Hen of the Woods Recipe - Mushroom Burger

Last autumn was a fantastic hen of the woods (Grifola frondosa) season for us and many others in our region. Attending our weekly forays with CVMS gave us many opportunities to learn more about when and where to hunt for this great edible fungus. It was so abundant last year that people were giving it away every weekend, and we found many of our own giant, tender and tasty mushroom clusters. We dehydrated a lot, and froze many gallons more of the cut up fronds and solid cores. During the winter, we have been eating our bounty regularly, making gravies, stuffing breads, and making these hearty vegetarian burgers for dinner.

For this recipe, I used rice since I had it already cooked in the refrigerator. Any cooked grain can be used, like quinoa or barley. I started with frozen fronds and thawed them. The mushrooms released quite a bit of water that I squeezed out of the fronds before placing them into the food processor. This flavorful water can be used to make a vegetarian gravy later or just discarded. The amount of breadcrumbs varies, depending on how wet the fronds are, so use enough to make the burger patty hold its shape.


Mushroom Burger                                   makes about 8-12 patties

2 c. thawed Hen of the Woods fronds, excess water squeezed out
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp oil
1 c. cooked grain (rice, quinoa, barley)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3-5 Tbsp breadcrumbs

1. Heat the oven to 400° F. Line a sheetpan with parchment paper or oil the pan.
2. In a food processor, combine the squeezed mushroom fronds and onions and pulse until finely ground.
3. Heat the 1 Tbsp oil in a saute pan over medium heat, cook the ground mushrooms and onion for 5 minutes, stirring often, until browned.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and add the cooked grains, salt and pepper. Allow this mixture to cool to room temperature.
5. Mix in beaten eggs and enough breadcrumbs until the mixture holds together. Form the patties and place them on the prepared sheetpan.
6. Bake the patties for 8 minutes, flip them over, and bake 5-8 minutes longer, until browned. Serve on a bun with burger condiments.