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.
Crispy prawn burgers
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 (Shrimp)
Ingredients
Prawn patties
- 400g / 14oz fresh OR 500g/1lb frozen raw peeled prawns (shrimp) (Note 1)
- 1 garlic , minced
- 1/4 cup green onion , finely sliced
- 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Crumbing:
- 1 egg , lightly whisked with a fork
- 1/2 cup plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 1 1/4 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup olive oil , or any neutral flavoured oil (vegetable, canola etc)
Burgers:
- 4 brioche buns (10-12cm / 4-5" wide) or other soft white buns, lightly toasted
- 1 1/2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce or cos lettuce (romaine)
- Gherkins , finely sliced
- Bang Bang Sauce (recommended!), Tartare Sauce (use this one), Peri-naise, even ketchup!
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE
- Blitz half prawns and garlic, mix with rest of pattie ingredients. Roll into balls, dredge in flour, egg, then flatten into patty in panko, flip to coat. Fry 4 minutes until golden, assemble burgers.
FULL RECIPE
- Thaw – If using frozen prawns, thaw thoroughly and discard excess water (you lose ~20% in weight in water), then chop into 8mm / 1/3" pieces.
- Blitz – Put half the prawns and garlic in a jug large enough to fit the head of a stick blender. Blitz until it becomes a paste (no need to puree 100% perfectly).
- Prawn patties mixture – Scrape into a bowl. Mix in the chopped prawns green onion, salt and pepper. The mix will be sloppy, but don’t worry – it firms up as it cooks, and the shaping method handles the softness. 🙂
- Dredging station – Put the egg and flour in separate shallow bowls, and the panko on a plate (need squishing space).
- Crumb – Using slightly wet hands, roll mixture into 4 balls. Coat ball in flour, then egg (let the excess drip off), then press down into a patty in the panko. Make it a smidge larger than the size of your bun (it shrinks a wee bit). Flip using a spatula, press down to adhere panko and make sure to coat the sides. Remove with a spatula onto a plate, repeat with remaining balls.
- Cook – Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat. Cook patties for 2 minutes on each side until golden, then remove onto a paper towel lined tray.
- Assemble burgers as follows – smear base with sauce. Top with prawn patty, cover with gherkins, pile on lettuce. Smear lid with sauce, place on top, EAT! (Homemade fries on the side are the ultimate sidekick but were out of reach today, so I used frozen).
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Prawns, prawns, prawns!
Or shrimp – if you’re in the States. 🙂
Life of Dozer
The CEO has introduced a new rule: all staff must bring their comfort toy to work. Here he is, leading by example.
He encourages a culture of outperformance.
These were delicious. I’m glad I was only cooking for two, because after starting with almost 16 ounces of frozen shrimp, after thawing, peeling and de-veining them, I only had 10 ounces left over! Very surprising. (Wild caught with no added STP or sodium.)
Take that into account if you use frozen.
DELISH. I made these for dinner tonight as I had 500gr bag of frozen prawns to be used. What a great way to cook with prawns. The BangBang sauce was tasty. I went easy on the Siracha sauce this time but will use a bit more next time.
A very tasty light meal.
Thanks Nagi
Hi Nagi, As I write this, we are mourning the loss of our beloved cat, Luna, just the other day. We need all the comfort toys we can get at this time. It still gives us joy to see Dozer and I have pretty much saved all of your pics and anecdotes about him. Still a piece of our hearts has been taken away and it will be some time before we can feel better. Sorry to darken everyone’s day but know that we share love of all animals.
Another brilliant recipe – so very grateful for you, Nagi! Worked exactly as written 😀
Absolutely smashing. Easy to make and turned out great. Mine patties were quite thick so after I did the pan fry I put in the air fryer for 5 mins and they were perfect.
Another great and delicious recipe, really enjoyed it.
As with all recipies I have to take your prep and cook times with a big pinch of salt.
