BBQ Pulled “Pork” Burger with Banana Peel and Mushrooms
Got some leftover peels from banana bread? Don’t let them go to waste! Shredded banana peel makes a surprisingly apt pulled pork substitute — sautéed in cast iron with caramelized mushrooms and homemade BBQ sauce, and paired with pickled red onion, butter lettuce, and mayo-toasted multigrain burger bun, you can’t go wrong!
As one does on social media, I noticed a new trend.
The last one I participated in was the “tortilla hack” made famous on TikTok. This new one was a less widespread, but equally cool concept — making vegan pulled “pork” out of shredded banana peel.
Turns out, banana is similar to other fruits in that the skin is highly nutritious. And even skeptics will have to agree that shredded banana peel looks like pulled pork. But does it taste like it? I sought to find out.
The verdict? Not quite. But when your banana peel is sautéed in cast iron with caramelized mushrooms and doused in homemade barbecue sauce, you can’t deny the palate is fooled. As a bonus, the GI tract does not miss the saturated fat and cholesterol that would have come from the real pork. The pigs are happiest of all, rolling around in the mud and celebrating that they are pigs — not a fleeting meal.
As usual, I was fashionably late in my adoption of this trend. I mean, how can you be on time when a new trend leaves you with three days max to develop a winning recipe and present it to the world (aka — a measly 200 accounts on Instagram)?
As my dad has often reminded me, if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, you must baffle them with bullshit. My interpretation of that is consistently being just a few minutes late, but doing such an awesome job that everyone remembers me as on time.
Did this trend disappear weeks ago, moments after it arrived? Sure did. But did this delicious recipe care about timeliness? Sure didn’t.
As I have before, I invite you once again to taste the rainbow. The yellow, green, purple, and brown rainbow, that is. If you make this recipe, please let me know what you think with a quick rating and review!
BBQ Pulled “Pork” Burger with Banana Peel and Mushrooms
Equipment
- Small saucepan
- Mason jar
- Small bowl or medium ramekin
- 10" to 12" cast iron skillet
- Medium bowl
Ingredients
For the pickled onion
- 1 medium red onion sliced thin with knife or mandolin
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- 2 tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice
- 2 tsp kosher salt
For the barbecue sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 1 and ½ tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp liquid smoke
- 1 tsp A1 sauce
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
For the burger
- 4 to 5 organic banana peels* insides scraped out with spoon and peel shredded with fork
- 6 oz crimini or white mushrooms sliced
- 4 leaves butter lettuce chiffonaded
- 3 multigrain burger buns
- Vegan mayo for spreading
Instructions
- Slice red onion thinly, and heat the remaining listed pickled onion ingredients in a small saucepan on medium-high to bring to a simmer (you can mix and match vinegars as you choose–it does not need to be exactly as listed). Stir until sugar and salt is absorbed, remove from heat, and allow to cool one or two minutes. Place sliced onion in mason jar, pour vinegar mixture over them, and allow to cool on the counter until lukewarm or room temperature. Cover and allow mixture to marinate in the fridge, about 30 mins.
- Mix together barbecue sauce ingredients in a small bowl or medium ramekin, and adjust ingredients to your taste.
- Chop off both ends of banana peels and scrape out the inside "gut" portion with a spoon so that only the skin of the peel remains. Discard the scraped guts. Shred the peel skins with a fork to achieve a texture similar to pulled pork.
- Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium. Once hot, add a drizzle of olive oil. Once oil is hot, added sliced mushrooms, and sauté for a few minutes until liquid is released, mushrooms begin to shrink, and they develop golden brown edges. Add shredded banana peel, and stir occasionally for 1 to 2 minutes to heat. Add barbecue sauce and sauté another 1 to 2 minutes to infuse flavors together. Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a medium bowl.
- Spread vegan mayo to your liking on the insides of however many burger buns you plan to consume (BBQ mixture should cover 3 burgers). Place skillet back on medium heat and toast the buns, insides down, until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Place the buns open face on plates. Top the bottom bun with BBQ mixture, lettuce, and pickled onion. Close bun and enjoy!