Blue Cheese Burgers, Juicy Burgers With Cheese Inside

Juicy and full of flavor, this blue cheese hamburger recipe comes from the Silver Spur Ranch. It’s Cowboy approved and mouthwateringly delicious. Adding Cholula, Worcestershire and blue cheese to ground beef before cooking truly elevates your burger game.

What Are Blue Cheeseburgers?

A blue cheese burger is simply a cheeseburger that features blue cheese for the cheesy element, rather than traditional American or cheddar cheese. Blue cheese brings a tangy pungent flavor to a ground beef patty.

What Makes This Blue Cheeseburger Better?

Cheeseburgers are my all time favorite food, and I’ve made a crazy amount of them over my cooking years. I know my burgers. Here’s why I like this version and why I think you’ll agree. It’s all about Blue Cheese Burgers mixed in vs. stuffed or topped.

• Blue Cheese Burgers With Cheese Mixed In: So many recipes I see call for sprinkling blue cheese on top of the cooked burger patty, or using blue cheese dressing as a topping … and call it a day. I guess you could call that a blue cheese hamburger, but for this recipe, the cheese lives inside the burger patty. Melted through. Every bite you take you’ll find blue cheese flavor. And no cheese crumbles sliding off into your lap.
• Mixed not stuffed: The blue cheese is crumbled and mixed into the ground beef, rather than trying to make a pocket in the beef patty and stuffing it with blue cheese. This makes an easier burger patty to prepare and distributes the blue cheese flavor evenly throughout the burger.
• Texture: When you fold blue cheese directly into the ground beef, everything evens out. The fat in the cheese melts and the cheese softens. The beef picks up that famous blue cheese flavor without overpowering. The texture of the burger stays tender and juicy. Almost plush.
• Seasonings: This burger recipe adds Worcestershire Sauce, dry mustard and a kick of heat from Cholula sauce. These are very complimentary additions that add some zest to the flavor.

Let’s take a look:

Ingredients You’ll Need

As far as the ingredients for these recipe, let’s just say this lineup makes for one of the most mouthwatering burgers you’ll ever taste.

• What meat works Best For Blue Cheese Burgers? 80-20 blend ground beef: Fat equals flavor. It may sound like a high fat content, but most of the fat renders out during the cooking process. 20% fat content will give you a moist juicy hamburger. And grass fed beef is always a healthier option. (source Webmd) Ground Chuck is also a very popular choice for any burger.
• Blue Cheese: With a texture like butter and rich in aroma and flavor, blue cheese adds a spicy piquancy to ground beef. It’s a delicious combination.
• Hot Sauce: Adds just enough spice to get your attention, but not to over-power. Use your favorite. I like Cholula, a rich, bold and medium heat sauce. Tabasco sauce would also be a good choice here.
• Worcestershire Sauce: My very favorite ingredient in this recipe. Savory, sweet and with a distinct tang, it really ramps up and compliments the flavor.
• Dry Mustard: My 2nd favorite ingredient in this recipe. Dry mustard adds a tangy heat. Clean with a fresh aroma and sharp flavor, it’s a perfect partner for ground beef and blue cheese.

What Are The Best Buns for Cheese Burgers?

Choose a regular hamburger bun that's soft, sturdy and flavorful. No need to go gourmet here. Tip: I discourage the use of Brioche buns simply because they are too soft, too sweet, and that high butter and sugar content can lead to a soggy bun that will fall apart under the weight of a juicy burger.

What’s The Best Blue Cheese For Burgers?

Blue cheese can be slow to melt, so how do you choose the best blue cheese for burgers?

Let’s talk creamy. Purchase a wedge of blue cheese in the gourmet cheese section at your store. Here are some creamy blue cheese options.

• Award Winning Point Reyes Blue Cheese is my absolute favorite blue cheese on earth. Creamy and bold in flavor, it’s perfect for melting into these burgers.
• Maytag blue cheese is also a quality choice. Maytag blue cheese is produced in Iowa and is a cow’s milk cheese with exceptional blue cheese flavor and creamy texture.
• Stilton Cheese: Stilton is an English semi-soft, crumbly and creamy. With a bold rich flavor it will bring a more intense and complex flavor to these burgers.

Purchasing blue cheese in a plastic container that’s already been crumbled can result in a dry textured blue cheese. Skip it, you’ll find these container cheeses won’t blend well with the hamburger meat and you’ll end up with a dry burger.

