Black and Blue Burgers will wow your burger loving family. Blackened seasoning gives burger patties a little extra kick while sharp blue cheese adds a layer of complex flavor. You can either use a store-bought blackening spice or make your own.
Burgers are our favorited food during the Summer months and with all of my burgers our favorite side dish to serve is baked beans. Take a look at BBQ Beans On The Grill. or these Spicy Baked Beans.
Summer grilling wouldn’t be complete without an arsenal of burger recipes. Taking a cue from Culinary School, where we pan-seared steaks seasoned with blackening seasoning, then served topped with blue cheese, these Black and Blue Burgers were born in my own kitchen.
The bold flavors of this burger are elevated a step higher slathered with a coarse ground Dijon Mustard for a condiment.
Also inspired by my Silver Spur Ranch Blue Cheese Burgers, this version takes advantage of blackened seasoning to add warm and spicy layer of flavors. In short, this is one delicious burger.
Beef and Blue Cheese are natural culinary partners, so let’s get started.
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Ingredients You’ll Need For The Black and Blue Burger Seasoning
Let’s start by making this super easy Homemade Blackened Seasoning Recipe. You probably have everything you need in your pantry and it’s a super easy recipe. Again, another recipe from Culinary School. I’ve never purchased blackened seasoning, so can’t recommend a store brand.
- Freshy Ground Black Pepper
- Garlic powder
- New Mexico Red Chile Powder, or Cayenne Pepper is more customary
- Dried thyme
- Dried oregano
- Smoked paprika
- Onion powder
- Kosher salt
See recipe card for quantities.
Simply add ingredients to a bowl and use a whisk to combine.
Ingredients For The Black and Blue Burgers
- Hamburger Buns. I really like the little crunch of sesame buns for Black and Blue Burgers, but use your preference.
- Garnish: Green leaf lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onion and coarse ground Dijon Mustard. For the mustard, I like this jar from Whole Foods.
- 80/20 Blend Ground Beef
- Crumbled Blue Cheese
- Blackened Seasoning
- Kosher Salt
See recipe card for quantities.
Step by Step Instructions, It’s Easy
- Step 1: Place ground beef in a bowl. Add crumbled blue cheese, blackened seasoning and salt.
- Step 2: Use hands to combine the ingredients, just like you would making meatloaf.
Hint: Don’t overwork the meat mixture when making ground beef patties. A looser mix will simply make a better cooked and juice burger.
- Step 3: Portion ground beef into three patties. You can also make quarter pound burgers and make four hamburger patties.
- Step 4: Place burgers on the grill. Sear 3 to 5 minutes on the first side or until dark crust develops on burgers. Flip the burgers and grill on second side for additional 4 to 5 minutes or until they reach internal temperature of 160°F.
To Build That Burger: Spread whole grain mustard on bottom bun, add lettuce and sliced tomato. Top with red onion.
Substitutions
- Lettuce – I like green leaf lettuce for burgers because of it’s pretty frilly edge appearance. You can substitute iceberg lettuce for more of a crunch, or even Romaine lettuce.
- Mustard: It’s fun to experiment with different mustards, so I highly recommend using the coarse ground mustard I’ve listed. However, you most certainly can use regular Dijon mustard.
Variations
- Onions – Try grilling the onions rather than serving them on the burger raw. Grilling red onions brings out the natural sugars which caramelize for a sweeter result.
Check out this Rosemary Brie Burgers, where I make a Red Onion Chutney for a burger topping. Crazy delish.
Storage
I intentionally make extra burgers to have leftovers. Simply wrap the extra burger patty in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat the patty in the microwave for about 1 minute, at 50% power. Longer if needed. Voila, you have a quick lunch the next day.
Top tip – Blue Cheese
Hardly ever do I recommend purchasing pre-crumbled cheeses in plastic containers. However, for this recipe the pre-crumbled is a benefit. So many high quality blue cheeses are beautifully creamy, making them harder to crumble yourself. Crumbled blue cheese in containers are a little dryer and will make life easier for you, without sacrificing flavor. The smaller crumbles distribute more evenly through the ground beef mixture.
FAQ
“Bleu” is simply the French spelling for blue. If you want to make official Black and Bleu Cheese Burgers, choose a French blue cheese. I can readily find it at my local Kroeger grocery store under the Murray’s Brand. I find it to be a softer bleu cheese with incredible flavor. It’s also more expensive.
If you use gluten free buns, these burgers are completely gluten free burgers.
Related
Are you Hamburger fans like us? Don’t miss more of our favorites.
And if you’re looking for even more recipes, don’t miss my category for Hamburger Recipes. You’ll find more ideas including the most popular on my site for Bobby Flay’s Coleslaw Burger.
Pairing
These are my favorite side dishes to serve with Black and Blue Burgers:
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Black and Blue Burger
Ingredients
- For The Homemade Blackened Seasoning
- 2 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika
- 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
- 2 teaspoons Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon New Mexico Red Chile Powder or Cayenne. Or more if you want it spicier.
- 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- For The Black and Blue Burgers
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 1 Tablespoon Blackened Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ Red Onion Cut into rings
- 3 ounces Blue Cheese crumbled
- 3 Tablespoons Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
- 3 leaves Green Leaf Lettuce
- 3 slices Tomato
- 3 Sesame Seed Hamburger Buns
Instructions
- Preheat grill to high.
- Place ground beef in a bowl. Add crumbled blue cheese, blackened seasoning and salt. Use hands to combine the ingredients. Portion ground chuck into three patties. You can also make quarter pound burgers and make four hamburger patties.
- Turn grill down to medium high and place burgers on the grill. Sear 3 to 5 minutes on the first side or until dark crust develops on burgers. Flip the burgers and grill on second side for additional 4 to 5 minutes or until they reach internal temperature of 160°F.
- Add buns to grill to toast, 2 minutes or until golden brown.
- To build that burger. Spread whole grain mustard on bottom bun, add lettuce and sliced tomato. Top with red onion.
Notes
- Hardly ever do I recommend purchasing pre-crumbled cheeses in plastic containers. However, for this recipe the pre-crumbled is a benefit. So many high quality blue cheeses are beautifully creamy, making them harder to crumble yourself. Crumbled blue cheese in containers are a little dryer and will make life easier for you, without sacrificing flavor. The smaller crumbles distribute more evenly through the ground beef mixture.
- Take the time to toast that bun. Simply butter and place on the grill for a few seconds. It will elevate these Black and Blue Burgers from good to great.
- Use an Instant Read Digital thermometer to read the internal temperature of those burger patties while cooking. 160 Degrees is recommended.
- Grill the red onion slices rather than serving them raw on the burger will make for a sweeter onion experience.
Nutrition
Black and Blue Burgers … They’re Whats For Dinner
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Wow, you’ve spent a lot of time on this post. Your burgers look like a delicious invention and you presentation of it looks very good. We’ll give it a try but with thinner patties. We always make extras to reheat as well.