You Need to Make a Juicy Lucy Inside-Out Cheeseburger Before Summer Ends
The Juicy Lucy, an inside-out burger that oozes cheese from the middle of the patty, is a Minnesota icon, and the first time I saw one I couldn’t believe Chicago hadn’t thought of it first. (I’m from Chicago, and we do love to stuff things with cheese.)
It’s a glorious mess of cheese, beef, and ketchup, and it looks like the kind of burger Homer Simpson would design. That’s a good thing, of course. Homer Simpson might not have been able to build a good car, but I would absolutely trust the man to design a great burger. It would probably be enormous, and stuffed with tons of gooey, melted cheese — just like this one.
For the best melt, the author says to start with good old-fashioned American cheese. You can mix in some jalapeños if you want it spicy, and some people like to stuff their burgers with blue cheese, but American cheese will give your burger a super-melted, almost liquid core.
Stuffing the burger is not hard. Season the beef with salt and pepper and your favorite spice blend, the form the beef into two patties, one large and one small. Arrange torn slices or little chunks of cheese in the center of the larger patty, then put the small one on top and fold the edges over to seal it.
Grill or pan-fry the burgers until they’re cooked to your desired degree of doneness and the cheese has melted. The author says you might need to sacrifice one of the burgers to cut it in half and make sure it’s cooked and the cheese is runny.
Serve the burgers on brioche buns with your choice of burger toppings, like onions, tomatoes, jalapeños, or a slice of lettuce, if you must. Have some paper towels handy. With a burger like this you’re virtually guaranteed to make a mess, but it will be worth it.
More Delicious Burger Recipes from Kitchn
Get the recipe: Juicy Lucy from Pinch of Yum
Kitchn’s Delicious Links column highlights recipes we’re excited about from the bloggers we love. Follow along every weekday as we post our favorites.