Japanese Hamburger Steak

Discover how easy Discover how easy it is to make this zesty Japanese hamburger steak. It’s delightfully low carb – only 3 grams of net carbs per steak!

Article Index

• Ingredients
• Quick tips
• Instructions
• ️ Serving suggestions
• FAQs
• Storage
• Related recipes
• Recipe

I love discovering new recipes. Staying within my low-carb limits is so much easier when the food is fun to eat.

These Japanese hamburger steaks actually remind me of pan-fried meatloaf patties, but with a tangy brown gravy drizzled over the top.

Keep reading and learn how to make these scrumptious little steaks.

Ingredients

The good news is, this recipe uses really common ingredients that you can find at the grocery store.

Ground Beef

The hamburger steak is made with ground meat, preferably beef. But you could try using meats like sausage, pork, chicken, or turkey to change it up. You can even mix different meats together!

Onions

Onions add flavor and a little extra volume for the patties.

Heavy Cream

Liquid is needed to add moisture to the meat patties and it's used to help offset the dryness of the mock breadcrumbs.

Pork Rinds

Since the recipe is low-carb, crushed pork rinds are used as the keto breadcrumbs.

Egg

Just like meatloaf, an egg is needed to bind the ground meat together with the added ingredients. But the yolk also adds flavor and richness to the meat. The whole eggs adds moisture too.

Seasonings

The meat is seasoned with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, salt, and ground black pepper.

NOTE: Scroll to the bottom of this post to find a printable recipe card that has the full list of ingredients you will need to make this Japanese Hamburger Steak.

Quick tips

• Use frozen diced onions to save time. The onions give it flavor and while fresh onions have more flavor, frozen ones will save you lots of time.
• Choose high-quality ground beef. The lower the fat content, the healthier it is for you (and less grease you need to drain).
• Make your own low-carb Worcestershire sauce. Jarred sauce in the store is made with sugar, so use my recipe for a low-carb Worcestershire sauce.
• Use a red cooking wine. If you want to use a drinking wine, Merlot is silky with low tannins. It cooks well with red meats like ground beef and steak.
• Unflavored pork rinds are best. The pork rinds are there to give the steaks texture. Don’t use flavored pork rinds unless you want to alter the flavor profile.

Instructions

The first thing you need to do to make the Japanese hamburger steak mixture is to grab yourself a really big bowl and a spatula. Some people swear the best way to mix a meatloaf is with your hands but I don't agree.

Combine the ingredients

I prefer to use a large rubber spatula to combine the ingredients. If the spatula is too small, it won’t be able to grab the meat really well.

It's also much easier to mix everything together when you have enough room! If the bowl is too small, the ingredients will fall out over the top and sides.

Cook hamburger steak in frying pan

The steaks will shrink as they cook. I suggest frying them in a large skillet with tall sides.

Also, don’t overcrowd the skillet either. Leave a little room in between the meat patties so that they are able to cook completely.

️ Serving suggestions

There really isn’t a “right” or “best” way to serve a Japanese hamburger steak. I decided to serve them “protein-style” and I have to say- They look beautiful sitting on a bed of fresh green lettuce.

You can also serve them with your favorite steamed vegetables, a chopped salad, or a bowl of cauliflower rice!

The sauce from the steaks will taste really delicious if you serve these little steaks with mashed cauliflower.

FAQs

Although this is a really simple recipe, I wanted to answer a few questions first. Glance over them – your questions might be one of them.

What is a Japanese Hamburger Steak?

In Japan, this is called “hamburg” or “hambagu.” This is more of a western-style food – it’s not traditional Japanese food – that families in Japan love to cook.

Even though it has the word hamburger in it, it doesn’t have the same texture as what we know of as hamburgers. Instead, it looks and tastes more like meatloaf.

You could almost call these “low-carb meatloaf patties.” They taste amazing!

What Is The Best Type of Meat For This Recipe?

Traditionally, people combine ground beef and ground pork together to make Japanese hamburger steak. In fact, supermarkets in Japan sell packages where those two meats are already combined.

For our purposes, I suggest using ground round or ground sirloin. They have the lowest fat content, so they are the healthiest options for the hamburg steak.

Is Red Cooking Wine Keto-Friendly?

The rule with wines is, the sweeter it tastes, the more sugar is left behind in the wine. That’s why so many people suggest using dry wines to cook with, especially if you are on a low-carb diet.

Merlot is a very dry wine without much residual sugar left in it.

If you look on the nutrition label of cooking wine from the condiment section, it lists 1 gram of sugar in about 2 tablespoons.

Is Ketchup Keto-Friendly?

In general, ketchup isn’t normally keto-friendly. Most ketchup sold in the store has lots of sugar in it.

I recommend buying sugar-free ketchup or even making your own sauce right at home!

If you take a look at some of my other recipes, you’ll see that I have made homemade low-carb ketchup that has the perfect taste and texture. For this recipe, you will need canned tomatoes, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, and a list of perfect spices.

Storage

Freezing

If you are going to freeze the Japanese hamburger steak, I suggest freezing the raw patties before you fry them.

This recipe has a zesty brown sauce that you make during the cooking process. If you try to freeze the fully-cooked steaks, this sauce will freeze with it and the texture won’t be the same when you try to reheat it.

Keep time

One way to save time in the kitchen is to do all the food prep beforehand and then do the cooking right before dinner.

Raw Japanese hamburger steak patties can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I suggest separating the patties in the container with parchment paper and sealing them in a container.

You can also freeze the patties and save them for later. Then, all you have to do for dinner is to let them thaw out and fry them up. Yum!

Related recipes

Are you searching for more low carb beef recipes to make at home? Try one of these favorites:

• Ground Beef and Green Beans Stir Fry has a bold flavor and takes just minutes to prepare.
• Keto Korean Ground Beef Bowl tastes just like takeout from your favorite restaurant.
• Easy Keto Low-Carb Chili is perfect when it's cold outside. This chili has heat and tastes best with a dollop of sour cream on top.
• Keto Taco Salad makes the perfect lunch that you can throw together when you are short on time.
• Ground Beef Stroganoff is creamy and sits on a bed of nutritious zoodles.

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