Cheddar-Stuffed Jalapeno Burgers

We tend to grill a little bit year-round, but during the summer that is almost the only type of cooking we do. Almost every meal we prepare at home involves something on the grill. Here is a spicy spin on your plain ole summer burgers.



For this particular burger, we need it to hold its shape, so a relatively lean ground meat is good...I think we used a 93/7. Throw it in a bowl with about 1/4 cup worcestershire, 2 cloves finely minced garlic (or some garlic powder), 1/4 of a medium-sized onion (finely chopped), and a sprinkle of black pepper.



Now for the heat! Chop up some jalapenos. All we have right now are some from a jar, but as soon as our garden starts making fresh peppers, we'll be using those...so use whatever you have. If you like a lot of spice and the flavor of jalapenos, use at least 1/4 of a cup of chopped jalapenos...a little less if you don't like as much heat...a little more if you're so bold.

Mix it all up with your hands.


Start forming the bottom of your patties. Make them super thin in the middle, with a little lip around the edge. You should get four of these burgers out of a pound of meat. You'll only see three burgers in my pictures because I dropped about a 1/4 of a pound of meat over the sink and lost it to the disposal.

Make sure to leave enough meat to cover your cheese in a minute.


Sprinkle some shredded cheese in the middle, or if you have sliced cheese, fold it up and put it in the middle (it spreads as it melts). Either works fine. We had a cheddar/monterey jack mixture. Plain cheddar would be good or even pepper jack if you like even more heat!

Throw 'em on the grill. Relatively low and slow is key to make sure they get cooked and melty on the inside without burning the outside...and so all the cheesy goodness doesn't bubble out and end up on your grill.

While those are grilling, get your fixins ready. Why is there a picture of spinach here? Because that is the only "lettuce" I had at the time. We usually keep romaine or spinach around for salads, but we'll use either for anything that requires lettuce. We even had spinach on our tacos this week...surprisingly good.

Anyway, after you toast your bun-of-choice, assemble your burger the way you like and enjoy!