Whenever I tell people that I love peanut butter burgers, they look at me like I’m crazy.
Their reaction to one of my favorite ways to eat burgers is justified — peanut butter and beef is an odd combination, after all. But for my family, peanut butter burgers are anything but strange. We’ve eaten them at summer cookouts since I was kid.
We make them the simple way: grill some hamburger patties, grab some buns and slather on the peanut butter. The interplay between the nutty taste of the peanut butter and the savory and seasoned hamburger leaves you hungry for another.
After years of simply grabbing a jar of peanut butter, my dad and I decided to take our burgers up a notch. We experimented by prepping other versions of the burger — a Thai peanut butter burger and a bacon peanut butter cheeseburger — to see how well the family favorite holds up.
The Thai peanut butter burger features peanut butter, soy sauce, fresh ginger, cilantro and cayenne pepper. We combined the ingredients with the ground beef in a large bowl before hand-shaping each patty and putting them on the grill.
We garnished each burger with a single romaine lettuce leaf, adding either sweet chili, sriracha or harissa sauce to our buns.
Not surprisingly, the Thai version of the peanut butter burger has some spice to it. It reminded me of something I’d order at an Asian restaurant. A tip: Add more or less cayenne pepper depending on your tastes. While Dad and I thought the burgers would have benefited from more cayenne pepper, Mom disagreed.
Next we tried making bacon peanut butter cheeseburgers, a twist on the traditional bacon cheeseburger.
These burgers were made with peanut butter, honey, brown sugar and chipotle powder (different than chili powder in that it’s only one ingredient: dried, smoked jalapeno peppers) mixed right into the ground beef. We topped each burger with crispy bacon, slices of avocado, tomato and sweet onion, and melted cheddar cheese. We didn’t add dill pickles, but you can.
The flavors of the peanut butter, brown sugar and honey punch through. If the idea of a sweet bacon cheeseburger sounds odd, just remember that this story started with peanut butter on a hamburger. The bacon, cheese and especially the honey make this burger a standout. It’s really, really good.
Another way to make the bacon peanut butter burger: Turn the peanut butter, honey, brown sugar and chipotle powder into a sweet and spicy sauce.
Take care in making the Thai and bacon cheeseburger patties. When combined with ground beef, the peanut butter can make the patty fall apart when grilling, if you’re not careful. Add eggs to the meat mixture if the patties aren’t binding together.
We also made our family favorite during this cookout. Nothing quite beats the tried-and-true peanut butter burger for me. Maybe it’s nostalgia. I remember enjoying these burgers while out on the deck of our old house in Langley on Whidbey Island, watching the peanut butter as it spilled down my hand in between bites. I slather more peanut butter on than is necessary, so that I can dip the last few bites of my burger in the drippings.
My dad feels the same way. In early 1960s Cleveland, he and his high-school friends would take turns driving their cars to the only two drive-thru burger joints in the city with peanut butter burgers on the menu.
Those fond memories are why our family continues to enjoy peanut butter on our burgers today.
Evan Thompson: 360-544-2999, ethompson@heraldnet.com.
Thai peanut butter burger
1 pound ground beef
½ cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon lime juice
½ tablespoon soy sauce
½ tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
½ tablespoon chopped cilantro
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 hamburger buns
Mix the peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, ginger, cilantro and cayenne pepper in a large bowl. Combine the ground beef with the mixture. Gently form the meat mixture into 6 patties.
Set the grill to 350 degrees and preheat for 10 to 15 minutes. Grill burgers for 4 minutes, then flip and grill for 3 more minutes. Remove from grill.
Top your bun with a sauce, such as sweet chili, srichcha or harissa, plus romaine lettuce, if desired.
Serves 6.
— Recipe by Genuis Kitchen (www.geniuskitchen.com)
Bacon peanut butter cheeseburger
1-1½ pounds 80/20 ground beef
8 slices bacon
1 cup chunky peanut butter
½ cup honey
½ tablespoon chipotle powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper, coarsely grounded, to taste
4 hamburger buns
4 slices cheddar cheese
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
Dill pickles (optional)
Set the grill to 350 degrees and preheat for 10 to 15 minutes.
Sprinkle bacon with brown sugar. Cook bacon on grill for 10 minutes, flip and cook for 10 more minutes. Remove bacon and turn grill up to 450 degrees.
Whisk together peanut butter, honey and chipotle powder. Either gently combine into the ground beef or serve separately as a sauce.
Form ground chuck into 4 patties. Season liberally with salt and pepper, then place burgers on grill.
Grill burgers for 4 minutes, then flip and grill for 3 more minutes. Top each patty with cheese and continue to cook for 1 more minute. Remove from grill.
If peanut butter mixture isn’t in the burgers already, spread on each hamburger bun. Assemble burger with bacon, avocado, tomato and sweet onion.
Serves 4.
— Recipe by Traeger Grills (www.traegergrills.com)
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