Wafu Hambagu is a scrumptious Japanese-style hamburger eaten without a bun. The meat patty is prepared until moist and flavorful, and garnished with daikon, shiso leaves, and enjoyed with a ponzu based sauce.
If you are not familiar with the Japanese term “Hambagu” (ハンバーグ), it basically a thick ground meat patty that’s cooked in a frying pan, instead of grilled, and always served with some kind of sauce and without a bun.
I’ve posted the typical Hambagu recipe with thick Worcestershire-base sauce on Just One Cookbook before, and today I want to introduce you to this delicious Wafu Hambagu (和風ハンバーグ) version with a Japanese seasoning sauce.
Watch How To Make Wafu Hambagu
Juicy and flavorful meat patties garnished with daikon and shiso leaves. Enjoy this Japanese Hambagu with a ponzu based sauce.
What is Wafu Hambagu?
Wafu Hambagu is Hambagu served with grated daikon and/or shiso leaves on top, along with a thin sauce which comes in a few variations. The thin sauce base can be made with dashi + soy sauce, Mentsuyu, or ponzu.
Today I used ponzu because the fragrance and citrus flavor from ponzu works really well with refreshing daikon, and together they refresh your palate while you’re enjoying the juicy meat. I love this sauce quite a bit and besides hambagu, this sauce can be used for steak and other meaty dishes.
Secret to Great Tasting Wafu Hambagu
The key for Japanese hamburger steak is always to use the combination of both ground beef and pork. This is the secret for juicy and flavorful meat patties.
If you use only ground beef, you will definitely taste the difference. Beef only patties are drier and has less flavor compared to ones that also includes ground pork.
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Wafu Hambagu (Japanese Hamburger Steak)
Video
Ingredients
- ½ onion
- 1 ½ Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) (for cooking onion)
- ¼ cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ½ lb ground beef (226 g)
- ½ lb ground pork (226 g)
- 1 large egg (50 g w/o shell)
- 1 clove garlic (crushed or minced)
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
For Cooking Patties
- 1 ½ Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc)
Toppings
- 3 inch daikon radish (use the top green part of daikon where it’s sweet and less bitter)
- 2 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba) (or scallion/green onion for garnish)
Sauce
- ½ cup ponzu (for homemade ponzu recipe, click here)
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp yuzu kosho (Japanese citrus chili paste) (if you like it spicy)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Mince the onion.
- Heat 1 ½ Tbsp oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion until golden brown. Transfer to a large bowl and let it cool.
- Mix panko and milk together.
- When the onion cools down, add all the ingredients into the large bowl.
- Mix all the ingredients together and knead the mixture until sticky (the mixture will become paler in color).
- Divide the mixture into 4 portions. Put a little bit of oil on your hand to avoid the meat sticking to the hands.
- Toss each portion of the mixture between your hands about 10 times to release the air inside the mixture (this will prevent the patties from breaking while cooking).
- Make oval shape patties. The top shouldn't be flat like typical hamburger patties, it should be more round. Cover the patties with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before cooking so that the meat combines together.
- Meanwhile, peel daikon and grate finely. Squeeze the liquid out of daikon.
- Cut off the stem of shiso and roll it up. Cut into julienned pieces. If you use scallion instead, slice it thinly.
- To make the sauce, combine ponzu, yuzu kosho, and sugar and whisk all together until sugar is dissolved.
- Heat 1 ½ Tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat and place the patties gently. Indent the center of each patty with fingers because it will rise and expand with heat. Cook the patties for about 3-4 minutes and do not flip until nicely brown.
- Flip the patties and cover to cook on medium low heat for 4-5 minutes, or until the meat inside is cooked through.
- Add the sauce to the pan and increase the heat to medium high. Pour the sauce over the meat with a spoon while cooking for about 2 minutes.
- Move the patties to serving plates. Reduce the sauce a little bit while skimming off the fat (to make clear nice sauce). Pour the sauce into small serving bowl.
- Place the grated daikon on top of the meat patties and garnish with shiso (or scallion). Pour the extra sauce on top when you eat.
Hello Nami, i really wanna try your regular hambagu steak recipe and also the wafu one. For both recipes, you’ve used different amounts of panko and beef while same amount of milk and egg. Was the patties resulted in the same juiciness & flavorful level despite all the differences? Or those recipes indeed need a different adjustment? Thankss
Hi Luciana! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
It’s just the variations. 🙂
She takes detailed notes while she tests recipes, and each recipe is the result of her finalized work. Sometimes she may use more or fewer ingredients to make similar recipes. Would you please try both and see if you like one over the other one? We hope you find your favorite.
こんにちわ なみ
The wafu is a clear hit. It’s tasty like those you are able to get on restaurant.
The homemade ponzu make it even better.
The reason for making own ponzu you can get the taste as you want and together with some French fries and the daiko/carrot salad makes the dish very good.
Next time we try goma broccoli salad with or a mix of both. Happy cooking😁
Hi Lars! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
This is a favorite recipe in our house. Tonight, I’m making it for the third time. Thank you for sharing, Nami!
