Jalapeño & Pepper Jack Stuffed Burgers

To celebrate July 4th, my boyfriend and I hosted a patriotic BBQ for our families, filled with awesome cookout staples: coleslaw, my mom’s rockin’ potato salad, corn & black bean salsa, pico de gallo & guac, watermelon, Cape Cod potato chips, brownies, a passion fruit vodka cocktail, hot dogs and two types of burgers.  What a feast!

The weather went downhill in the afternoon, but luckily we had tons of yummies inside the house to nosh on and great company to spend the day with.

My mom’s potato salad is out of this world.  Here’s a pic.  We eyeball all of the ingredients, but I promise that soon I will measure them and post the recipe.  It has red potatoes, celery, red onion, fresh dill, a little Dijon mustard, sour cream, mayo salt, and pepper!

I’ll also post the coleslaw recipe soon, too, which has freshly shredded green cabbage, carrots, white vinegar, sugar, salt, celery salt and a tiny bit of mayo.  This is best made a day in advance so the flavors can merry and soften the cabbage a bit.

I made some gluten-free fudge brownies, which went great with vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Now, the main event.  The burgers.  We decided to have a few burger varieties for our cookout.  My boyfriend made some yummy burgers, with just beef, salt, pepper and ketchup or BBQ sauce that were simple and flavorful.  For my burgers, I wanted to make something spicy and stuffed with cheese.

Initially, I planned on making up my own stuffed jalapeño & pepper jack cheese burger recipe, but stumbled across a really great recipe that sounded like exactly what I was looking for!  You mix the burger patties with onion, egg, breadcrumbs, BBQ sauce, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, garlic salt, chili powder salt and pepper.  Then you stuff each burger with pepper jack cheese, so when you cut into it, it’s oozing with cheese goodness.  We topped these burgers with guac, lettuce, tomato and onion.

The burgers are really fun to make, too.  You prep all of the mix-ins and use your hands to combine everything in a bowl.  Divide the mixture into 12 thin patties.  Put the cheese in the middle of 6 patties, top with the other 6 patties and seal the edges by pressing down on the meat.

Grill to your liking and serve immediately while the cheesy middle is still hot and gooey with your favorite toppings.  We did lettuce, tomato, guac and red onion.

I didn’t get a great picture of the inside of the burger, but here’s an idea of what it looks like.  Ooey gooey, cheesy, slightly spicy, delicious!

Jalapeño & Pepper Jack Stuff Burgers

Recipe adapted slightly from the Bite-Sized Baker

Makes 6 burgers

Ingredients

• 2 ½ pounds ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, diced and seeded (or more to taste)
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/8 cup gluten-free breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup BBQ sauce
• 2 tablespoons chipotle in adobo sauce
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 slices of pepper jack cheese, crumbled into pieces

Burger Garnishes (Optional)

• sliced tomatoes
• lettuce
• guacamole
• sliced red onion
• toasted buns
• 6 burger buns, toasted

Steps

1. In a large mixing bowl, break up ground beef with your hands.
2. Add egg, chopped onion, jalapeño, garlic, breadcrumbs, BBQ sauce, chipotle in adobo sauce, and season with salt and pepper until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Divide the meat into 12 even, thin patties, about ½ inch thick.
4. Place one slice of cheese in the center of six patties.
5. Top each patty with another patty and seal the edges.
6. Grill burgers over medium-high heat, flipping once until cooked through.
7. Serve burgers immediately with desired garnishes.

Hugs, kisses & yummy dishes… xoxo

Lauren