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This kona burger is your new favourite summer recipe! It’s a teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple, mozzarella and bacon! Dig in!
So, this burger is kind of special to me. The time that Etienne and I went for lunch together, we ordered the same thing. It was the kona burger from Original Joe’s! You might remember I referenced this restaurant before, in my sweet potato fries post. I actually think I ordered the sweet potato fries during that occasion too…
Anyway, this kona burger was love at first bite. This recipe is my take on that same burger that we ate all of those years ago. It’s got so many things going for it! Teriyaki sauce, grilled pineapple, BACON, mozzarella, and bacon. Did I say bacon twice? ๐
It’s so good!!! You’ll love it. When I served my final product to Etienne last week he said he would never have been able to tell the difference between this one and the one from the restaurant. Win!
How do you make a kona burger?
You can choose to make your own teriyaki sauce for the burgers, or you can use the store-bought kind. I do make my own but I haven’t posted the recipe for it yet (coming soon)!
I like to put a bit of butter (or mayo) on a toasted burger bun, followed by a bit of teriyaki, then lettuce and mozzarella cheese. While you’re barbequing your burgers, you can fry up some bacon as well. I throw pineapple slices onto the grill when the burgers are about a minute from being done. They only need 1-2 minutes on each side to get those nice grill marks and warm up a little bit!
Is the hamburger patty homemade?
I do often make my own hamburgers, but I left a recipe for the actual patty out of this post; feel free to use frozen, store-bought patties (Costco sells amazing burgers from The Keg) or your own favourite burger patty recipe!
What do you serve with these kona burgers?
We love, LOVE sweet potato fries. If you haven’t tried my recipe with dill dip yet, you really have to!! You could also serve them with a fantastic salad, like one of these favorites:
- keto cabbage salad
- roasted corn and chickpea kale salad
- Mexican street corn pasta salad
- grilled romaine Caesar salad
Happy Friday, my friends! If you need a weekend suggestion, why not berry picking? I only say that because it’s been on my summer to-do list for so long and I still have yet to take the kids…I can live vicariously through you!
PS – be sure to hop over to Instagram to check out my Swedish princess cake that I made for a cake collab!!
Cheers!

Kona Burger
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 burgers 1x
Description
This kona burger is your new favourite summer recipe! It’s a teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple, mozzarella and bacon! Dig in!
Ingredients
- 2 hamburger patties*
- 4 slices (rings) fresh pineapple
- 4 slices bacon
- 2 fresh hamburger buns
- 1–2 tbsp mayo (or butter)
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, divided**
- handful romaine lettuce, chopped
- 4 slices mozzarella
- 1 small tomato, sliced
- 2 pickles, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to medium/high (350F). When the grill is preheated, place the hamburger patties directly on the grill and cook until the temperature inside reaches at least 375F. During the last minutes or two of cooking, place the pineapple slices directly on the grill, cooking for about 1 minutes on each side, until char marks are visible. Remove to a plate.
- While the hamburgers are cooking on the grill, fry the bacon in a pan or cook in the oven. Once cooked, wrap the bacon in paper towel to absorb some of the grease.
- Lightly toast the hamburger buns. Coat both sides of each bun with the mayo or butter, followed by 2 tbsp of teriyaki on each side of each bun. Place a handful of lettuce on the bottom of each bun, followed by 2 slices of mozzarella.
- Place the cooked patties on top of the mozzarella slices, followed by the remaining teriyaki sauce. Top with sliced tomato, grilled pineapple and 2 slices of bacon. Finish off your burger with the top part of the bun. Serve immediately, with a pickle on the side!
Notes
*As mentioned in the post above, you can use previously frozen patties, or your favourite hamburger patty recipe
**I make my own teriyaki sauce, but you can use your favourite store-bought version too!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes

Katherine, you’re speaking my language! YUM! This kona burger just looks divine! I bet your ranch dressing would go delicious on top of it!
Heck YES Haylie! Great idea!! Ranch on this would be amazing!!