Salmon Burgers w/ Rice, Tartar & Runny Egg

I have rice sitting around. The other day I made a Salad w/ Baked Salmon & Tamari, Rice Wine Rice. As delicious as that recipe is! I don't particularly like eating the exact same thing every day. So, I'll take the leftover rice and make an Omelette w/ Broccoli, Tamari, & Rice Wine Rice or Fried Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Eggs. Although I absolutely do have to use the salmon from this dish as well! So, I opted for Salmon Burgers w/ Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce. And now I've been thinking... Can I combine the rice with the salmon in the same dish for something that is not a salad? More specifically, I have the somewhat devious idea of combining the salmon and rice together into a Salmon Rice Burgers.

My Culinary Process

Now, hear me out. Salmon burgers typically contain eggs and breadcrumbs to act as a binding agent. Although the rice that I already have is quite a sticky rice. I add enough fruits, vegetables, cooking wine, and tamari that it ends up being a stickier rice than most brown rice typically is. This made it slightly more difficult to fry when I made fried rice! But it does seem like something that would work in my favor for burgers. And a Chinese or Japanese-inspired burger isn't that far fetched. There are a plethora of delicious Asian burgers and with a cursory search of "Rice Burgers," I came across quite a few variations of burgers where the entire bun was made of sticky rice. This much more closely resembled sushi in a burger form (which, honestly sounds delicious!). However, it's gotten me thinking that I can probably add the salmon and the rice together to make a Salmon Burger w/ Tamari & Rice Wine Rice.

I did still add in the egg and the breadcrumbs to the salmon patties, though. As much as rice can act as a binding agent, an oily fish like salmon isn't all that easy to get to stick together! The egg and breadcrumbs do help immensely.

Gallery

Variations of Rice Salmon Burgers

I have been making a hodgepodge of dishes with rice and salmon lately. It's really been quite the delicious week! And a fun pick me up for the last of the blustery winter snow in Wisconsin. Really, it shouldn't be surprising that I've turned all of these recipes into a single dish. If there's a will, there's a way! At least when it comes to utilizing leftovers in exciting new ways.

Salad w/ Baked Salmon & Tamari, Rice Wine Rice

Salmon Burgers w/ Greek Yogurt Tartar Sauce

Fried Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Eggs

Salmon Burgers w/ Rice, Tartar & Runny Egg

These Rice Salmon Burgers consist of tamari and rice wine rice, salmon, avocados, runny egg, and freshly made tartar sauce with Greek yogurt. This is, admittedly, quite the hodgepodge of ingredients. But I absolutely enjoy discovering all of the ways to utilize leftovers and turn what I already have on hand into fresh new meals. This Chinese and Japanese-inspired burger is also quite delicious. I wasn't entirely sure about the tartar sauce? But I wouldn't change a thing! Even if the sweet potatoes and avocados give it a bit of a hipster flair. For how delicious this meal is? I'm okay being pegged as a millenial.

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Asian, Chinese, Japanese

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

Baking Sheet or Griddle
Oven
Medium Bowl
Skillet w/ Lid

Ingredients

Dutch Oven Rolls

472 ml. warm water ~100°F (2 c.)
7 g. instant yeast (2 ¼ tsp. or 1 package)
7 g. honey (or 2 tsp. granulated sugar, maple syrup, or brown sugar)
570 g. all-purpose flour (4 ¾ c.)
2 tsp. salt
oil to grease bowl

Rice Wine Rice

1 broccoli diced
1 red bell pepper diced
2 carrots sliced
1/2 shallot minced
2 red jalapeños minced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp. turmeric minced
1/2 c. rice cooking wine
1/2 c. tamari
2 c. brown Jasmine rice (or rice of choice)
6 c. water

Tartar Sauce

1 c. dill pickles minced
1/4 shallot minced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 red jalapeños minced
1 lemon juiced
1 c. Greek yogurt (or mayonnaise)
dash salt
dash pepper

Salmon Patties

1 fillet salmon (~1 lbs.)
1/2 c. rice wine rice
2 lemons sliced
dash salt
dash pepper
~1 tbsp. olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 c. bread crumbs
~1 tbsp. high heat oil

