Cheeseburger – double or single

I know you know how to make a cheeseburger…. but as it turns out, I have some tips you might find useful! From the best beef to the best bun to the best cheese, today’s burger recipe also comes with your choice of two homemade burger sauces – a tomato one or my quick creamy Special Burger Sauce.

The only question really is – single or double cheeseburger??

Cheeseburger recipe

Anybody who claims the sight of a big juicy cheeseburger doesn’t get their blood pumping is either made of stone or a vegetarian.

And anybody reading this is neither of those things, right?? ???? We are people who hold burgers like we are clutching onto dear life, like this! ⬇⬇⬇

And we are people who go gah gah over sights like this (though in no way does the following represent reality because who cuts burgers with a knife??):

Pictures done. Onto business – how to make them!

What you need for a great cheeseburger

Here is (in my humble opinion) what you need to make a great cheeseburger:

1. The beef – don’t get (too) snobby

My simple view: The better the beef, the better the flavour, but I would never turn my nose up at a burger made with everyday supermarket beef.

For company: 50/50 brisket and chuck with 20% fat, ground to order by the butcher. Brisket brings really good beefy flavour, and chuck for texture.

Everyday: Standard beef mince from the grocery store which can be a mixture of any cut of beef but usually predominantly chuck. Fattier = juicy and more flavourful. Lean = fine but not as juicy. You pick. (guess which side I’m erring towards!????)

Single vs double cheeseburger: The decision is entirely up to you. I use 150g / 5 oz per patty for a 10cm / 4″ wide bun, so just double up if you want a double. Yes, a double is big and mighty and indulgent…. but it’s such a good treat!

Single vs double cheeseburger

2. The cheese – processed authenticity

For the classic cheeseburger experienced, we go processed all the way. These days in Australia, there’s even cheese helpfully labelled “Burger Slices” so we can’t get it wrong!

But don’t let my loyalty to processed cheese stop you from using any melting cheese you want. Swiss, cheddar, tasty, colby, gruyere – or even fancier, if you so desire / your wallet stretches that far!

3. The bun – soft and white

Soft white buns, preferably with sesame seeds, are (in my humble opinion) the only way to go. Soft is essential so it becomes one with everything jammed inside. There is a time and place for crusty artisan breads, but now is not it!

There is also a time for wholemeal breads, seeded breads and olive studded breads – but again, now is not the time! ???? (I jest, ignore me, use whatever bread you want.)

As for size….

I always hunt down burger buns around 10cm / 4″ in diameter. Why? Because I like my patties to cover the bun from edge to edge, and it becomes a little more logistically challenging to make patties larger than 10cm when you factor in a 25% shrinkage as they cook.

Nothing is more irritating than taking a giant bite of a burger only to end up with a mouthful of bread and no beef!

So my rule of thumb is 10cm / 4″ of so. It’s a safe size, and also a practical size in that it’s a filling meal for one person, even someone with a hearty appetite such as myself.

4. The green stuff and pickled stuff

• Lettuce – Cos/romaine and shredded iceberg lettuce are about as classic as you can get with burgers. If you want to get gourmet with baby greens, rocket/arugula, spinach or even kale, go right ahead (I promise I’m not judging you!).
• Onion – Raw red onion rings are my onion of choice. I like the bite of freshness they bring to all the beefiness and juiciness. For those who find them too harsh, alternatives are to dice them then scatter just a bit on your burger, or cook ordinary (not red) onions instead.
• Tomato – As with the onion, tomato brings a touch of welcome freshness to this stack of goodness.
• Pickles (BIG!) – Opt for big gherkins rather than small ones, else you’ll end up with a burger scattered with dozens of tiny little gherkin rounds!

5. The sauce

And last but not least – the sauces. You can go with the standard ketchup and/or mustard. But today, I’m also sharing 2 homemade burger sauces:

1. Special Burger Sauce – an orangey/pinky mayonnaise based sauce, a blatant copycat of a popular burger sauce sold at grocery stores; and
2. Tomato Burger Sauce – essentially a quick tomato chutney. But is has a more savoury flavour which I think suits burgers better than traditional chutney which is traditionally quite sweet and flavoured with things like ginger, chilli and cardamom.

OK! The ingredients done, let’s move onto the cook part!

How to make (great!) cheeseburgers

If your BBQ isn’t an option, crank up your range hood and cook indoors in a heavy cast iron skillet. Give your non-stick pan the night off – it doesn’t cope well with high heat cooking!

