Chef John's Best Burger Recipes

This burger combines three foods we love — burgers, bacon, and meatloaf sandwiches — into one incredible burger that's juicy, tender, and tasty. These burgers work great either pan-seared or cooked on the grill. Chef John serves his bacon meatloaf burger on a grilled bun with lettuce, tomato, and a smear of secret sauce (mayo, mustard, and ketchup). "I'll make a meatloaf just for the leftovers," says Chef John. "I'll fry the cold slice in a buttered pan until hot and crusty, and enjoy it on toast with ketchup. This recipe is basically that, plus bacon, in burger form."

Here's Chef John's take on a classic cheese-stuffed burger that's famous in the Midwest. "This isn't just any old cheeseburger. Depending on whom you talk to, it's either called a 'Juicy Lucy,' or a 'Jucy Lucy,'" says Chef John. "That's because two restaurants in Minneapolis claim to have invented it, and they spell it differently. Make sure you thoroughly and thoughtfully press the edges of the two patties together to seal in the cheese stuffing, which keeps the meat juicier. Spread your favorite burger sauce over the bun."

Why chop up perfectly good rib-eye and sirloin steaks to make burgers? "Why, for the extraordinary taste and texture, of course," says Chef John. "Most ground meat from the store is too fine, horribly overworked, and a little tough by the time you form it into patties." Chef John avoids those issues by taking a sharp knife to partially frozen quality meat. It's a classic steakhouse move, in fact. And what about Chef John's cheese choice? Blue. "The sharp, savory funkiness of blue cheese helps form a glorious crust as the meat sears into it." See how it's done:

The secret to Chef John's tasty teriyaki burgers is mixing his homemade teriyaki sauce right into the ground beef mixture, instead of merely using it as a condiment for topping the grilled patty. Chef John recommends cooking these over a medium-hot charcoal grill — or inside on a grill pan, which is a great alternative when you can't get outside. These burgers make great sliders, too. Try them on Chef John's Sweet Potato Buns topped with lettuce and tomato.

These baby burgers make the best party food. Chef John's genius move here is to use muffin cups to form the ground beef before frying them up so you get patties that are the same size and cook evenly. Serve them on small dinner rolls with sliced tomatoes. These came out great and so easy," says moosie. "The 'secret sauce' really made them."

Chef John explains the genesis of this burger: "I'd been daydreaming about a lamb burger based on moussaka, the famous Greek casserole. For those of you who don't know, moussaka is a stunning blend of spiced ground lamb, tomato, and eggplant, topped with a creamy, cheesy white sauce. I decided to integrate the eggplant right into the burger itself, instead of topping the burger with cooked slices."

Chef John's take on this Hawaiian comfort food classic puts the burger in a bowl, along with hot rice all smothered in a rich, brown gravy and crowned with a fried egg. "Just that sauce on the rice alone is worth making the dish," says Chef John. "But with the burger and the egg, it's really a quite substantial and extraordinarily tasty meal."

With this very lean burger, Chef John manages to make patties that are 95-percent fat-free taste truly amazing. The secret? "This recipe uses some of the same techniques and seasonings as the shish kebab," says Chef John. 

Chef John transforms homemade merguez, the spicy North African sausage, into an excellent burger! He mixes ground lamb with a quick spice blend, garlic, spicy harissa chili sauce, and tomato paste. Top of your grilled burger with feta cheese!

Your exceptional burger is even better on a homemade bun that's soft, supple, and light, has perfect texture and crumb, and is sturdy enough to stand up to a juicy grilled burger. "Not only are these going to be the perfect shape, they're going to taste way better than anything that comes out of a plastic bag," says Chef John. "The total time takes almost 4 hours, but the actual amount of work involved is maybe 10 minutes."