Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger

This burger was an easy choice, Ken had to try it. I first saw it on Chef Barry’s Sizzle on the grill. http://www.sizzleonthegrill.com/blog/2010/10/19/grilled-burgers-with-a-pinch-of-sizzle/

We love peanut butter and thought about this for a second or so and we were in. Ken used the creamy, Patti loved the crunchy.  Burgers are all American and there are so many ways to fix them. There are tons of different ingredients to add to the ground meat plus, many choices for the toppings. Luckily, we haven’t found a combination that one of us wasn’t crazy about.

How about a great bacon cheeseburger smothered with hot gooey peanut butter with a thick layer of Swiss cheese?

What surprised me was how the peanut butter melts when you put it on a hot hamburger patty. Oh, good stuff, it gets all warm and gooey. Then, add the bacon and cheese and you will discover the meaning of life in burgers. Smoke it on the grill and you are in hamburger Heaven!

Let’s start with a good bacon cheese burger recipe; the peanut butter is just the finishing touch.

Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger
A Pellet Grill Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Grill: Louisiana Wood Pellet Grill
Pellets : Lumberjack Hickory

Ingredients: Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger

• 2 lbs. ground sirloin or 80/20 (any leaner and you have DRY BURGERS)
• ¼ lbs. chopped bacon; about half cooked and drained (Patti chops the bacon with a clean pair of scissors)
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• Cheese of choice, we picked a couple of slices of Swiss
• ¼ cup crushed dried garlic
• ½ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp.Country Bob’s Sauces and Seasonings Seasoning Salt
• 1/4 cup Country Bob’s Sauces and Seasonings
• Buns of choice (potato buns here)
• Peanut butter, smooth or chunky
• Condiments of choice

Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger
A Pellet Grill Recipe

Directions: Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger

Mix the beef, eggs, garlic, pepper, bacon, Country Bob’s Seasoning Salt and Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce in a bowl. Make your patties either by hand or use a press. Tonight we did it by hand. Ken likes the press because they’re a more uniform size. Patti likes to shape them by hand, because she likes them thick and cooked rare. Put the patties back into the fridge until you are ready to put them on. (You grill hamburger patties COLD, the patties hold together better. Unlike steak, that goes on at room temp so it cooks more evenly.)

Cooking Directions: Louisiana Wood Pellet Grill

To prepare the grill for cooking, check your pellet supply – top off or change flavors as needed. Scrape grill grates off. Set the temperature to 450 degrees (230c) and press the “Start” button. Give the grill about 15 minutes to reach temperature and the grates to burn clean.

Note: You can set the start temperature anywhere you want. I do 450 degrees (230c) for a quick cleaning burn.

I like to smoke everything for at least 30 minutes with an hour being even better. After all the Louisiana pellet grill is a awesome smoker so use it for all the wood smoke flavor it will add to your food.

So after the grill comes up to temp and burns clean turn it back down to low. This will be around 180 to 200 degrees (84 to 95c). Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 30 minutes or so. This is referred to as “Smoking” or “Hot Smoking”, the temperature is 180 degrees (84c). 30 minutes of smoking is not enough to have any cooking effect on your meat but it is enough to open the pores so that the meat can pick up all the flavor of the smoke.

After 30 minutes, turn the (Temperature Control) up to 375 degrees (190c) and pull the meat off the grill. When the grill comes up to temperature put your meat back onto the grill. I did this for 10 minutes per side with a quarter turn at the 5 minute mark.  Perfect.

When the meat reaches an internal temp around 160 degrees (71c) pull it off, cover it and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 5 to 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. USAD recommends 165 degrees (73c) as safe. I use a Maverick ProTemp Instant Read Thermometer for checking meat temps.

Hot on the Grill

Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger
A Pellet Grill Recipe

When the grill comes up to temperature, put the meat back onto the center of the grill and cook until you reach your desired doneness. For big burgers, like this, I like to give them about 5 minutes a side. This will be about medium rare.

Add cheese and close the lid, it will melt in a minute or so. Then, you prepare your bun, add your patty, and pile on the peanut butter, you’re set.

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger
A Pellet Grill Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes
Grill: Gas Medium Indirect Heat
Preparing Grill: Medium Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (300 – 350) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Nutty Buddy Bacon Cheeseburger
A Pellet Grill Recipe

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Medium Indirect Heat

Get the Grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 300-350 degrees. Remember, you are going high heat here for about 10 minutes. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go. Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

CB’s Bacon Peanut Butter Burger