Try this Texas Tailgate Burger recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 pounds ground chuck
- 1 cup pickled jalapeã±os chopped
- 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (either use your favorite or use my recipe at the end of instructions)
- 2 cups shredded smoked sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup diced sweet onion (i use texas 1015 naturally)
- 6 onion hamburger buns
- barbecue-flavored potato chips (kettle style is be
- sliced dill pickles
- chopped iceberg lettuce (we are going for crunch not vitamins, here!)
- Carbohydrate 0.161636666666667 g
- Cholesterol 107.350194233333 mg
- Fat 30.277978 g
- Fiber 0.0917666683197021 g
- Protein 25.994466643 g
- Saturated Fat 11.6084323500333 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (152g)
- Sodium 305.061562633333 mg
- Sugar 0.0698699983469645 g
- Trans Fat 4.61762826166667 g
- Calories 385 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat your grill to medium-high. Brush the grill with oil to prevent sticking.
- To make the patties, combine the chuck, jalapeños, salt, pepper, and chili powder in a large bowl, handling it as little as possible. Shape into 6 patties to fit the bun size. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Note: Here's how I form my patties. Grab a softball-sized handful of meat and gently form it into a ball. Then, I sort of do a back and forth hand-to-hand motion for a few tosses (kind of like how you'd make a tortilla by hand), then I pat-pat-pat the meat into a flat disc while corralling the edges with my thumb to keep them smooth and uniform. Finally, make a small thumb-sized indentation in the middle of the patty. That way you get a nice patty without over-handling the meat. That is, if you don't drop it.
- Prepare the barbecue cheese: Mix the barbecue sauce, cheese, and onions and set it aside. Do not refrigerate (you will be using it shortly and you don’t want it to be really cold).
- Place the patties on the grill rack and cook, turning once, until they're cooked to your preference, 5 to 7 minutes on each side for medium. In the last 3 minutes of grilling, carefully place equal amounts of the barbecue cheese on each patty. During the last 2 minutes of grilling, place the buns cut side-down, on the outer edges of the rack to toast lightly.
- To assemble the burgers, place an equal layer of barbecue kettle chips on each bottom bun. Add a cheese-covered patty on top, followed by a layer of pickles and an equal amount of lettuce. Add the bun tops and serve with an ice-cold beer or a big ol' pitcher of tea.
- If you are so inclined, here's my BBQ sauce recipe. Simply mix all of the ingredients together: 1/2 cup ketchup; 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard; 2 to 3 dashes hot sauce (Louisiana style or Tabasco); 4 to 5 drops liquid smoke; 1 tablespoon; chili powder; 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses.
Overworking the ground chuck before it hits the heat remains the single fastest way to turn a juicy patty into a dense, gray hockey puck. Ground beef requires a delicate touch; tossing the meat lightly between your hands forms a cohesive disc without packing the protein fibers too tightly together, while pressing a thumbprint into the center prevents the inevitable center bulge from ruining an otherwise flat cooking surface. Managing leftovers requires a completely different tactical approach once the initial meal ends. Storing cooked patties separately from buns and garnishes stops moisture migration dead in its tracks, ensuring that tomorrow's lunch retains structural integrity rather than devolving into a soggy mess. When reheating day-old meat, a cast-iron skillet warmed over medium-low heat with a tablespoon of water covered by a tight lid will gently steam the interior back to life in under four minutes without scorching the exterior crust.
- Keep the mixed barbecue, cheese, and onion topping at room temperature for up to thirty minutes prior to application so the cold dairy does not drop the internal grill temperature.
- Swap pickled jalapeños for finely minced fresh serranos if you want a sharper, herbaceous bite that cuts through the heavy fat content of the 80/20 chuck.
- Toast the hamburger buns over direct heat for precisely one hundred and twenty seconds to create a barrier that stops the barbecue potato chips from dissolving into mush upon assembly.
Proper moisture control separates an edible leftover from a kitchen disaster. Cold storage must happen within two hours of cooking to keep food safe, and those patties will hold reliably in an airtight container for up to three days before the texture degrades beyond rescue.
