We’re going to let you in on a little secret: burgers don’t need to be made out of ground meat. It’s true! Of course, we’re all familiar with beef burgers and turkey burgers, but you can really form a patty out of anything and grill it. If you’re at that point in the summer where you’re really feeling seafood instead of your land-dwelling proteins but still want a burger, these super spicy yet satisfying jerk shrimp burgers will be the surprise hit of the summer.
The base of these sliders is, of course, shrimp. But this favorite, quick-cooking shellfish is totally jazzed up by a jerk sauce. For the uninitiated, jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica, and the base is a spicy dry rub or marinade, fittingly called jerk spice. This recipe calls for a homemade jerk seasoning composed of traditional ingredients including (but not limited to): allspice, garlic, thyme, onions, ginger, vinegar, scallions, nutmeg and cinnamon. Oh, and a few scotch bonnet peppers. For heat, of course. This jerk seasoning will stay good in your fridge for six to eight weeks.
After making that, it’s time to form your fishy patties by chopping up 1/2 pound of shrimp finely, though be sure to leave some little chunks so you can get some good bites of shrimp. Combine the shrimp with the jerk seasoning, breadcrumbs and egg to help bind it all together, then form your patties. This recipe is intended to make bite-sized sliders, but you can certainly make larger patties.
Cook the burgers in a cast-iron skillet on the stove or over the grill. Then, add on potato roll slider buns and top with lettuce, muenster and colby jack cheese and tomato to cut some of the heat. After that, all that’s left is to enjoy.
Of course, shrimp burgers aren’t the only seafood burgers you can cook up. You can also try your hand at tuna burgers, salmon burgers or any more of our 50 best burger recipes.
