If you’re looking for the best cheeseburger recipe, just make a juicy lucy!
We’re Beef Loving Texans, and this recipe brings together two of Karen’s homes. A high-quality ground beef recipe from our current home in Texas, and a favorite burger recipe from Karen’s childhood home in Minnesota.
Ground beef is so versatile, you’ll always find some in our freezer.
We use ground beef for homemade chili, top it on our easy beef tostada recipe, we add it to our steak filled Beef Loving Texans queso dip, and use it to make our juicy lucy stuffed burger recipes.
This juicy lucy burger recipe is a great way to add a fun, culinary twist to an affordable and approachable meat like ground beef. We love ground beef because it’s affordable for any family, and with only 3 ounces of cooked beef you get 50% of your Daily Value (25 grams) of protein.
This beef burger recipe may seem “fancy”, but it is incredibly easy to make and your friends and family will be wowed when they bite into it.
What is a Juicy Lucy?
A juicy lucy is a Minnesota legend, and we’re excited for our fellow Beef Loving Texans to learn how to make it!
This creation is a beef hamburger with ooey, gooey melty cheese inside the patty.
While you can find juicy lucy hamburgers all across Minnesota, especially in Minneapolis, they are harder to find elsewhere.
After Karen moved to Texas from Minnesota, she found that if she wanted to savour this burger specialty, she had to make it at home herself.
That’s where this juicy lucy recipe (errr, jucy lucy) originated from: our need to eat this delicious concoction, anytime and anywhere.
Is it Jucy Lucy or Juicy Lucy?!?
Technically, it is spelled both as juicy lucy as well as jucy lucy, but it depends where you go.
Matt’s Bar spells it Juicy Lucy while the 5-8 Club spells it Juicy Lucy.
No matter how you spell it, just make sure you call it the correct name while you’re in each place.
Who has the original Juicy Lucy?
Matt’s opened in 1954 and they claim that a customer came to the bar asking for this specific beef concoction. When the customer bit into the burger they shouted “that’s one juicy lucy” and the juicy lucy burger phenomenon was born.
However, 5-8 Club also argues for the title for the juicy lucy. Established in 1928, this Minneapolis establishment has an even older history, originating as a speakeasy during the heart of prohibition.
Matt’s Bar jucy lucy is always made with American cheese on the inside, while 5-8 has a number of varieties of cheese stuffed inside the massive beef cheeseburger.
Our juicy lucy recipe gives you the creative freedom to add whatever cheese and filling that your cheeseburger-loving heart desires, and we have a few additions that we’ve tried at the bottom for you to try with your friends and family.
Juicy Lucy
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Additional time: 2 minutes
Makes 2 burgers
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef
- 2 slices of American cheese
- Salt and pepper
- 2 hamburger buns
- Burger toppings of your choice
How to make a Juicy Lucy Burger
The key to making a perfect juicy lucy is the patty of course!
Start with some high-quality ground beef. Look for a ground beef blend that is 15%-20% fat ratio.
This is a perfect beef blend that will leave with your more flavor and a moist patty for the best grilled burger recipe.
Split the beef into four patties, this will actually make two large burgers.
When making the cheeseburger patties, be careful not to overwork the ground meat.
Form the meat where the outside edges are thicker than the center.
This will help to ensure that your burgers don’t end up looking like massive softballs when the cheese is added to the middle.
Generous salt and pepper both sides of all of the beef patties.
When you are using high-quality meat with a 15%-20% fat ratio, you don’t need any additional seasonings or marinades for the burger.
A simple sprinkle of salt and pepper will perfectly draw out the meat’s natural flavors.
Next, fold over a slice of quality American cheese into quarters. We usually visit a deli to get our cheese vs. buying the cheese that comes in individual plastic film casings.
It helps to have a less-runny juicy lucy burger as a result. If you want to use a different type of cheese, go for it!
Stack all four quartered slices of cheese on top of each other and place in the center of a patty.
Add another beef patty on top and thoroughly squeeze the sides shut.
If you don’t squeeze the sides closed, you risk having your burger leak all the luscious cheese out during the cooking process, which would be a total bummer!
Repeat the process for the other burger.
Heat your grill to medium-high heat and sear your juicy lucy cheeseburgers for 4-5 minutes per side.
You can also cook on a skillet (we prefer a cast iron pan to get extra crust on the burger edges).
Typically you want to cook until the burger internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F for a medium burger. However, you do not want to poke a cooking juicy lucy with a thermometer probe or it will explode cheese!
It’s best to add more cooking time if you are in doubt, the cheese in the middle will always keep the meat nice and juicy!
Remove the cheeseburger from the grill or skillet, add on a bun, and top with your favorite burger fixings – we can’t resist some mayo, mustard, onions, and extra pickles (always add extra pickles)!
Tip: let the burger rest for 1-2 minutes before diving in, you don’t want to burn yourself with molten cheese!
Juicy Lucy
A juicy lucy is a burger with the cheese stuffed in the center!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef
- 2 slices of American cheese
- Salt and pepper
- 2 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Split the beef into four patties, this will actually make two large burgers. When making the cheeseburger patties, be careful not to overwork the ground meat.
- Form the meat where the outside edges are thicker than the center. This will help to ensure that your burgers don’t end up looking like massive softballs when the cheese is added to the middle.
- Generous salt and pepper both sides of all of the beef patties.
- Fold over a slice of quality American cheese into quarters.
- Stack all four quartered slices of cheese on top of each other and place in the center of a patty.
- Add another beef patty on top and thoroughly squeeze the sides shut. If you don’t squeeze the sides closed, you risk having your burger leak all the luscious cheese out during the cooking process, which would be a total bummer!
- Repeat the process for the other burger.
- Heat your grill to medium-high heat and sear your juicy lucy cheeseburgers for 4-5 minutes per side. You can also cook on a skillet (we prefer a cast iron pan to get extra crust on the burger edges).
- Typically you want to cook until the burger internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F for a medium burger. However, you do not want to poke a cooking juicy lucy with a thermometer probe or it will explode cheese!
- It’s best to add more cooking time if you are in doubt, the cheese in the middle will always keep the meat nice and juicy!
- Remove the cheeseburger from the grill or skillet, add on a bun, and top with your favorite burger fixings.
Notes
Tip: let the burger rest for 1-2 minutes before diving in, you don’t want to burn yourself with molten cheese!
Other stuffed burger ideas:
Now that you know the ropes on how to make a juicy lucy, here are some other creative stuffed burger recipes:
- Add in sliced jalapenos with your cheese when stuffing your juicy lucy burger recipe for an added kick.
- Bacon bits on the inside of a juicy lucy not only sounds delicious, but it is super practical – no more bacon slices sliding off of your cheeseburger!
- Chopped mushrooms would also taste amazing inside of a juicy lucy cheeseburger recipe, try it with swiss cheese!
- Tex-Mex – top the juicy lucy with tortilla chips, jalapenos, and queso.
This recipe is sponsored by Beef Loving Texans. Visit www.beeflovingtexans.com for more recipes and inspiration. Their website is not only a one stop shop for beef, it’s a true one stop shop for Texas pride.
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