The Banzai Burger at Red Robin has been one of my faves since I first discovered it when I was living in Northern California in the ’80s: a burger marinated in teriyaki sauce with grilled pineapple, melted cheese, and mayonnaise, tomato, and lettuce on top.
Yum.
So, it was only natural that I work out how to make my own version at home. Then, a stroll though our local market’s bakery yielded these little, tiny pretzel rolls…
Sliders!
It was a match made in heaven, and I knew what I needed to do…
INGREDIENTS
Burgers:
•1 lb ground beef
•1 tbsp Peppercorn Salad Dressing mix*
•1/4 cup Mr. Yoshida’s Sauce**
•2 tbsp pineapple juice
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
Toppings:
•Pineapple slices
•Sherry Peppers Sauce
•Lettuce
•Tomato
•Sliced sweet onion
•Cheese (try this home made, all real ingredients, melting champ)
•Mayonnaise
•Yellow Mustard
•Pretzel Rolls
*Or onion soup mix.
**Or, you could make your own, and better, Terryaki sauce.
Whisk the Sherry Peppers Sauce together with the Mr. Yoshida’s and pineapple juice, then add to the ground beef along with the peppercorn dressing mix.
Work it all into the ground beef with your hands, then cover and stash in the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend.
Heat a grill pan over medium high heat and add the pineapple slices. Cook for four minutes, then brush with Sherry Peppers Sauce, flip, and cook for another four minutes, until both sides are nicely charred.
Pull the pineapple off the grill pan and set aside while you cook the burgers.
Form the marinated beef into six small burgers and arrange on the grill pan – I did four and then two so as not to crowd my grill pan.
Note: I used my new favorite, a Scanpan grill pan to cook the pineapple and the burgers. The sugars in the marinade and Sherry Peppers Sauce made a bit of a crust on the grill pan as I was cooking, but the Scanpan just takes a bit of a soak in hot, soapy water and then a wipe with a sponge or paper towels to clean completely. I like that in a grill pan!
Brush the burgers with a bit more Mr Yoshida’s, Terryaki (seriously, try this home made sauce – it’s wicked simple to toss together, and very, very good), or Sherry Peppers Sauce.
Cook the burgers for four minutes per side, then flip and cook for another four minutes, until they are cooked to your liking.
Remove the cooked burgers to a plate and keep warm while you cook the remaining burgers.
Return all the burgers to the grill pan and top with sliced cheese.
Cover the pan and set aside on the back of the stove to rest until the cheese has melted over the burgers in an ooey gooey blob of goodness.
Slather your pretzel rolls (you can toast ’em in the oven, if you like) with a bit of mayonnaise, then top with a burger, a lsice of grilled pineapple, sliced sweet onion, some lettuce, tomato, and, if you feel up to it, a bit of bright yellow mustard on top.
Settle back and enjoy your most excellent, home made, Banzai Burger Sliders.
Mebbe even a little bit better than the one offered at Red Robin, but, mine is not exactly an impartial opinion…