Inside Out Cheeseburger GF, Egg Free, Dairy Free

Ah, Cheeseburgers. I do love a great cheeseburger. These are so good, I have to say not only do I not miss the hamburger bun, I don't even WANT the hamburger bun... it just gets in the way of all those great flavors. 

This cheeseburger night was fantastic.  Fresh tomatoes from the garden...mmmm.  Sorry, no restaurant burger can compete with that. Between the juicy burger and the juicy tomato, make sure you have plenty of napkins at the ready. And these won't leave you looking for more food, they were enough to satisfy two healthy teens after completing eleven miles of running at cross country practice.  Serve with my 5 Minute Baked Beans and some salt potatoes and you have a quick meal for a busy night.

So we have friends who came over with their 'specialized burger stuffing contraption'one night.  If you do a search on-line you can find them almost anywhere.  The production to get cheese inside the burger perplexed me.  Granted, I do not use any preshredded cheese because of the 'food starch' used to keep the cheese separated, so my burger required the extra step of shredding the cheese to use the 'contraption', but I just kept thinking it was making it more complicated than necessary.  pressing hamburger into two sides of a mold and trying to fit the stuffings into the little cavity... Anyway, here is the simple version, no 'specialized burger stuffing contraption' necessary.

The awesome thing here is you can use any cheese.  I have made these with cheddar, mozzarella, pepper jack, feta, non-dairy, etc. and they turn out great every time!  Simple.  Take 1/4 pound of hamburger.

Slightly flatten it out to about twice the size of your cheese.

Place a one ounce slice of cheese in the center of the 1/4 pound of hamburger and fold it over the cheese.

Finally, form the burger around the slice of cheese.  Remember the best way to make juicy burgers that cook thoroughly is to press the center flat and the outside of the burger should have thicker sides.

One pound of hamburger will make four gorgeous burgers.

And of course, you can't forget the toppings.  I find taking a few more minutes to slice tomato, wash lettuce, add onion, not only results in the family consuming more beautiful vegetables, but also makes the burgers feel more special.  And they look so pretty on the table!

And presto- a beautiful, I daresay gourmet, burger.  And seriously, way better than the drive-thru.

I arrange my burger and toppings on a large lettuce leaf, fold it over, and then 'wrap' another large leaf around the sides. This is definitely a two-handed, three napkin burger.

The Recipe:

Gluten Free

Corn Free

Allergen Free for: Egg, Soy, Nut, Peanut, Wheat, Shellfish, Fish

Contains Dairy- source: cheese 

dairy substitutions: dairy free cheese

Makes four Burgers

1 lb. Hamburger

4 ounces cheese of choice (cheddar, mozzarella, pepper jack, dairy free cheese, feta cheese) sliced into one ounce pieces

Toppings: tomato, lettuce, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.

Divide the hamburger into four 1/4 pound pieces.

Loosely form the 1/4 pound pieces of hamburger into a flatten shape twice the size of the cheese.

Place one ounce piece of cheese in the center of the hamburger.

Fold over and form into a patty around the cheese.

Grill hamburgers on a 500 degree grill.

Grill for 5 minutes on each side.

Serve on a large lettuce leaf with desired toppings.