Mushroom Burger Bowl With Special Sauce Recipe

If you love all the components of a burger but are looking for something a little crunchier and lighter, then this mushroom burger bowl recipe from developer Tess Le Moing just might be the perfect compromise. "I love that this is a burger disguised as a salad," Le Moing says. "It's all the same ingredients and components as a burger — and tastes like one — but there's a little more lettuce." Also, in this twist on a classic mushroom burger, Le Moing sneaks in all the necessary ingredients in the form of French duxelles, a mince of mushrooms with alliums and herbs fried up in butter. This adds a rich umami depth to the otherwise bright fresh salad and perfectly complements a light scattering of Gruyère to top everything off.

While there are quite a few delicious components to this mushroom burger bowl, Le Moing can't help but highlight a particular one — the hamburger bun croutons. "They're so light and airy compared to other croutons that are more dense and hard," she says, so even if the bun isn't your favorite aspect of a typical burger, it just might be in a burger bowl. Aside from the mushroom beef mixture, lettuce, burger toppings, and bun croutons, there's also a zippy special sauce to top it all off, because no burger (or bowl) would be complete without that special something to tie the whole thing together.

To start, you can gather up all the ingredients you'll need for the special sauce: mayonnaise, ketchup, Dijon mustard, minced dill pickles, pickle juice, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper. As for the croutons, you'll need hamburger buns, olive oil, salt, and some more black pepper.

As for the (literal) meat of the recipe — the herbed mushroom burger — you'll need fresh mushrooms (cremini, white button, oyster, or shiitake would all work), butter, shallot, garlic, dried thyme, white wine vinegar, ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Once all the components of the bowl are ready to go, it's just a matter of assembling, for which you'll need romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion, dill pickles, and some optional Gruyère cheese for topping.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

For the special sauce, combine the mayo, ketchup, Dijon, pickles, pickle juice, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper in a mixing bowl and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

For the hamburger bun croutons, toss the hamburger bun pieces, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl.

Arrange the croutons on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring once halfway, until golden brown.

For the mushroom burger, trim and finely chop the mushrooms.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the mushrooms, shallots, garlic, and thyme.

Saute until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, about 7 minutes.

Stir in the white wine vinegar, cook until evaporated, then transfer the mixture to a bowl.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to the now empty skillet.

Add the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

Break up the beef into small pieces using a wooden spoon and cook until it's no longer pink.

Stir in the mushroom mixture and remove from heat.

To assemble the burger bowls, divide the lettuce between bowls.

Top with the cooked mushroom-beef mixture, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion, pickles, and croutons.

Drizzle each bowl with special sauce and top with Gruyère, if desired, and serve.

If you find yourself with leftovers, every component of the bowl can be repurposed in other salads, dips, or sandwiches, but perhaps none is quite as versatile as the mushroom and beef mince. Le Moing tells us that there are many ways to get creative with the leftover mushroom burger mixture. "To transform it into a completely different dinner, you can add the leftover beef mixture to a grain bowl or fried rice with other veggies and a fried egg," Le Moing suggests. She also notes that you can add the mixture to hollowed-out bell peppers or zucchini. For a quick, flavorful weeknight meal, use the mushroom and beef mixture to bulk up a pasta dish alongside a jar of marinara sauce. Finally, she notes that the beefy mixture also works wonderfully as a taco or quesadilla filling.

If you have leftovers and enjoyed this salad as is so much you want to eat it on repeat, that's an option too, and Le Moing notes that all leftovers will last about five days. "If you're meal prepping and plan to bring this salad to work for lunch, you can add all the components to a meal prep container but store the special sauce in a separate container and dress your salad just before eating," she suggests. As for those delicious croutons, be sure to store them separately in a resealable bag at room temperature. 

The beauty of most bowl recipes is that they're so easily customizable — you can omit or add things at virtually any step of the way — and this mushroom burger bowl is no exception. Take the sauce, for example — you can make it spicy by adding sriracha or another hot sauce, or you can add an earthy herbaceous touch with the addition of dill, parsley, or chives. Want to switch up the croutons? Le Moing suggests taking a garlic-Parmesan approach, using whole wheat or multigrain buns as the base, or tossing the croutons in Italian seasoning.

As for the mushroom burger mixture itself, there's also room to change things up. "Use a mix of wild mushrooms like porcini, chanterelles, and portobello for a deeper flavor," Le Moing suggests. Alternatively, swap out the ground beef for ground turkey, or omit the meat altogether and use a plant-based beef alternative.

Finally, perhaps the easiest way to customize this burger bowl is to use whatever toppings you like best on your burger. As a few add-ons, Le Moing notes that bacon bits or a fried egg would both add extra savory flavor and richness to your final dish.