The All American Stuffed Burger

I’m sorry.

I’m SO sorry.

Please forgive me if I blow your diet. But you only grill out occasionally for a holiday and today, in honor of the 4th of July,  we created this burger.  This All American STUFFED Burger!

What you can see in this picture, is a ordinary looking burger with some grilled onions and a little BBQ sauce on top.

What you can’t see lies inside of the burgers. A secret surprise.

This is the All American Burger. It’s got bacon, it’s got cheese, it’s got carmelized onions that even have a surprise in them.

Let me show you how we made them.

Take a pound of bacon and slice it into 1/2 inch pieces.

Yes, the entire slab.

Toss it into a skillet and saute it over medium heat until it’s brown and crispy and wonderful, then put it on a paper towel on a paper plate to drain and cool. I put mine in the refrigerator for quicker cooling down time. Pour out all but one tablespoon of the bacon grease left in your skillet.

I used 2 pounds of ground chuck (that’s what was on sale) for 6 burgers. In a bowl, add your meat, one teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of cracked black pepper, and press or chop up 2 cloves of garlic and toss em into the mess as well! And now, take your freshly cooked crispy bacon bits, and yes, you got it, toss them right into the meat mixture.

Now this may seem strange to you, but it adds so much moisture to your burgers. Add in 1/2 cup plain, yogurt (I used Greek) and get your hands ready to get messy my friends.

Take your hands and mix all of this up really well. Then flatten it out on a cutting board and cut it with a large knife into 6 equal wedges. This will ensure that your burgers are all equal sized, or close to it.

Take one of the wedges and divide it in half. Roll each half into a ball. Also cut a square (about 1 1/2 inches wide) of smoked cheddar cheese.

Take each ball and flatten it into a round disk, and make them the same size. Place your cheddar square right smack in the middle of one of the patties.

Top it with the other round patty. Uh, huh, you see where we’re going now don’t you?

And using your fingers, pinch or press together the edges so that the cheese is completely sealed in the burger meat.

Make sure you do this tightly so the cheese doesn’t have a change to escape and ooze out when cooking!

Continue forming the other five burgers and then haul them out to the grill, or, if you’re smart, recruit your favorite grill boy.

See, here’s the thing about 16-year-old boys. They need to be given some work, mostly to ward off those annoying attitudes that they seem to carry around all the time.

And it teaches them to be future chefs and fathers of the future. And ya know what? They’re perfectly capable of greatness at this age.

Cook these over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side. I always use a trusty internal meat thermometer. It’s a little tricky here, as you have the hot cheese in the center, but angle your thermometer so you’ll avoid hitting the cheddar in the center. You want the thermometer to hit 160º to 165º.

While your wonder-boy is grilling, it gives you time to make the carmelized onions. Now is the time to put that reserved tablespoon of bacon …ummm…loveliness back over medium heat.

Slice up two good-size onions and toss them into the pan. Sprinkle on a teaspoon of sugar, a little salt and pepper and saute them a good 10-15 minutes and surprise – here is an added ingredient you may not have tried. Add in about one tablepoon of balsamic vinegar.

Keep cooking these babies until they get carmel brown and yummy looking.

Take one of your hamburgers and spoon some carmelized onions over top of it. Drizzle on a little of your favorite BBQ sauce.

But look! Slice this baby in half to see the ..gulp….CHEESE!

I’m telling ya, it doesn’t get any more American than this.

Want to watch me make these burgers on my cooking segment? Click play below!

The All American Stuffed Burger

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

Author: Katie of Dishin & Dishes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

FOR THE BURGERS

• 2 pounds ground chuck
• 1 lb. bacon, sliced in ½ inch pieces
• 6 burger buns
• ½ c. Greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 t. salt
• ½ t. pepper
• 6 1½ inch pieces (1/8 in. thick) smoked cheddar cheese

FOR THE CARMELIZED ONIONS

• 2 large onions, sliced
• ½ t. sugar
• ½ t. salt
• ¼. t. pepper
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar

Instructions

BURGERS

1. Cut up bacon and saute over medium heat until crisp and browned, but not blackened.
2. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon grease in pan to cook onions and drain bacon pieces on paper towel to cool.
3. Mix meat, yogurt, garlic, salt, pepper and drained (cooled) bacon together and cut into 6 equal parts.
4. Cut each part in ½ and then halve again.
5. Form two equal size balls by rolling in hands, then flatten each piece.
6. Place one square of cheese in center of bottom patty and top with 2nd patty. Press edges firmly together to thoroughly enclose cheese.
7. Grill 10 minutes flipping once halfway through cooking.

ONIONS

1. Cook onions over medium heat in same pan that you reserved bacon drippings in.
2. Add in sugar, salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar.
3. Saute, stirring often until browned and carmelized.
4. Spoon onions over burgers, and top with a drizzle of your favorite BBQ sauce.

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