(Updated from June 9, 2015)
We discovered stuffed burgers a long time ago. But they were simple affairs. We would grind up a block of cheese and mix it into the burger. Maybe we would chop up onions and peppers and mix those in. Occasionally, we would look to meatloaf recipes for
inspiration.
They were good but we found another way to make stuffed burgers.
It’s a stuffed burger press. Instead of mixing the fillings into the meat, you create a stuffing pocket in the middle of the meat.
This is what a stuffed burger press looks like:
Learn how to make stuffed burgers here.
Nine Ways to Make Stuffed Burgers This Weekend
It’s fun to be creative with burgers. Surprise your guests and make Cheese-Stuffed Burgers, Buttery Onion Burgers, or Tex-Mex Burgers. Here are nine great burger ideas to get you started.
- Cheese-Stuffed Burgers. Instead of placing the cheese on top of the burger, use a stuffed burger press to make stuffed patties. Or toss grated cheese with your meat before forming conventional patties.
- Make Swiss and Mushroom Burgers. Make a cheese-stuffed burger as above but with Swiss cheese. Top the burger with sautéed mushrooms.
- Make Tex-Mex Burgers. Toss your ground beef with diced green chilies, chopped cilantro, and shredded Monterey jack cheese before forming the patties. Mix in some taco or other southwest seasoning.
- Make Cheese and Herb Burgers. Make burgers as for Tex-Mex burgers but instead of chilies, use your favorite herbs.
- Make Buttery Onion Burgers. Freeze a cube of butter then grate it as you would cheese. Mix the grated butter, a chopped sweet onion, and your choice of spices into your ground beef before forming the patties. (To keep the butter hard, place the grater and a plate or cutting board in the freezer before use. Make sure that the meat is ice cold.)
- Make Blue Cheese and Bacon Burgers. Mix crumbled blue cheese into the ground beef. Cook and top with crisply fried bacon. If you are cooking on the grill, try wrapping the bacon strips around the burger patties before cooking. Secure the strips with toothpicks.
- Make Italian Burgers. Mix one part ground beef with one part ground Italian sausage. Form patties. Season with additional oregano and basil or mix some in a little Italian dressing. Use a stuffed burger press if you would like to put cheese in the center.
- Make Chuck Wagon Bacon Burgers. Microwave bacon until it is partly done. With kitchen shears, snip the bacon into bits. Mix the bacon bits into your ground beef along with a Colorado Cattle Company Steak and Burger Seasoning or your favorite seasoning. If you would like a little more flavor, open a can of mild diced chilies and mix that into the burger. Do not over mix the meat. Form the burgers with a burger press.
- Make Asian Burgers. Pick your favorite Asian sauce—Thai Sweet Chili Sauce is one of our favorites—and mix it into your burger. Because it’s interspersed through the meat flavoring every bite, it won’t take a lot. Make teriyaki burgers by adding Teriyaki sauce or another sauce from the store, General Tsao burgers by adding General Tsao Sauce or whatever your fancy is.
Chef’s Note: For us, one of the real advantages of stuffed burgers is that we can use lean meat. For most burgers, you need a relatively high fat content; use 80% or 85% lean burger. It’s the fat that makes the burger juicy and satisfying. But with these burgers, you can use leaner meat because there is cheese, butter, or bacon interspersed in the meat. And it takes less cheese to make a cheeseburger this way.