Sweet Potato Fries

1 sweet potato sliced
spritz olive oil
dash salt
dash pepper

Burger

1 roll
1 salmon patty
dollop tartar sauce
1/4 avocado sliced
1 egg fried

Instructions

Prepare Ingredients

This recipe utilizes a lot of things that you can make yourself or buy in a pinch. If you want to make everything from scratch, you will need to start a few hours ahead of time!
For a quicker recipe, you can always substitute store-bought burger buns, salmon patties, or tartar sauce.
Bake No-knead Dutch Oven Bread Rolls. You can easily buy burger buns. If you want to make it, though, this is a quick and easy recipe. The entire process takes about 3 hours, with no need to knead the bread or plan for days long proofs!
Cook Brown Rice w/ Broccoli, Bell Peppers, & Rice Wine. This takes about an hour and requires a rice cooker or stove. You can also easily create a different flavor profile or utilize the produce that you have on hand. I almost always keep a batch of rice or quinoa in the fridge for exactly this purpose.
Tartar Sauce is the easiest add-on to make. I highly recommend making it from scratch. The taste is far superior to store-bought varieties and only takes about 5-10 minutes to make. I also like to use Greek yogurt because I'm not a huge fan of mayonnaise! Although you can substitute it back in.

Make Salmon Patties

Note that in this recipe I only show one burger. Salmon patties are usually much easier to make in larger quantities, though. You'll also get more rolls and tartar sauce than necessary for a single serving! This will make 4 large patties or 6 small patties.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place salmon skin-side down on a baking sheet.
I usually use a cast iron griddle. However, the exact cooking method isn't as important here because you're just going to blend them together. If you don't have a nonstick pan or you want an easier cleanup, you can line it with aluminum foil.
Drizzle with olive oil and add a dash of salt and pepper. Slice a lemon and place evenly on top of the salmon.
You want just enough lemon and oil to cover the top of the salmon and keep it from burning as the inside cooks. Salmon is already an oily fish, so use sparingly.
Bake the salmon for 12-17 minutes, or until it begins to flake. Salmon tends to be cooked when it loses the bright color and you can take a fork and it easily separates. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Meanwhile, lightly oil a skillet and heat to medium.
Add eggs, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine.
When the salmon has reached a manageable temperature, flake into the bowl and stir to combine.
Separate into 4-6 equal-sized portions and form into round patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
Add salmon patties to the skillet and fry until lightly browned, about 3-5 minutes. Carefully flip and repeat on the other side. Add more oil as necessary to keep the pan lightly coated with oil.

Sweet Potato Fries

Cut potatoes lengthwise into roughly 1 inch wedges. For smaller potatoes, quartering them should be adequate. For larger potatoes, you might need to cut them into 6 pieces.
Lightly coat on all sides with salt, pepper, and oil.
Arrange potato wedges in the basket of the air fryer, making sure that there is space between them. It's okay if they touch a little because you will end up rotating them. However, there does need to be some air flow between the potatoes for them to crisp properly.
Cook at 400°F for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges have begun brown.
Rotate the potatoes, either by flipping them one by one or shaking the basket until the have turned over. If they're starting to brown or blacken too quickly, spritz with more oil.
Cook at 400°F for another 5-7 minutes. Cooking times will vary based on the size of the wedges and amount of oil.

Assemble Burgers

Slice the roll in half. Place the sliced sides down on the skillet and toast until it crisps.
Ordinarily I would look for golden brown, but that's not going to happen here because the roll is already black! Just cook until toasted, about 2-4 minutes.
Place the roll on a plate. Top the top side with tartar sauce.
Add avocado, lettuce, and any other ingredients that you desire to the top half of the roll.
Add salmon patty to the bottom of the roll.
Serve immediately.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

For more information on baking salmon, check out my articles on The Fundamentals of Oven Baked Salmon and Barbecue Salmon. I'm particularly fond of cooking on a well-seasoned cast iron griddle because you don't need additional oil or foil to to keep it from sticking. But there are certainly ways around this if you don't want to dedicate an entire cast iron pan to fish! Cooking salmon is also more of an art than a science. No two filets are going to cook in the exact same amount of time and there are definitely some tips and tricks to nailing the cook on fish.

This Page Contains Edited Images

As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images: