Gordon Ramsay’s truffle burger layers truffle three ways: a herb mayo with truffle oil, two slices of truffled goat’s cheese melted on each patty, and fresh truffle grated over the top. The patty sits on a grilled portobello with pickled jalapeños and rocket, with a bourbon ketchup on the side, all in about 35 minutes.
This is the Truffle Burger from his own restaurants’ published recipe, and I made the whole thing, including the part everyone skips. Alongside the burger he makes a Maker’s Mark ketchup from scratch: passata and tomato purée simmered with bourbon, brown sugar, cider vinegar and Worcestershire for 15 minutes. The smell while it bubbles down is honestly half the reason to make this.
Notice where the truffle isn’t: the patty. The meat stays plain while the truffle arrives through fat, the goat’s cheese melting down into it, the oil suspended in mayo, the fresh gratings warming on the cheese. Truffle flavour is fat-soluble and fragile, so cooking it inside a patty kills it, which is exactly the mistake this build avoids.
Gordon Ramsay Truffle Burger Recipe (Restaurant Original)
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4
15
minutes20
minutes930
kcal35
minutesThe complete restaurant recipe most copies cut in half: plain patties carrying melted truffled goat’s cheese and fresh gratings, grilled portobello underneath, herb-truffle mayo on the lid, and the Maker’s Mark ketchup nobody else makes, simmered with bourbon and Worcestershire. Serves 4 with chips.
Ingredients
- For the herb mayo:
200g mayonnaise
1 tbsp each chopped chives, parsley, basil and dill
½ lemon, juiced
1 tbsp truffle oil
Pinch of salt
- For the Maker’s Mark ketchup:
425g passata
170g tomato purée
55ml Maker’s Mark
55g brown sugar
40ml cider vinegar
1½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt and pepper
- For the burgers:
4 burger patties
4 portobello mushrooms
4 brioche buns
8 slices truffled goat’s cheese
Fresh truffle, for grating
Pickled jalapeños
4 small handfuls rocket
Chips, to serve
Directions
- Mix the herb mayo: Stir the mayonnaise with the chopped herbs, lemon juice, truffle oil and salt until combined, then cover and chill until you build.
- Simmer the bourbon ketchup: Put all the ketchup ingredients in a pan over high heat and stir together. Once bubbling, drop to medium and cook for 15 minutes, stirring regularly, until thickened, then set aside to cool.
- Cook the patties: Heat a large pan or griddle and cook the patties for 4 to 5 minutes each side, or until done to your liking.
- Grill the mushrooms and toast the buns: Meanwhile, preheat the grill and cook the portobellos for a few minutes until tender, then toast the halved buns cut-side up until lightly golden.
- Cheese and fresh truffle: For the last minute of cooking, lay two slices of truffled goat’s cheese on each patty and grate fresh truffle over the top.
- Build and serve: Bottom bun, grilled mushroom, truffled patty, a few pickled jalapeños, a small handful of rocket, then the top bun spread with herb mayo. Serve with chips and the Maker’s Mark ketchup on the side.
FAQs
Why is there no truffle in the patty itself?
Because that’s where truffle flavour goes to die. The aroma compounds in truffle are delicate and fat-soluble, so minced into a patty they cook off before the burger is even flipped. Some recipe sites have his patties stuffed with truffle butter and truffle paste, which is invented, his published version keeps the meat completely plain.
The truffle arrives through three protected routes instead: cheese that melts onto the hot patty, oil suspended in cold mayo, and fresh gratings that only warm through. Each carries the flavour without burning it.
What is truffled goat’s cheese, and what works in the UK?
It’s a soft goat’s cheese log with black truffle pieces or paste worked through, sold in larger supermarkets and any decent cheesemonger, usually near the brie. Quality varies a lot, so check the label for actual truffle rather than just “truffle flavouring.”
If you can’t find it, the closest swap is a plain soft goat’s cheese log with a few drops of truffle oil on each slice once it’s on the patty. The goat tang matters as much as the truffle here, since it cuts the richness everything else piles on.
What’s the Maker’s Mark ketchup, and can you skip the bourbon?
It’s the half of this recipe nobody makes: a proper homemade ketchup of passata and tomato purée simmered with bourbon, brown sugar, cider vinegar and Worcestershire until thick. Fifteen minutes of bubbling cooks the alcohol down to a smoky vanilla depth rather than booze.
Any bourbon works if Maker’s Mark is a stretch, and skipping it entirely still leaves a sharp, sweet ketchup, just add an extra splash of cider vinegar. The backbone is the same one running through his smoky BBQ sauce, Worcestershire, brown sugar and vinegar pulling in different directions.
Why does the mushroom go under the patty?
Two jobs at once. A grilled portobello is a sponge in the best way, catching the patty juices and melting cheese that would otherwise soak the bottom bun to collapse. And mushrooms are the classic truffle partner, both earthy in the same register, so the burger tastes more of truffle without any extra truffle.
Grill them just until tender, a few minutes, since an overcooked portobello turns slippery and slides the whole stack apart.
Which patties should you use?
The official recipe just says “4 burger patties” and leaves you alone, which is the one place it’s thin. Any good butcher’s patty around 150 to 200g works, ideally 20% fat, since the goat’s cheese and mayo bring richness but the patty still needs its own.
This is a burger worth premium beef if you’re grating fresh truffle over it anyway, and his butter-basted wagyu burger shows how he treats expensive mince when it IS the event rather than the platform.
Is the truffle burger in any of his cookbooks?
No, I went through his books looking for it and it isn’t there. It’s a restaurant creation published on his restaurants’ website, which is exactly why the internet is full of contradicting “Gordon Ramsay truffle burger” recipes, each one invented to fill the gap.
His cookbook truffle dishes run in a different direction, finishing oils on fish and risotto rather than burgers. The closest relative on the menu side is his beef carpaccio with truffle dressing, the starter that pairs beef and truffle without a bun in sight, and the rest of his burgers live in the burger recipes roundup.
