Chesapeake Shrimp Burger

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know I LOVE a good shrimp burger. We’re making today’s a tad differently than usual. But, we’re still loading it up with all the Old Bay, stuffing it in a fluffy brioche bun, and schmearing it with a refreshing lemon aioli.

Yes, it’s as incredibly delicious as it sounds. So, let’s get to it!

Let’s start with the heart and soul of this burger…the shrimp. We’re going to start with raw, peeled shrimp. Typically, I’d put all the shrimp in a food processor and grind it up. But for this burger, we’re going to leave a little texture in the burger. So, we’re going to process half of the shrimp in a food processor with some Old Bay, celery, shallot, and fresh parsley; and we’ll quickly pulse it until it resembles ground meat. Then, we’re going to rough chop the remaining shrimp, stir that into the ground shrimp with some panko, and form the mixture into burger sized patties. Now, I’m not going to lie to you. Ground shrimp is not the most pleasant thing you’ll ever work with. It’s sticky and grey and awkward. But I promise you, it will all be worth it in the end.

We’re going to let the burgers rest in the fridge for a little bit which will help keep them together while they cook. Then, we’ll pan fry them in a little oil until they’re golden and crisp on the outside while being perfectly juicy and pink on the inside.

While the burgers are resting, we can make our lemon bay-oli. We just need a little lemon juice, some lemon zest, a little Old Bay, a pinch of garlic powder, and some mayo. That’s it! Mix it all together…BAM…aioli! It truly could not be any easier. And you can even make this aioli in advance, pop it in the fridge, and give the flavors even more time to hang out and meld together.

And, that’s all the prep that’s required for this burger! We’re going to toast our brioche buns, give them a healthy schmear of that delicious aioli, throw on some lettuce to say we got our veggies, and load on that perfectly cooked burger patty. It truly couldn’t be any easier to have a unique and incredible seafood burger on your plate!

The inspiration for the flavor of this burger was a classic shrimp salad. And, I think we nailed it. The burger is perfectly savory, but you still get those naturally sweet notes from the shrimp. And, it really is a nice textural component to have some ground and some chunks of shrimp in each bite. It’s a little unexpected but gives you a great mouthfeel. Then, you have the slightly tangy lemony aioli dripping over the warm burger. You have cool, crisp lettuce doing its very best job as a supporting actor. And, that lightly toasted buttery brioche bun just seals the deal and brings it all home.

I cannot wait to hear what you think of this one. I’m sitting here drooling as I’m thinking about this burger, so you know that means it’s a definite winner.

I hope you guys love it, enjoy, and let’s eat!