1. The cheeseburger patty

1. Form patties – Separate the beef into 4 mounds, or 8 if making double cheeseburgers. Gently roll into a ball (not firmly, we want tender patties not rock hard ones!) then press down into a patty that is slightly larger than the burger bun, to factor in cooking shrinkage.

   As noted above, I like using buns that are maximum 10 cm / 4″ wide so the patty size is manageable. If your buns are much larger, I’d recommend using more beef else you’ll end up with wafer thin patties, or patties that are way smaller than your buns!

2. Tip #1 – Dent your patty for dome prevention and shrinkage reduction. Use your fingers or the back of your hand to press a dent into the centre of the patty. This prevents the patty from doming as it cooks which means you won’t need to press down hard with a spatula to keep it flat which makes the burgers hard and squeezes juice out! Essentially, the dent anticipates the dome so you end up with a flat burger patty once cooked.

   It also reduces shrinkage. Neat trick I picked up from Bobby Flay many years ago!

3. The dent – Here’s what it looks like. It doesn’t need to be even for deep, just a slight inwards curve of any shape and size is fine.
4. Tip #2 – Salt JUST before cooking. My 2nd key tip is to only salt the patty just before cooking. If you salt your patty ahead of time and leave it sitting around, the cooked patty ends up much firmer. Go ahead and give it a go, if you need to see it for yourself! ???? I salt mine while the skillet is pre-heating.

2. Cooking the patties

1. Cast iron skillet – Preheat oil in a heavy based cast-iron skillet over high heat until it is very, very hot. Why a cast-iron skillet? Because it’s made for high heat fast cooking so we can get a great caramelised dark brown crust without overcooking the inside. This burger patty cooks in 3 minutes flat!

   Don’t have a cast-iron skillet? You can use a non-stick frying pan but just heat the oil until hot, not smoking. Don’t cook it as aggressively as I do in the recipe video below (ie very very hot skillet) else you’ll damage the non stick coating. You probably won’t get quite the same colour on the crust but avoid the temptation to cook for longer as you’ll end up with overcooked insides.

2. 3 minute cook – Place 2 or 4 patties in the skillet (depending on skillet size) and cook the first side for 1 1/2 minutes, pressing down LIGHTLY with a spatula. Note the emphasis on “lightly”! Nobody likes dense, hard patties where all the juice has been squeezed out during the cooking phase!
3. Flip & cheese – Flip the burgers then immediately top with cheese and cook for another 1 1/2 minutes.
4. Melted! And look at that. Perfectly cooked patty and melted cheese draped over it. Sheer perfection!

3. Assembling cheeseburgers

This is the order in which I like to build burgers because I think it’s the most stable. Anybody who’s bitten into a giant burger only to have a slice of tomato squirt out the back end knows exactly what I’m talking about!

1. Toast the buns under the grill/broiler for a few minutes until light golden. I only do the cut face because I like to keep the surface soft. Using your BBQ? Just pop them face down straight onto the grill.
2. Smear with sauce of choice. In the photo above I’m using my homemade tomato chutney burger sauce and in the video you’ll also see me using my creamy pink Special Burger Sauce. Don’t make me choose – sometimes I use both. ????????‍♀️
3. Lettuce > tomato > patty – I put lettuce first because it kind of “sticks” to the sauce followed by tomato then the patty (or patties!).
4. Gherkins > onion – Next, gherkins scattered across the cheese (they kind of stick which is nice) then onion.
5. Sauce on lid – Then I usually smear the sauce on the lid though if I’m feeling extra saucy I’ll spoon the sauce straight onto the burger stack instead or (gasp shock horror!) as well as. ????
6. Jam the lid on top then devour!

Cheeseburger Disclaimer

I know this cheeseburger recipe contains bold statements regarding what I think makes a great cheeseburger. However, I’ve always been a firm believer that you should never let anyone tell you what you should or should not put in your burger.

And that includes me. ???? So really, make yours how you wish. Ignore all my tips, do what you want. And share your Great Burger Tips in the comments below! – Nagi x

PS If crispy fries is on your MUST HAVE list with burgers, I whole heartedly agree. And my long awaited fries recipe is coming next week! I promise you will love them. They are a game changer. ????

Watch how to make it

PS I filmed this during a time when there were fresh produces supply issues so I had to resort to butter lettuce. I survived.

Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Cheeseburgers (double or single)

Author: Nagi

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 10 mins

Resting: 3 mins

BBQ/Grilling, Mains

Western

Servings4

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. This cheeseburger recipe assumes your bun is 10cm/4″ wide. If it’s larger, you may want to scale up the beef so you don’t end up with wafer-thin patties or a burger patty that’s much smaller than your bun. Nobody likes biting into bread with no beef!!Slather with sauce of choice though for a really great burger experience, try my Special Burger Sauce (quick, no cook) or my Tomato Chutney for Burgers.

Ingredients

Mighty Double Cheeseburgers:

Everything else you need:

Instructions

• Patties: Separate the beef into 4 equal portions, or 8 if making double cheeseburgers (do it!). Gently roll each portion into balls then press down into round patties that are slightly larger than your bun to allow for shrinkage (12 cm / 4.7″ wide, 1 cm / 0.4″ thick for a 10cm / 4″ burger bun).
• Prepare: Get all your burger bits and pieces out and ready to use. Don’t salt your beef until just before cooking (it toughens the meat).
• Toast buns: Preheat the grill to high. Place the bread cut face up on a tray and toast for 3 to 5 minutes until light golden. Set aside.
• Dent patty: Sprinkle one side of patties with half the salt and pepper. Flip, then press a dent into the middle of each patty. This prevents them from doming up when cooking and reduces shrinkage (thanks Bobby Flay!). Sprinkle this dented side with the remaining salt and pepper.
• Preheat 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast iron skillet over high heat until very hot – smoking hot! (Note 6)
• Cook: Cook 2 to 4 patties (whatever fits in the pan) for 1 1/2 minutes. Press down lightly with a spatula (not too hard else the meat juices squeeze out!). Flip, then immediately top with a slice of cheese. Cook for another 1 1/2 minutes (cheese will melt by itself!) then transfer burgers to a tray to rest for 3 minutes.
• Assemble: Slather the base of the bun with your sauce of choice. My order of assembly: lettuce, tomato, burger (x 2 for double!), gherkins, onion, sauce on bun lid, jam it on top of the stack. DEVOUR.
• {Fries coming next week. Be prepared to swoon, they are epic!}

Recipe Notes:

Batch cooking: If you are making a big batch, keep buns and cooked patties warm in a 50°C/122°F oven while you continue cooking.
1. Beef quality:

• My favourite blend for flavour and juiciness – 50/50 brisket and chuck, ground to order from the butcher, with 20% fat.
• Supermarket mince – Nobody in my circles turns their nose up at burgers made with supermarket beef mince. The trick is to follow my specific direction to salt it just before cooking as the patty is far more tender once cooked. And also, lean = less flavour and less juicy (fat is where beef flavour is).

2. Burger buns – See intro for commentary. Brioche buns are premium, else any soft white buns that aren’t too gigantic (why-oh-why are Aussie hamburger buns so BIG?? So hard to cook hamburger patties that size!). Doesn’t have to be called hamburger buns, you can just get soft white rolls (best to skip crusty/seedy/wholemeal/fancy stuff).
3. Cheese – for a true cheeseburger experience, opt for the processed cheese! Sold in Australian grocery stores helpfully labelled “burger cheese”, see in post for photo.
4. Onion – If you’re not a fan of raw onion (I personally like how it breaks up the richness of the burger), you can either dice then scatter over the sauce on the base of the bun (like McDonald’s does) or cook it in a little oil with a pinch of salt and pepper (I’d use brown/yellow onions instead).
5. Gherkins – large is just more practical so you only need a few slices to cover the burger. If you only have the small ones on hand, slice them vertically rather than rounds
6. Pan – If you’ve only got a non stick pan, that’s fine but just don’t cook your burger as aggressively as I do in a smoking hot skillet else you will destroy your non stick coating. You won’t get quite the same charring but it will still be delicious!
7. Nutrition – Per burger, counting burgers, toppings and buns only. Condiments including Special Sauce not included.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 755cal (38%)Carbohydrates: 28g (9%)Protein: 45g (90%)Fat: 51g (78%)Saturated Fat: 22g (138%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 20gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 146mg (49%)Sodium: 750mg (33%)Potassium: 727mg (21%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 1166IU (23%)Vitamin C: 11mg (13%)Calcium: 533mg (53%)Iron: 5mg (28%)

Keywords: cheeseburger, Hamburger recipe

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

Life of Dozer

Dear Dozer fans – don’t miss Dozer’s cameo in today’s recipe video. Don’t worry about the recipe, just skip straight to 1 minutes 55 seconds to see Dozer.????

And here he is, looking mighty unimpressed at the sad McDonald’s Big Mac I got for inspection purposes – to compare the red burger sauce to my recipe. (Spoiler: no comparison!!!)