Crispy Prawn Burgers

Prawn burgers (shrimp burgers) are bizarrely hard to find – but you can make them at home in under 30 minutes! Crispy prawn patties, juicy inside, sandwiched in soft buns slathered with creamy-sweet-savoury Bang Bang Sauce, I’d expect to pay upwards of $30 for this at a trendy bistro.

Good prawn burgers are weirdly hard to come by. The ones I’ve tried have either been disturbingly bouncy (like over-firm Thai fish cakes), dry from overcooking, or just plain lacking in prawn flavour (I suspect….fillers!).

This homemade version fixes all that. I also like that it’s a great prawn recipe where it doesn’t really matter whether the prawns have been freshly plucked out of the ocean, or came in frozen bags from the grocery store. Freshly peeled prawns have a softer, juicier texture which is really noticeable in dishes like Garlic Prawns, whereas in prawn burgers, the difference is not as stark!

Use pillowy soft buns for the best eating experience and your favourite seafood sauce. I’ve gone with Bang Bang Sauce today, inspired by the flavours of the ever-popular Bang Bang Shrimp – crispy prawns tossed in a creamy-spicy sauce, a match made in heaven. Yes, that’s coming here soon!

Ingredients in prawn burgers

Here’s what you need to make these crunchy crispy prawn burgers!

1. For the crunchy crumbed PRAWN PATTIES

Prawns (shrimp) – You’ll need 400g/14 oz fresh (peeled yourself) or 500g/1 lb frozen raw prawns, which will lose about 100g/3 oz of water once thawed (frozen seafood releases a lot of liquid!).
Garlic – Blitzed up with the prawn for terrific fresh garlic flavour.
Green onion – For a touch of fresh flavour and nice little green specks. Wouldn’t be a deal breaker if you skipped this, or substitute with 2 tablespoons of very finely minced onion (any colour).
Panko breadcrumbs – Larger pieces than regular breadcrumbs for a crunchier crust!
Egg and flour – To make the panko stick. Just regular plain flour (all-purpose flour).

2. FOR THE BURGER

Soft buns – My top-shelf choice is brioche buns, for the pillowy softness, slightly sweet and buttery flavour. Else, any soft roll or bun will work, or you can cut rounds out of sandwich bread (I’ve seen this at restaurants, looks terrific and quite gourmet, with neat uniform rounds).
Lettuce – Finely sliced, so it sits nicely.
Gherkins – I use larger ones finely sliced into rounds. If you have smaller ones you can always finely chop and scatter.
Sauce options – I’ve used Bang Bang Sauce because prawns + creamy-sweet-barely-spicy sauce is a win! However, any sauce you enjoy with prawns or seafood will be terrific here – Tartare Sauce, Seafood Sauce, Aioli (please remind me to share a recipe!) or even a squirt of good ole’ ketchup!

How to make prawn burgers

I like to blitz half the prawns which turns into a paste and holds the patty together (no egg needed for binding) while the rest is chopped up and stirred through the mixture so you get nice little prawn chunks in the burger.

Chop the prawns up into small pieces, just under 1cm / 0.2″.
Blitz half the prawns using a stick blender with garlic until it becomes pasty. No need to be super meticulous about ensuring every little bit is blitzed, because we stir in prawn chunks anyway.

Prawn patty mixture – Scrape the prawn paste into a bowl and mix by hand with the remaining chopped prawns, green onion, salt and pepper.
Form balls – Using slightly wet hands to prevent the mixture from sticking, roll the mixture into 4 balls.

Flour – Working one ball at a time, coat in flour and shake off excess. Note: The mixture is quite soft so I find it’s easier for handling to do the dredging steps in ball form then press into pattiy shapes at the end.
Egg – Then roll in the egg, and allow the excess to drip off.

Panko – Place the ball in panko breadcrumbs and press down into a patty. Make it a smidge larger than the size of the burger bun, bearing in mind it will shrink slightly and become a little thicker as it cooks.
Flip using a spatula and press down to make the panko adhered. Reshape as needed – the edges might crack, your patty might not be a perfect circle when you squish it (gasp shock horror!)

Cooking and assembling

Patties made, let’s cook! Though you get a more even golden surface if you deep fry rather than pan fry, I figure it doesn’t really matter because once assembled in the burger, nobody can see the surface!

Repeat – use all the prawn mixture to make 4 crumbed patties in total.
Cook – Heat oil in a non stick pan over medium high heat (or even medium, if your stove is strong). Cook the prawn patties for 2 minutes on each side until golden, then remove onto a paper towel lined tray.

TIP: The sides of your prawn patties should go golden from the oil splattering up the sides as it cooks, but if not, you can just stand them on the side and roll across the pan – they will colour almost on contact. I didn’t do it for the recipe video but for the photos I did.

Bang Bang Sauce – Just mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce and sriracha. Mix, then it’s ready to use! See ingredients section or recipe card for other sauce suggestions.
Assemble – I always have a specific order in which I build burgers and sandwiches! For prawn burgers, this is how I do it: smear base with sauce, place prawn patty on top. Cover with gherkin slices, pile on shredded lettuce then top with a sauce smeared lid. READY TO EAT!

Gold standard would be to serve these with a side of homemade French fries, but that was out of reach for me today. So I just baked some frozen ones.

As for getting ahead, they can be crumbed then kept in the fridge for a few hours but I wouldn’t do it too far ahead as the salt in the prawn mixture will draw moisture out and make the panko soft. Which is fine if it’s just a bit as it will crisp up when cooked, but if you leave it too long you’ll compromise the crispiness. Nobody wants a soggy prawn burger.

In all honesty, I can’t remember the last time I saw a prawn burger on a menu. So I really hope you get to try this! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Crispy Prawn Burgers – RecipeTin Eats