Grill Basket Stuffed Slider Burgers

Memorial Day has come and gone, and to me, thus begins one of my favorite seasons – that of summer grilling!

I wanted to feature an All-American grilled burger to start the season off with a bang this week so I am featuring this (slider) burger on my morning food segment on my local TV station this week.

Imagine a giant perfect rectangle of two layers of juicy burger meat with a layer of bacon and cheese sandwiched in between them.

Also imagine that you can slice these into nice uniformly sized squares to use as sliders.

I’ve been reading Wicked Good Burgers: Fearless Recipes and Uncompromising Techniques for the Ultimate Patty by Andy Husbands/Chris Hart and Andrea Pysenson this week. This group (The Yankees) won the Jack Daniel’s World Championship invitational and went on to make an all  things burger cookbook that inspires.

While I changed up the recipe somewhat, the premise is the same and I love the genius that this works. You can change it to a healthy burger by using turkey and turkey bacon and low fat cheese, or make it the way we did for an extreme indulgence. I can dream of several different stuffing options. Either way, check out how fun and simple this is!

Start out by grating 8-12 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese.

Like I said, this is so interchangeable. You could totally use pepper jack or swiss or anything that makes your heart sing when you think of cheese on burgers.

Also, fry up 8 strips of bacon, again, your preference but I used a nice thick sliced smokey one. I always use this method to make the best possible bacon in the world, and then let it lay on paper towels to absorb excess grease.

Now, do you have one of these?

You could try and make it without one but this would really REALLY make it simple. One flip and without a mess all over your grill (if your flip goes way wrong) if you fail. I think I purchased mine at TJ Maxx for about $7. It’s normally used for placing four hamburgers, hotdogs or pieces of fish or shrimp inside and makes for some really neat and easy flipping of meat on the grill.

In this case it’s going to save us flipping 12 sliders.

One flip or 12 flips. Which would you prefer?

Open the basket and spray the grill basket bottom and top and sides well with cooking spray.  Trust me, you want to make sure and do this.

Now take three pounds of hamburger meat of your choice and make it into a disk and cut it in half.

Measure your grill basket to see what size it is and then press out both disks of the meat into even sized rectangles that match the size of your grill basket.

You can use a flat-bladed knife or the sides of your hands to make them fairly straight.
Sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over both rectangles of meat and any other spice you normally love on your burgers. I used Chipotle and garlic powder.
Over top of the first rectangle, lay your bacon evenly over the meat and sprinkle it with the cheese.

Layer your other rectangle of meat right over top of this in the basket to make a sandwich. I know, I know! It’s RIDICULOUS isn’t it?

Use your fingers to close up all of the sides.

On my first attempt at this, I didn’t take care to do this carefully.  Take a few minutes and really close it up, otherwise you’ll lose the precious ooey gooey cheese to the grill goblins and that my dears is a tragedy!

Now sprinkle some more seasoning over the top.  And close the basket carefully.

The grates of the grill basket will squish over the hamburger but if you do it carefully, it will be fine. Once it cooks and browns, the burger comes right out.

Now carry this out and pop it onto a medium hot grill.

Cook it for about 6-7 minutes on the first side.

Please note the ooey gooey cheese previously mentioned oozing out the sides. (bad food blogger!)

Cook an additional 7 minutes on the second side and plop that baby on a sheet pan and carry it in to the kitchen to de-basket it!

Look at that! It’s a giant rectangle of pure goodness, stuffed with bacon and cheese!

How we did this process – Mr. Wonderful placed a cutting board over the open basket. He then flipped the entire thing over so the cutting board was now on the bottom. It slid right out onto the cutting board.

One little itty bitty spot stuck and we just stuck a knife in the slots and pushed it through.

Now we used these buns, as they are our favorite for sliders.

It may have something to do with the fact that Mr. Wonderful is part Hawaiian…potato rolls are also fabulous!

Place your rolls at the edge of the rectangle and add just a hair in width.

 

You’ll want them to be a bit larger and hang over the bun just a tad and make a slice the entire length of the rectangle.

Slice along the rectangle making even strips until you get to the end.  Do you see the cheese oozing out? And also, remember there are strips of bacon inside!

Now turn your knife 90º and cut across the strips the other way to make perfect squares.

Place them on each bun.

And that is how you make 12 sliders in one grill basket.  I think it’s pretty genius.

No little sliders falling through the grates of the grill.  No individual pattying of 24 individual pieces and smashing them together around the cheese and bacon.

As my grand baby would say….

TA DAH!

Scroll down for the printable easy recipe!

See what other wonderful bloggers mad for F old Network’s Summer Soirée featuring Burgers!

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The Heritage Cook: Juicy Turkey Burgers for Every Cookout
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Cooking With Elise: Super Smashed Burgers
Domesticate Me: Bacon and Smoked Cheddar Cheeseburger Sliders with Jalapeno Relish
Swing Eats: Shrimp Burgers with Sriracha Aioli on Bibb Lettuce
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