Name: Classic Cheeseburger Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds of 80/20 ground beef made into 3-4 ounce patties; sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste; 10 slices of American cheese; mayonnaise; mustard; ketchup; 1 head of trimmed green leaf lettuce; 2 thinly sliced tomatoes; 1 peeled and thinly sliced red onion; 24 strips of crisp-cooked bacon; 30 round pickle slices; 10 toasted brioche hamburger buns

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Is there anything more classic than a delicious cheeseburger?! Serve it up on a toasted brioche bun and load it up with lettuce, tomato, and onions!

Father’s Day is right around the corner and I thought it would be awesome to make a cheeseburger with my daughter because it’s her favorite, I love it, and what better way to spend time as a dad then cooking with one of my most favorite persons in the world?

We had a blast making this cheeseburger recipe video and she was an absolute star! She helped me at every step and did an amazing job helping me wash the veggies, prep them up and cook the cheeseburger, plus not-too-mention she is seriously the cutest kid on earth. Yes, I know every parent says that about their kid, but she really is the cutest ;-).

Prepping Up the Lettuce, Tomato, and Onions

Cheeseburgers these days are loaded with toppings and often times it’s like there’s a straight-up salad sitting on the meat in between 2 buns. Well, believe it or not I love that salad, so the first thing to do is to rinse off all that produce. The Franke Roller Mat is used in so many different ways in my kitchen, whether it be used to dry dishes on, as a hot pad, or as a colander to rinse of vegetables, it’s amazing! I have the versatile sized roller mat which fits over any sink and stores away underneath it with ease. We have a huge Franke farmhouse sink and the faucet with hose is HUGE when it comes to spraying it down in all the corners as well as rinsing off my lettuce and tomatoes. I always want to make sure I’m thorough when it comes or washing produce because after all, all this stuff comes from the dirt and often times it’s all over the outside or tucked away in the leaves.

Once the lettuce and tomato are rinsed off, we need to prep everything up so all we need to do is grab the toppings and plate up our cheeseburger the second it comes off of the flat top. I like to thinly slice the tomato and onions because there is nothing worse than an onion taking over the taste of an entire burger or a big dripping sloppy tomato. I know I’m getting crazy here but it’s all personal preference, right? I used green leaf lettuce because it holds up better, looks better and tastes better than the classic iceberg lettuce, but if you want to use that then you go right ahead! Remember, it’s Father’s Day so it’s all about you! Set the lettuce, tomato, and onion to the side!

How to Make the Perfect Cheeseburger

When it comes to making the perfect cheeseburger you first have to start with the meat. I always recommend using ground sirloin or ground chuck that is 80% lean and 20% fat. If you’ve always wondered what those numbers are on the front of the package e.g. 85/15, 90/10, etc. they are referencing the lean meat to fat ratio that the meat is. The fattier the cheeseburger the juicier, more tender, more flavorful it will be. With that being said obviously a fattier burger is most likely not the best for you so if you’d like to even leaner than please do!

It’s also incredibly important to season the beef generously. Meat loves salt so don’t be scared to season it up well like really well J. Beef also takes kindly to pepper so feel free to add some of that on as well! Now, because burger meat is usually pretty thin don’t worry about seasoning both sides. The last thing I’ll say regarding seasoning up a cheeseburger is that I like to use sea salt and freshly cracked peppercorns because it really helps to enhance the flavor.

Cooking up cheeseburgers is completely up to the beholder. Some like it grilled, some like it broiled, some like it cooked up in a pan. I personally like cheeseburgers seared to perfection on a cast iron flat top. They just seem to cook so evenly and can get the beautiful brown crust on it while cooking in its own fat. When you grill a burger all of the juices from it go down the grates into the flame, but when you cook it in a pan or on a flat top all of the juices stay right there with it.

Last but not least cheeseburgers obviously need cheese. Since this is a classic cheeseburger recipe, we went all-American and used American cheese, mostly because that’s the only cheese my daughter likes on her cheeseburgers but hey I like it too.

Now, if I had my own personal burger it would be loaded up with caramelized onions, mushrooms, tons of cheese, huge beef patties, bacon, well, kinda like this Smoked Bleu Cheese Burger!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, hope you all have a fantastic day and be sure to try my Loco Moco too!

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