Southbound Barbecue’s BBQ Bacon Smashburgers
A simple but tasty crowd pleaser! These burgers combine beef, onions, bacon, cheese, and our Sweet Southern Heat BBQ Sauce and Moo Moo Magic Seasoning to bring a smile to your face (and juice and sauce to your elbows).
Equipment
- 1 Skillet, Frying Pan, Griddle, or Grill You can grill or fry these bad boys – your choice!
- 1 Sharp Chef Knife or Mandolin Needed for thinly sliced onions
- 2 Sheets of wax paper Used when "smashing" burgers
- 2 Heavy duty spatulas Needed to press and scrape burgers
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Ground Beef (85%/15% or 80%/20% is best)
- 8 Slices Bacon Choose your favorite (hickory, applewood, etc)
- 8 Slices Cheese Choose your favorite (American, cheddar, pepper jack, etc)
- 1 to 2 Onion(s) Choose your favorite (red, yellow, or white)
- 4 Hamburger Buns Choose your favorite (potato or brioche)
- 4 tbsp Moo Moo Magic Seasoning
- 8 tbsp Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Sauce
- 4 tbsp Mayonaise Choose your favorite
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a skillet, frying pan, or atop a griddle over medium to medium high heat – you want crispy bacon here. Remove and set aside to drain on a paper towel. Reserve about ¼ to ½ the grease.
- While the bacon is cooking, divide the 2lbs of beef into 8 equal "balls" (4oz each) – set aside.
- Again, while the bacon is cooking – slice the onion as thinly as possible. You're looking for nearly paper thin rings or slices (a fine dice works here too) – set aside.
- Once the bacon is done, turn the skillet, frying pan, or griddle to medium, add back ½ tbsp of the reserved grease, and separate the bun tops and bottoms. Gently place the inside of bun tops and bottoms on the skillet, frying pan, or griddle and toast them. Pay attention – DO NOT burn them! Remove when they have reached your preferred level of toasty goodness. Set aside.
- Now, ready your cheese slices near the final cooking surface where you'll finish the burgers – grill, skillet, frying pan, or griddle.
- Place a sheet of wax paper on the counter. Place one ball of beef at a time on the sheet. Place the other sheet of wax paper of the burger making a wax paper, burger, wax paper sandwich. Place one spatula horizontally over the ball of beef and use the other in a vertical position to smash down on top of it. This creates leverage and smashes the ball of beef nice and flat. You really want to squish down here to get a super thin patty. Peel back the top sheet of wax paper, season each side of the patty with ½ tblsp of Moo Moo Magic Seasoning. Set each patty aside until all 8 patties are formed, seasoned, and ready for cooking.
- Ensure your final cooking surface is dialed-in for medium high heat. Gently set each beef patty down on the surface and cover with some of the sliced or diced onions (use as much or as little as you like). Pat down on the onions with a spatula to help them stick to the beef patty. Cook the patties for 2 – 4 minutes on the bottom side based on you're preferred doneness. Gently flip the patties and cook for another 2 – 4 minutes based on you're preferred doneness. However, be careful not to scorch the onions. The trick is to complete most of the cooking on the first side using the flip to cook the onions more so than the beef.
- Once the beef patties are done, gently flip them again and immediately cover each with a slice of cheese. Take 4 patties and stack on top of the other 4 patties creating 4 double burger stacks. Remove from the cooking surface and set aside to allow the cheese to melt.
- While the burgers are resting and the cheese is melting, spread 1 tbsp of mayonnaise on the 4 bun bottoms. Then pour on 1 tbsp of Sweet Southern Heat BBQ Sauce. Now add 1 tbsp of Sweet Southern Heat BBQ Sauce to each of the buns tops (Doubel the sauce, double the yum). You're now ready to build the burgers!
- And finally, place each of the double burger stacks atop each of the bun bottoms. Top the stacks with two slices of bacon making an "X" pattern. Now top each nearly complete burger with the bun tops. Gently push down to seal-the-deal. Your Southbound Barbecue BBQ Bacon Smashburgers are now ready for service. Dig In – this is your new favorite burger!
