Garlic Onion Burger Stuffed with Cheddar Cheese

I’ve been calling it Stuffed GO Burgers for short but it kind of implies that it’s stuffed with onions and garlic. But it’s actually stuffed with cheddar cheese.  The Mister said these were awesome and not sure if he can go back to eating frozen burgers. Well, he’ll have to suffer through during the remodel, not that eating a Bubba Burger is considered suffering.

These burgers are really easy to make. I use about a 1/3 lb of 80/20 ground chuck per burger. I make it fairly large because I need enough meat so I can stuff it with cheddar cheese. I sliced up about half an onion, medium sized, lengthwise and then saute them up until caramelized. Then I take about 1/3 of that, chop it up and add it to the ground beef. I found that I really liked the flavor of the sauteed onions in the beef rather than raw onions. Yes, there’s sauteed onions on top but having it in the burger brings it up another level. I also add medium-finely diced garlic cloves (~2 to our taste) and 1 egg yolk to the meat.  Add a bit of salt and freshly ground pepper and mix it up as gently and thoroughly as I can.

A note about the garlic. I’ve used raw and sauteed garlic and we like the raw garlic method best.  The sauteed garlic lost its garlicky flavor once the burger was cooked. The raw garlic was not overpowering at all and provided a good hint of garlickiness that we like.

I form 2 smaller patties for each burger. So if I’m cooking 3 burgers, I’ll have 6 patties total.  I’ve been using sliced Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese for the inside.  I break apart the slices and add them to the center of one patty, about half a slice per burger.  I don’t know if breaking it up helps with the melting but I did it to keep everything in the middle.  Then the other patty goes on top and I work the edges of the 2 patties together to seal in the cheese. I then do the Bobby Flay method of pushing down the center of the formed patty a bit so the edges are a bit taller. But this is a bit tough with the cheese in the center so I just do the best I can with that.

Then I cover the patties with plastic wrap in refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes.  I take it out about 5-10 minutes before grilling.  I tend to cook these burgers a little longer than a non-stuffed one since I want the center cheese to melt. They usually are cooked to medium, about 4-5 minutes on each side. I also like to throw on an extra slice of cheddar cheese during the last minute of grilling.

On this day, I had some white mushrooms and decided to saute some of those up too for the burgers. This was before all the condiments were added. I especially like sliced dill pickles with this combo. Yum!  You can actually see the inside cheese oozing out in the first picture.

That’s pretty much it. Juicy and delicious burger that’s pretty easy to throw together. You can change up the taste by adding different cheeses to the center. I think pepper jack in the center with roasted bell peppers on top would be another good combo. That’s on my next to try variation.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Hump day, half way through the work week. C’mon Friday!