Featured comment
Hands down the best wild rice burger ever! I live in Duluth MN, and this beats any of the local burgers! We made a garlic aioli sauce and wow!!! Thank you so much!
Laurie
Wild Rice in BURGER form!
That is what we are bringing today for the last post in our Feeding a Broken Heart series.
And it’s totally appropriate that this is a post for Wild Rice Burgers, because a) wild rice burgers are other-worldly delicious:
HOW TO MAKE OUR WILD RICE BURGERS:
and b) because our good friends invited us over a few nights ago and served up the Minnesota good-friend-good-neighbor vibes by making us – yes, you know it – wild rice burgers.
The burger recipe comes from a restaurant in Duluth that I think just about every Minnesotan knows and loves. The Duluth Grill? Do you know it? The Duluth Grill specializes in what I would describe as diner food with a hipster feel – for a prime example, WILD RICE BURGERS. If you are wondering if this place has ever been on the classic Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, then you have the right idea. (And yes, it has been.) This restaurant packs in lots of vegetarian dishes, almost everything made from scratch, and zero pretenses.
So the only thing I can think of that would be better than eating a wild rice burger from the Duluth Grill is eating a wild rice burger in the comfort of your friends’ apartment where they ask you thoughtful questions and give you time and space to talk about this hard season of your life. Frank and Emma, you are awesome. ♡
When it comes to how to serve these crispy-chewy patties up, you’ve got a few choices. If you want to walk down the carb-on-carb road, the wild rice burgers can definitely go on a bun. Or bread. The original version of this burger at the Duluth Grill is actually served up on straight bread, patty-melt style.
Personally, I prefer the burger to stand on its own, and I usually melt a piece of cheese on top and top it with an olive-oil-arugula-avocado-hot-sauce combo. Should you add an egg for a breakfast situation? Maybe. Is it a burger salad? Maybe. Is it lacking a lil polish? Maybe.
But more importantly, is it a perfect ten for your hungry mouth? Yes.
After we lost Afton, I really didn’t know how I was going to get back into this. Blogging, I mean. Writing about recipes.
To be able to take my work and make it fit into my current mindset of grief and love has been beyond healing for me. And I owe that to you.
Thank you for not only supporting this little series but full-blown participating in it with us. We all love to hate on the internet sometimes, but dang. There are a lot of good things about the internet, and watching you guys engage with this series in honor of food, love and our son Afton has been one of them.
Now go make a wild rice burger and feel REAL GOOD about it.
Print
The Ultimate Wild Rice Burgers
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
These are THE ULTIMATE wild rice burgers and I might even say the best vegetarian burgers I’ve ever had. The recipe comes from the Duluth Grill Cookbook.
Ingredients
- 5 cups wild rice, cooked – see notes
- 1 cup fresh mushrooms, finely diced
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
- 1 cup panko (breadcrumbs)
- 4 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon each salt, pepper, and garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional, to taste, for heat)
- oil for the pan
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients.
- Using a 1-cup measuring cup, scoop up rice mixture and form into patties. If the mixture is too wet, just add another 1/2 cup of panko or pop it in the fridge for a few minutes to help it stick together.
- Heat a little bit of oil over medium high heat. Add the patties and pan fry until nicely browned on both sides.
- Top with slices of Muenster cheese. Serve on a bun (or not!) with barbecue sauce, hot sauce, magic green sauce, ALL THE SAUCE. Also arugula, avocado, and beyond. You’ve only just begun.
Notes
I found that 1 1/2 cups raw wild rice was about the right amount to yield 5 cups cooked wild rice.
This was served to us with a side of roasted cauliflower which was just total perfection. They went together beautifully.
To get your cheese nice and ooey-gooey, add it to the burgers for the last few minutes of pan frying and cover with a lid.
To make ahead or gift to someone, just freeze the burgers on a sheet pan until individually frozen solid and then store together in a freezer bag.
Worth noting that I have tried reducing the mayo but it never turns out as good. I do, however, add more mushrooms and as long as the ratios of all the other ingredients are as-written, it comes out great.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: wild rice burgers, wild rice recipe, vegetarian burgers
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our best sandwiches, burgers, and wraps page. Check it out!
These are SO good. I omit the mushrooms but keep coming back to them. I love making a batch and keeping them frozen to have when I make beef burgers for my fam!
The night I found this recipe I cried reading your story. 💞
Hi, and thanks for the recipe.
This is second double batch I’m making. I like to freeze them.
I’m wondering if you or anyone that have have tried air frying them?
Let me know!
Hello! The wild rice burgers sound soooo good! I can’t wait to make them. I’m serving Greek style pork at an upcoming dinner party. You mention the wild rice burgers are delicious alone. Do you think they’d go with my entire as a side dish??
I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks so much!
Can you use a wild rice blend?
We haven’t tried it so can’t say! The texture would definitely be different so can’t say for sure if it would work OK.