Hi Katherine!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear this is your favorite recipe.😊
This was delicious and juicy. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Katherine! I’m so glad to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi, how can I grate the daikon without the special grater? And how long will this keep in the fridge after cooking? 🙂
Hi Alison! You will need some kind of grater to grate the daikon. Do you have a Microplane or cheese grater? Each grater creates a different texture of grated daikon, so you may want to play it and see. I personally like smooth and finely grated daikon texture instead of rough or chunky ones. 🙂
Hello, I made your Hambagu and it is quite tasty! However, I want to clarify an instruction. You said add all ingredients into the meat/onion mixture. I included the vegetable oil. I realized later that it was meant as cooking oil? I ended up burning the patty. Since it’s mixed in, how do I prevent burning it again? Do I just not use oil on a non-stick?
Hi Fides! Thank you so much for trying my recipe! I apologize for my confusing instruction. I’ve made some changes according to your feedback. I use oil even when I use a non-stick pan, but it’s up to you. 🙂
Thanks so much for all your delicious recipes, the detailed directions and suggestions.
It’s fun to follow you on line!
I’m a resident of Hawaii (not of Japanese ethnicity) and love Japanese food and now because of you I’m able to duplicate your recpiez at home with the knowledge and confidence you have given me.
Mahalo
Hi Kathy! I’m so glad to hear you enjoy cooking Japanese food at home! Thank you so much for your kind and supporting words. Mahalo!
Sorry to be lazy and not compare the recipes myself, but what is the difference between your Wafu Hambagu, and Hambagu steak?
Hi Snoopylover! So in Japan, we have different kinds of hambagu. The original one is the “hamburger steak (hambagu)” with the demi-glace like sauce. Then there is a Japanese-style hambagu which has the Japanese flavor sauce. Depends on the restaurant or home cook, wafu hambagu can be with ponzu or soy sauce base. Usually, it’s served with grated daikon with the sauce. 🙂
Hi Nami!
I absolutely love this recipe of yours and make it every now and then!
Tonight though i’ve bought a tad too much meat and was hoping to make extra patties to freeze. Would you recommend freezing the patties raw or cooked? …or not at all!?
Hi Joe! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe and thanks so much for your kind comment! Always cook, let cool, and freeze. That way, the quality of meat is kept better. When frozen raw, it degrades the quality as time goes by. 🙂
Hi Nami!
Thank you so much for the tip! ( And so quick too!!)
I cooked all the patties last night but saved the sauce pour-over step and instead just simmered the sauce in the same pan for a little and put it in a container for now to freeze with the patties. I’m hoping when i defrost the patties i’ll heat them up on the pan and add the sauce then. Crossing fingers! 😀
Perfect! Hope you enjoy! I do the same for my kids’ bento and I defrost overnight in the fridge. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! So delicious.
Hi Lian! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you!
Can I bake a meatloaf using this recipe instead of frying individual patties? My husband loves meatloaf!
Hi Gayle! Hmm I’ve never done it so it’s hard to say and compare… 🙂
Hi
I have a really big problem
Whenever I do the hand-to-hand thing to take the air out of the patties, they always get really thin at the edges, and overall become very very flat…
What am I doing wrong?!?!
Hi Someone! I am wondering if your mixture is looser than mine. Do you see Step 8 or 12? It shouldn’t be flat and it keeps that thickness. I don’t think it’s due to tossing in the air part. 🙂
Hi again,
I think it’s just because my hands are small + maybe I was doing something else wrong but I’m not sure what, lol.
I divided it into 5 pieces and they didn’t go flat (before, the pieces were too big so it would ‘spill’ out of my hands.
Also, for some reason when I came back after leaving it in the fridge they seemed to look fatter (nothing happened, I think I was just too worried about it being flat)
Anyway, thanks!! They ended up looking fat for their size, like in 8 and 12.
Maybe due to moisture content and it gets flatter. Hope you enjoyed hambagu. 🙂
Hi! I was just wondering what ratio of lean:fat ground meat you used! Thank you so much!
Hi Sophia! When I buy ground meat combo at Japanese supermarket they don’t specify what percentage. But from the look, it includes some fat.
Hi Nami,
Definitely, a combo of beef and pork makes the hamburger more moist and tasty. I made the wafu hamburgers last night and they were a hit. I will try the hamburger steak with a red wine reduction next. Thanks.
PS: your face book posts are great. I can see the video first and then print the receipe.
Hi Darlene! I’m glad you liked the wafu hambagu recipe! The regular hambagu is really good too. It’s very hard to pick which one is my favorite as both are so delicious. 🙂 Hope you enjoy! p.s. I’m glad my FB posts work well. I will try to be more consistent and hope to share archive recipes from the past too!
I made it yesterday. It was simply wonderful! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Majacica! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami, I’m wondering what would be a good substitute for milk? Stuck at home without a car, and I want to make this for dinner 😀
Hi Anna! You can use chicken/beef/vegetable broth or simply water is okay if you can’t find good substitute. The purpose is to make panko wet to make good binding with meat and onion. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Thanks for posting all these great salad ideas. I’m drooling over Wafu Hambagu!!! One question, I purchased grater shown for Daikon ..what other vegetables do you use this grater?
Hi Lyn! We use that particular grater for mostly daikon. The vegetable has to be somewhat juicy enough. I sometimes grate a bit of carrot and mix with daikon to make “momiji oroshi”. I also grate onion to make salad dressing which you can find in my Wafu Dressing.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/wafu-dressing-japanese-salad-dressing/
Hope this helps! 🙂