The Ultimate Umami Burger Recipe

Then I tasted the Umami Burger, Adam Fleischman's cross-cultural merger of Japanese ingenuity and American know-how. And I thought to myself, This is a man among burger men, worthy of our adulation even if he's always wearing a T-shirt.

The Ultimate Umami Burger Recipe

Don’t be afraid of the fish sauce. Understand the crucial umami factor that fish sauce brings to food and it will become your best pantry friend. So often, the powerful, pungent punch of fish sauce can be intimidating to cooks who aren’t familiar with it’s marinading magic.


Fish sauce is essentially the salty liquid from the fermentation of small fish and salt. But when used in small quantities, fish sauce brings fabulous umami savoriness to the burgers. It won’t taste like a “fish sauce burger.” It just tastes like a darn great burger! You’ll be a fish sauce marinade convert very quickly.

2 lbs Ground Beef
1 1/2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce (for more daring, savory depth, use 2 tablespoons)
2 cloves Garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ground Black Pepper
Hamburger buns
condiments of your choice

1. In bowl, combine all ingredients together.

2. Allow to marinade for about 20 minutes.

3. Gently form meat into a balls, then flatten into a patties. Cook on a skillet or grill. (1/2 patties on a med./high grill take about 3 min. per side for med. rare burger. Heat temp., thickness, etc. all affect cooking times)

recipe source