It maybe if you have a large kitchen completely setup without having to get anything out of a cupboard or having to clear up as you go to make way for the ongoing prep/cook you may get within double the time predicted. I haven’t managed to complete one of the many recipies I have used and much enjoyed from recipetineats otherwise terrific site in anywhere near the times predicted.
NOT a critisism but maybe useful to know before starting out.
Easy, tasty recipe that everyone loved. Fresh tiger prawns worked very well. I chopped them by hand and didn’t bother blitzing them. They were easy to handle and the patties were not delicate. Bang bang sauce was a hit!
Absolutely delicious!!! Making again this weekend for friends. Love the Bang Bang sauce – that will find many more uses in my kitchen! Thank you Nagi, you are my number one go to when trying new recipes !!
Made this recipe last night. My wife and I absolutely love this! We have not seen this burger on the menu here in California. Delicious!
Hi Nagi,
I was readiing through this recipe before trying to cook it and I stumbled over the amount of garlic. Do you REALLY mean a whole head, just some, or one clove, which would have been my guess.
Delicious!!! We made these tonight and they were so yummy, family favourite incoming
Made these for Saturday night dinner with the bang bang sauce, gherkins, lettuce and brioche buns as recommended and they were delicious. Very quick and easy – mixture a bit messy but worth it.
It is a bit sticky Michelle! Did you wet your hands before touching it? It won’t stick if you do that! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it though!! – N xx
Would there be much variation to make this more of a Ebi Katsu Sando?
Nope. Just use very finely shredded cabbage (ie Japanese fine!), soft white bread (shape the prawn patty to fit your bread), and tartare sauce instead of Bang Bang Sauce (skip the gherkins) 🙂 – N xx
I’ve just made these for dinner. Wow! The mixture for the patties was pretty sloppy so I wasn’t sure they were going to survive the cooking. I deep fried them instead of pan frying. They survived and my expectations were tripled with the result! Such a great flavour and they turned out beautifully! Can’t wait to make them again
I’m SO GLAD you enjoyed them Nicole!!! Yes the mixture is very soft, I should emphasise it more it seems as someone else said the same 🙂 Glad you persevered and had enjoyed them! – N xx
Nagi does it again
What a great burger, crispy, flavorful, acid contrast, just amazing.
I’m SO GLAD you enjoyed it Kelsey!! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know! – N x
I have an allergy to peppers including chili, watercress, capsicum, and quite a number of other items. Do you have a good substitute I could use please instead of the sweet chili sauce. I can usually sort out substitutes myself but I cannot work out a good sub for this.
Kind regards Judy
Hi Judy! Just use the tartare sauce option linked in the ingredients 🙂 It is SO good with that too, I was actually turn which to share! – N x
I also have issues with peppers, capsicum and basil and not into anything too spicy.
I use Heinz Seriously Good Caramelised Onion Aioli (Coles carry this product but not Woolworths). A few quirts of the Heinz aioli mixed with a tablespoon or two two of Masterfoods Seafood sauce is delicious and worth trying.
I don’t eat prawns but I made this for my husband and a friend and they said it was absolutely delicious. It was very easy to make and I didn’t have it as a burger but put the patties on top of shredded lettuce and tomato with the sauce. Looked fabulous.
Lucky husband!! So glad they enjoyed it Anne, thanks for letting me know they enjoyed it! – N x
I don’t eat prawns but I made this for my husband and a friend and they said it was absolutely delicious. It was very easy to make and I didn’t have it as a burger but put the patties on top of shredded lettuce and tomato with the sauce. Looked fabulous.
I don’t eat shellfish is there a sub for the prawns?
Fish! Or lobster, Morton bay bugs, scallops 🙂 – N x
I can’t wait to try these, but I have one question can these be done in the air fryer instead of fried in oil on the stovetop?
Hi Ginger! I haven’t tried but am sure it can be, hoping an air fryer expert reader will try it and let us know! N x
This was my question too! Im happy to experiment!