Juicy Pork Burgers with Kimchi Salad & Gochujang Sauce

Introduction

Incredibly delicious pork burger recipe made with ground pork, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. Build them with our quick kimchi salad and yogurt sauce, and you will have one of the tastiest burgers ever. This year, we have been stepping beyond beef burgers. Now, we are adding these ground pork burgers to the lineup. The patties are heavily seasoned with soy sauce, fresh garlic, and ginger, and they come together fast. We top them with a bright, crunchy kimchi salad and a simple yogurt sauce that’s perfect against the richness of the pork. The combination is downright crave-worthy, and we cannot wait for you to try it. While we highly recommend serving the burgers with the salad and sauce, the boldly flavored pork patties can easily stand on their own. For more ways to cook with ground pork, try our other recipes.

Key Ingredients

Ground Pork

Buy bulk ground pork (it will have a pretty high fat content, but much of it renders). You can substitute ground chicken or beef, but expect the patties to be a little less juicy since they have less fat than ground pork.

Aromatics and Seasonings

Garlic, ginger, and green onions form the aromatics for the burger patties. They add so much flavor, and since we use a microplane to finely grate the garlic and ginger, the prep is quick, too. Soy sauce seasons the pork (use regular soy sauce, tamari, or shoyu). Gochujang is our secret ingredient in the burgers and in the yogurt sauce—it is a Korean fermented chili paste that is becoming more widely available in regular grocery stores. It’s thick, spicy, and a deep red. We also use a little brown sugar in the pork patties, a little regular sugar in the salad, and a bit of honey in the sauce.

Kimchi Salad and Yogurt Sauce

For the kimchi salad, we mix cabbage kimchi (use store-bought or homemade), cucumber slices, cilantro, a little sugar, and a little rice wine vinegar. It’s fresh, crunchy, and really tasty with the burgers. The yogurt sauce is made by stirring thick yogurt (whole milk Greek or Icelandic is our preference) with gochujang, honey, and a little rice wine vinegar.

How to Make Pork Burgers

When shopping and walking by a package of ground pork, our minds immediately turn to these burgers. Here’s a brief overview of how to make them:

Gently combine the ground pork with the aromatics and seasonings, then form into patties. We usually make four ¼ pound (115 g) patties, but if you’d prefer more generous burgers, opt for three larger ⅓ pound (150 g) patties.
Refrigerate the patties while you prep the toppings. The salad and sauce take just minutes and only require stirring a few ingredients together.
Cook the burgers in a heavy-bottomed skillet for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until they reach an internal temperature of 160°F.
Layer the sauce, patties, and kimchi salad on toasted buns and enjoy!

Tips for Perfect Pork Burgers

Chill the Patties

We do this for almost all of our burgers. Once you make your patties, place them into the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. This allows the fat to firm up, ensuring they hold together perfectly in the pan or on the grill without falling apart.

Don’t Skip the Kimchi Salad

We love some crunch on our burgers, and this kimchi salad is just perfect for that. Simply toss kimchi with cucumbers, a little vinegar, sugar, and cilantro. It’s so easy, and incredible with the pork.

The Yogurt Sauce Is a Secret Weapon

While this sauce was originally created for these pork burgers, we’re convinced we will all see it again in future Inspired Taste recipes. It’s so simple and is absolutely incredible with the juices from the kimchi salad.

Expect Fat in the Pan

Most of the ground pork sold in regular grocery stores is higher in fat than ground beef, so as these patties cook in the skillet, they will render some fat (expect a similar amount as when cooking sausage). You’ll leave all that fat behind, though, so don’t let it deter you from enjoying your burgers!

Serving Suggestions

In our photos, we’ve served these burgers with sliced apples (simple, but it actually works really well with the kimchi and pork). Since you already have the salad and sauce, you don’t need that much else on the plate. We love a simple vegetable like roasted broccoli, green beans, asparagus, or even regular coleslaw.

Full Recipe

Prep: 25 mins | Cook: 10 mins | Total: 35 mins | Serves: 4

You Will Need:

For the burgers: 1 pound (450 g) ground pork, 2 garlic cloves (finely grated), 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger, 2 green onions (thinly sliced), 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon gochujang, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, oil (such as avocado) for cooking, 4 burger buns (split and toasted)

For the kimchi salad: 1 cup (150 g) chopped kimchi, ½ medium thin-skinned cucumber (sliced into half moons), 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, ⅓ cup fresh cilantro (chopped)

For the gochujang yogurt sauce: ½ cup (120 g) whole milk Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon gochujang, 1 teaspoon honey, 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions:

In a large bowl, gently mix the pork, garlic, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, gochujang, brown sugar, and black pepper until just combined. Divide the mixture and form into four ¼ pound (115 g) patties or three ⅓ pound (150 g) patties. Transfer to a plate and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes to chill.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss together the kimchi, cucumber, vinegar, granulated sugar, and cilantro. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, gochujang, honey, and vinegar until smooth.
Heat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet (such as a cast-iron skillet) over medium heat. Add a light drizzle of oil. Add the patties and cook until well browned on the outside and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160°F, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.
Spread the yogurt sauce over the bottom buns. Top each with a pork patty, more sauce, a generous spoonful of the kimchi salad, and the top bun.

Adam and Joanne’s Tips: Gochujang is a Korean fermented chili paste that’s (thankfully) becoming more common in standard grocery stores. We used Mother-in-Law’s gochujang in our photos. If your local store does not sell it, try online or an Asian market. The nutritional information provided are estimates.

Author: Joanne Gallagher. Adam and Joanne Gallagher are the creators of Inspired Taste. Established in 2009, Inspired Taste grew from a childhood dream into one of the internet’s most trusted recipe sites with hundreds of reliable recipes, step-by-step videos, and expert tips. Updated: Jul 7, 2026.