These are AMAZING. Since I found out I have celiac, I have been seriously missing the Brewhouse’s wild rice burgers, but these are just as good. With the calorie count, is that just for a burger patty (1), not with a bun? :0
Also, I order gf bread crumbs and gf panko online and use that with great success for the gf folks who posted.
. I’ve been searching for a best veggie burger recipe for a long time, and now this crunchy carmelized treat is our new standard recipe. Thanks for sharing and thanks for your blog
What can you substitute for mayonnaise in the wild rice burgers? Thanks!
I noticed that it contains a lot of cholesterol, do you know if it works by just using egg whites?
Love the Duluth Grill and the Wild Rice Melt is one of my favorites (with a side of Korean Brussel Sprouts)! I was so happy to come across this recipe. I’ll be making my first batch tomorrow. Thank you so much! 🙂
I have some cooked frozen wild rice I’d love to use up! Do you think it would work well in this recipe or is there another recipe that you would suggest?
That could work if you thaw it first!
Amazing! Made them tonight and live near DG… great recipe!!!
I’ve been making these since this recipe was posted.
Just coming back to say that this is an all-time favorite repeat recipe at this point and a staple of my freezer inventory. It cooks up well right from frozen and is even better fresh.
A family favorite.
Thank you!
Hi, I live in Duluth and have for all but 2 of my 80 yrs. I’ve made it a point to try the Wild rice burgers whenever I find them on a menu. so far I’ve had the one at Spirit Mts lower chalet,I think it’s called River View. It’s (or was) served on cranberry bread with cranberry mayo. New London Cafe in Lakeside is my favorite. It’s served with Adobo Mayo. I’ve tried the burgers at Fitgers and they were good but not memorable. Also had on at Blackwoods @ Proctor. I will make it a point to get to the Duluth Grill soon. I’ve also made my own and they were good but I didn’t write it down. I will probably try your recipe before making it to the Duluth Grill.
We hope you love them! Thanks so much for listing the restaurants/cities where you’ve tried other wild rice burgers. My family ventures up to Lutsen a handful of times each year and are always looking for new restaurants to try!
I’ve been so excited to make these burgers and finally did tonight. I got thumbs up from my husband and son (vegetarian) and I loved them too. I was a half cup short on wild rice and had to subtract the mushrooms, so added quinoa, which added some thickness and protein. I also added some smoked paprika. Definitely will make these again soon, with the mushrooms! Thank you!
OK, these tasted delicious and were easy to make, but all this mayo made me feel a bit sick after my burger. My brother-in-law, on the other hand, ate two and a half of them and had no complaints. So I recommend, but know they’re heavy!
Fat Grams seem to be off.
1.5 cups of Mayo has 240grams of fat
4 eggs is an additional 20 grams for a total of 260 for the entire recipe. Divided by 6 burgers comes to 43 fat grams per serving – not counting the oil used for cooking them. How can it only be 24.5 as stated in nutritional facts?
Great catch, Eileen. We’ve made some adjustments to the nutrition facts. Thanks!
Would you have a recommendation for a mayo substitute? It’s the one thing I won’t eat and can’t stand the taste in recipes. Thanks!!
You could try plain Greek yogurt or sour cream!
My husband can’t have wild or brown rice. Do you think white rice would be okay?
We haven’t tried these burgers with white rice before, but we don’t think it’ll work well and won’t have quite the same flavor.
I just have to tell you– this recipe is part of regular dinner rotation. I come back to it again and again. I form the patties and bake them and then normally freeze half of them!
Thank you!!!
Great idea to freeze some of them!
I tend to cook my wild rice till it pops. For the burgers, do you cook it a little less? That is what it looks like in the picture
We just cook the wild rice according to the package instructions. 😉
just came to say I went looking for a recipe after eating from duluth grill for the past week.. funny, tiny world! Have a happy duluth day 🙂
Awesome burgers. I loved your Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs but I love these even more! I did put my cooked wild rice and the mushrooms in the cusinart to get a finer texture but that’s the only thing I did differently. Thank you for a delicious recipe.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed these burgers, Annie!
I don’t usually post on recipe blogs, but I just had to say how delicious this was. I made it exactly as the recipe states, and it was just absolutely divine. Making it again this weekend for a friend who doesn’t eat dairy. Thanks so much!
So glad you enjoyed these burgers, Hannah!
I haven’t made this yet, but is there a particular type of mushrooms that would be best suited for this recipe? We’ve never been to the Duluth grill, but coming home from Duluth, we stopped in Cloquet at a place called Gordy’s Drive-in (great place – highly recommend). My wife had a wild rice burger there that she loved! I’m hoping this recipe will be close to what she had…
We like using cremini mushrooms or white button mushrooms.
Hands down the best wild rice burger ever! I live in Duluth MN, and this beats any of the local burgers! We made a garlic aioli sauce and wow!!! Thank you so much!