Steps To Make Blue Cheese Cheeseburgers!

Let’s get started.

1. Step 1: How To Mix Blue Cheese Into Burgers. Grab a large bowl and add all of the ingredients. Use your (very clean) hands to blend the ground beef with the seasonings. Respect the meat! Culinary school drills it into you early. Don't manhandle it and don’t use a spoon or large utensil. Doing so will simply smash the ingredients together and cause the burgers to become too dense and mushy in texture. Pro Tip: Hands are your best tool here.

2. Step 2: Form the meat into burger patties. Using your hands, gently form the meat mixture into six 6-ounce patties. Don’t over-work the meat, you want them to be just firm enough to hold together. We like ⅓ pound burgers, so due to the extra ingredients, each burger will weigh just over 6 ounces. Use a kitchen scale to weigh each chunk of meat before forming into patties. Cover the patties with plastic wrap and let them rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours or even over-night.
3. Step 3: Cook the hamburgers. Using either an outdoor grill or cast iron skillet, either way cook time for the burgers is 5-6 minutes per side. Get the cooking surface nice and hot then add the hamburgers. After there’s a good sear on one side of the burger, turn heat down and cook 5 – 6 minutes. Only turning once, cook the other side of the burger for the same amount of time. Use a instant-read thermometer to insure the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat, keep the burgers warm and tented while you toast the burger buns.
4. Step 4: Toast the buns. Butter each bun with butter or mayo and cook butter side down until the buns are nice and toasty. Serve immediately.

Toppings for Blue Cheese Cheeseburgers

These blue cheese burgers are so full of flavor it really doesn’t need much in the way of toppings, but here are some suggestions if you’re looking to jazz things up.

• Onions: Thin sliced rings of sweet onions or red onions work well here.
• Greens: Curly green leaf lettuce always makes a nice show on any burger, but don’t forget about peppery arugula for a different flavor profile. Place either on the bottom bun before adding the patty.
• Tomatoes: When in season, a slice of sweet fresh tomato is always a treat.
• Bacon: Add slices of cooked bacon on top and make these into bacon blue cheese burgers – no one can resist bacon. Yes please!

What Goes With Blue Cheese Burgers?

What immediately comes to mind as a perfect cheeseburger side dish? Fries! I’ve used frozen crinkle fries in my photos, but try my homemade Paprika Fries. Here’s some more seasonal recipes:

• Pineapple Coleslaw with Buttermilk with Jalapeno Buttermilk Dressing Creamy, sweet and spicy it's a perfect side dish for any Summer BBQ and you'll be amazed at how many people will ask you for the recipe.
• Old Fashioned Classic Potato Salad: Creamy with mayonnaise, tangy with mustard, crunchy with celery and onion, and with a surprise of green olives, this is an old-fashioned classic potato salad recipe.
• Salad: A simple tossed salad with a sharp acidic dressing is always a good choice for beef. My Red Wine Vinegar Salad Dressing is a popular choice here.
• And don’t forget about baked beans, a perfect side for any burger. Take a look at my recipe for BBQ Baked Beans On The Grill.
• Beverage: Beer-wise, reach for an IPA or a stout. Wine? A Big red like a Syrah or Malbec.

Storage

Did you cook too many burgers? I do on purpose, so I can have one for lunch the next day.

• Refrigerator: Store the cooked patties in an air tight container in the refrigerator, or wrapped in plastic wrap. Store toppings and buns separately.
• Freezer: You can freeze cooked or raw burger patties in the freezer for three months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before cooking or reheating.
• Reheating: When ready to reheat, place the cooked burger meat in the microwave and heat in 30 second increments until hot. The 50% power feature is your best friend. A slower and gentler heat will keep that burger from drying out and you’ll avoid any high heat food explosions.

Blue Cheese Burgers – Recipe

Grilled or pan fried, these blue cheese burgers are irresistibly amazing. It’s a burger recipe that showcases our Western culinary culture. And a recipe coming from a famous cattle ranch, I have no doubt these cowboys know their “burgers”. With the perfect ratio of blue cheese to ground beef, you’ve got a flavor that doesn’t over-power that beefy burger flavor. In short, you’ve got yourself a mighty fine tasting hamburger.

More Burger Recipes