Deliciously seasoned and grilled beef burgers topped with bourbon caramelized onions and melted Provolone cheese.
If you are at all familiar with my recipes and blog you know I am a bourbon fan. I live just a few miles north of the Kentucky boarder and so I’ve really learned to appreciate bourbon over the years. It’s my cocktail of choice (I like a Kentucky Mule – bourbon and ginger beer) and I enjoy cooking with it too.
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So when I found this recipe for Bourbon Burgers several years ago I knew my husband and I would both enjoy it. It apparently ruined me for all other burgers for quite a while because burger recipes are woefully lacking on my blog. But I plan to start trying to remedy that this summer.
These burgers are simple in their toppings. The star being the onions, caramelized in butter, sugar and bourbon. Add a little fresh lettuce and melted provolone cheese and they are good to go. So gorgeous to look at too. Am I making you hungry?
Tips for making Bourbon Burgers:
- Find the best burger buns that you can. I usually scour the bakery section of my grocery store and found these amazing looking pretzel buns that are pictured
- For grilled burgers a higher fat content in your ground beef is preferable so that your burgers stay juicy. I recommend beef that is 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat for grilling
- As in cooking with wine, cook with a bourbon that you also enjoy drinking. Don’t use the super high-end stuff but don’t the super-cheap stuff either. I like Jim Beam white label and Bulleit bourbon for cooking
Bourbon Burgers
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef 80/20 - fat ratio
- 3 tbsp bourbon
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/4 tsp ground oregano
- 1 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- 6 slices smoked Provolone cheese
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 2 sweet onions thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- In a large skillet, melt the 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.
- Add the 1/4 cup bourbon, onions, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and lightly browned, at least 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the ground beef to a large bowl with the 3 tablespoons bourbon, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Lightly mix with your hands and form into six patties.
- Heat grill and scrape the grates clean. Cook the burgers, searing on the higher heat side and flipping to finish cooking on the lower heat side. Cook the burgers until the internal temperature is 145 degrees F for medium rare or 160 degrees F for medium.
- Add a slice of the Provolone cheese to the top of each burger in the last minute of cooking to melt.
- Serve the burgers topped with the caramelized onions and fresh leaf lettuce.
- Add your own favorite condiments, like mustard or mayonnaise.
Nutrition
Don’t miss my other bourbon recipes:
- Bourbon Glazed Kentucky Butter Cake
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Bourbon Glaze
- Bourbon Bacon Pumpkin Seeds
Shivani Thakur says
The information you have very true and useful. They are really so amazing article shared! thank you have shared this post.
John Smith says
This tasted wonderful!
foodtasticmom says
Awesome! Happy to hear this.
Jeannine Meador says
I have recently discovered the joys of adding bourbon to various foods…such as bourbon bacon butter…to die for. Now I can’t wait to try these burgers…dinner tonight for sure. Thanks for sharing so much with all of us.
foodtasticmom says
You’re very welcome! 🙂
Katherine says
We made these for a Derby Day Sunday Supper in 2016 – they are amazing and we never make regular burgers anymore! I was just looking up the recipe for a friend and noticed that the recipe isn’t exactly like the one I printed in 2016. Your original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of bourbon reduced by half to add to the ground meat instead of 3T of bourbon and white cheddar cheese instead of provolone, along with a few other minor changes in spice measurements. I tend to be a cook that doesn’t read every line of the recipe instructions, so I do appreciate that the original recipe had separate ingredient lists for the burgers and the onions. Bottom line – make the burgers, they’re delicious! (but I think I’ll stick to my 2016 copy of the recipe – why mess with perfection?)
foodtasticmom says
In re-photographing the recipe I decided to make some changes. Since the bourbon is cooked while the meat is cooking I decided to streamline that step and I think the spices I probably changed up to make the recipe a little more my own. But I’m so happy you enjoy these – whichever version is your favorite 🙂 It’s all about personal preference and I usually assume that as people are making any of my recipes that some changes are made along the way in their own kitchens. Thanks so much for the comment!