hands to crush the pork rinds if you don’t have a food processor. Note – if you’re using Pork Panko, place directly into the mixing bowl.
- In mixing bowl, add ground pork, ground beef, salt, pepper, egg, half & half, nutmeg, cooked onions from step 2). Combine with hands until mixed well.
- Take 1/4 of the mix and throw from one hand to another while gently cupping the mix with the palm and hand forming a ball. Place the ball onto a plate and press down on it with the palm of your hand to form a patty. The patty should be around 1 inch thick. Afterwards, take your thumb and gently press and make an indent in the middle of the hamburger patty. This ensures the hamburger will retain it's shape during the cooking process (otherwise it will expand upwards).
- Boil enough water in a stove top pot to cook asparagus.
- In the meantime, prepare asparagus by trimming off ends as needed and cutting it into halves.
- Once the water is boiling, add asparagus and cook for 1.5 minutes or until desired tenderness is reached. Remove and set aside.
- In a small fry pan, add 1 1/2 tbsp butter, red wine, water, Sugar-Free Ketchup, Swerve/Monkfruit and Worcestershire sauce on medium-low heat. Mix and reduce until the sauce thickens. Should be around 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat once thickened.
- In a large fry pan, spray cooking oil and bring up to temperature on medium heat (about 2 minutes). Carefully place patties with indented side upwards, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until browned. Flip to the other side and repeat.
- Once hamburgers are cooked, remove cover pour sauce on top. Swirl the large fry pan around and cook for 15 more seconds. Transfer hamburgers onto serving plate along with cooked asparagus. Drizzle remaining sauce onto of the hamburgers and asparagus. Enjoy hot!
Video
Nutrition
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yum yum yum. Really good. Thank you!
I made some changes because of lacking them in the house and it was still REALLY good. Changes I made were:
no pork rinds
all ground beef
no salt/pepper because I just for didn’t read carefully or forgot
changed out cream for half and half
In the demiglace, I changed red wine for red wine vinegar. Thank you. Thank you. You guys are great!!
You are very welcome and love the enthusiasm!! Using pork & pork rinds would be more juicy compared to beef and no rinds. All the other subs are minor and wouldn’t make a noticeable impact in the final dish IMO. Either way, glad you enjoyed the recipe!!
This came out so delicious! My demi-glace did not turn out as dark as yours, but it tasted great. Cant wait to try more of your recipes!
Hey Tom! So glad you liked the recipe and thanks for the feedback!