Green Chile and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burger with Ratatouille
Prep 10 mins Grill 8 mins Rest 5 mins Eat 23 mins Plus time to make Ratatouille and roast green chiles in advance
Are you a burger fanatic? There’s nothing better about summer than a fresh burger, grilled outdoors. The Green Chile and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burgers topped with Ratatouille art gourmet burgers that ends all classic burgers. A big statement I know. Read below to find out why. For the last few years, we’ve been cooking up some new-fangled burgers at our summer cooking class and this is one of my very favorites.
This summer Ratatouille is an amazing topping for Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burgers.
The Green Chile and Bleu Cheese stuffed Burgers topped with Ratatouille start with a classic beef burger, but has loads of flavor from chiles, cheese and the ratatouille made with fresh summer veggies, maybe from your garden. If you’re not eating beef these days, try it with ground turkey.
This Green Chile and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burger topped with Ratatouille is an amazing work of culinary art.
In my home town of Minneapolis, there is a joint called “Juicy Lucy’s”. They’ve been serving burgers stuffed with a slice of American cheese to a happy baseball-cap crowd for years. I would put my Bleu Cheese stuffed Burger up against their’s any day. This French version of the burger was introduced to me in culinary school by our instructor, Cecilia DeCastro when we learned to make Ratatouille. The burger goes uptown stuffed with green chiles and bleu cheese and topped with fresh made Ratatouille. You will be in burger heaven! And for those who say no to bleu cheese, use cheddar and get a midtown burger.
A high quality burger is super simple to make when you use good ingredients. I purchased most of the ingredients for our burgers at our Cooking Outdoors class at Costco. Brioche buns (nice ones made with butter and milk with golden tops, Kirkland bleu cheese, Kerrygold Dubliner cheese and 80/20 ground beef.
Here are the secrets I learned about having a juicy and tender burger.
- Choose ground beef with some fat in it, as this will make the burger juicy and flavorful. I like 80% lean, 20% fat.
Bill and Karen form the burger patties at our Cooking Outdoors class, using plastic wrap on baking trays to maneuver them.
- Make sure to season the meat just before cooking with salt and pepper. I prefer kosher salt or sea salt.
Bill and Karen create 4 different combinations. Beef-Bleu, Beef Cheddar, Turkey-Bleu, Turkey-Cheddar,
- Use plastic wrap on a baking tray to form the burger patties, so that you can pick up the plastic wrap from underneath to easily peel them off.
Roasted green chiles and lots of cheese – bleu or cheddar are a surprise inside your burger.
- Don’t squish the ground beef together into a ball. Cut a 1/3 pound portion from the package – cut in two equal square halves and press each half into a round patty, being careful to keep as much of the original grind showing as you can. Also press it into the size of your bun – actually slightly larger, since it will shrink during cooking. (We discovered that the turkey burgers shrunk a lot during cooking, so start extra big, if you are using ground turkey.)
The burger will have a dome after the two patties are pressed together.
- Place your stuffing ingredients on top of one patty. We used diced roasted Anaheim chiles (use Hatch chiles if available) and either bleu cheese or cheddar (Kerrygold Dubliner).Place the second patty over the top and press the two patties together gently to seal, so the cheese doesn’t come out the side. Sprinkle top with kosher salt and ground black pepper.
Grill the burgers on medium-high heat 4 minutes on each side.
- When all burgers have been assembled, spray or brush the preheated grill rack with cooking oil. Place the burgers carefully on the rack. Cook on medium-high for 4-5 minutes per side. Flip over gently. DO NOT DISTURB the meat by pressing the spatula on the burger which will release all the good juices you want inside the burger.
- Toast the inside of the bun on the side of the grill for a half-minute. WATCH so they don’t burn.
- Very Important: Let your burger rest for 5 minutes. Like a good steak, you want the meat to rest before you slice or bite into it and let the cheese gel a little.
Your burgers will rest as you assemble them with the ratatouille topping.
- Top your burger with mayo, shredded lettuce and some of the ratatouille that you’ve made earlier – even the day before. Rewarm just before serving.
Green Chile and Bleu Cheese Stuffed Burger with Ratatouille
- Slice the burger in half and you will see all the cheesy goodness inside of it. Then I pile up more ratatouille on the middle edge before I take a bite. Have some napkins ready for the gooey messy goodness. Yes!, I’m in burger heaven.
Click here for Ratatouille recipe.
Print Green Chile and Bleu Cheese or Cheddar Stuffed Burger recipe.
Green Chile and Bleu Cheese or Cheddar Stuffed Burgers
1 Anaheim chile
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, high quality
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 ounces bleu cheese or cheddar
4 sprays Cooking spray, as needed
4 Hamburger buns toasted
1 ounce mayonnaise
1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
Ratatouille (optional) – See separate recipe here.
1. Place Anaheim chile on a medium-heat grill and roast until black on all sides. Place in a plastic bag and close it to steam for at least 15 minutes. Heat grill to high in preparation for the burgers. Remove most of the skin, the stem and seeds and dice. You can do this well in advance, even the day or two before.
2. Divide ground beef into 8 even pieces. Sprinkle each with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Do not handle the beef too much, but form 8 separate patties. Place the bleu cheese or cheddar along with some of the diced chile in the center for 4 patties. Top each with another beef patty and Seal the edges. Make sure you will not have leakage. Set aside.
3. Spray grill grates with cooking spray to prevent burgers from sticking. Turn heat on grill down to medium-high and immediately place burgers onto grill. Cook 4-5 minutes per side. Add buns to sides of grill to toast for a half-minute. WATCH so they don’t burn.
4. Slather a small amount of mayonnaise onto the top of the burger bun. Top with shredded lettuce and serve with Ratatouille. After burger has rested 5 minutes from the grill, slice in half and pile some more Ratatouille on the middle edge, bite into the burger and you will be in burger heaven!
Servings: 4 – 560 calories per serving
Green Chile and Bleu Cheese or Cheddar Stuffed Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 Anaheim chile
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef high quality
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 4 ounces bleu cheese or cheddar
- 4 sprays Cooking spray as needed
- 4 Hamburger buns toasted
- 1 ounce mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
- Ratatouille optional - See separate recipe at FreshFoodinaFlash.com
Instructions
- Place Anaheim chile on a medium-heat grill and roast until black on all sides. Place in a plastic bag and close it to steam for at least 15 minutes. Heat grill to high in preparation for the burgers. Remove most of the skin, the stem and seeds and dice. You can do this well in advance, even the day or two before.
- Divide ground beef into 8 even pieces. Sprinkle each with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Do not handle the beef too much, but form 8 separate patties. Place the bleu cheese or cheddar along with some of the diced chile in the center for 4 patties. Top each with another beef patty and Seal the edges. Make sure you will not have leakage. Set aside.
- Spray grill grates with cooking spray to prevent burgers from sticking. Turn heat on grill down to medium-high and immediately place burgers onto grill. Cook 4-5 minutes per side. Add buns to sides of grill to toast for a half-minute. WATCH so they don't burn.
- Slather a small amount of mayonnaise onto the top of the burger bun. Top with shredded lettuce and serve with Ratatouille. After burger has rested 5 minutes from the grill, slice in half and pile some more Ratatouille on the middle edge, bite into the burger and you will be in burger heaven!
- Most ratatouille recipes call for all the ingredients to go into one pot, but I have found that the stew has a waybetter flavor when each vegetable is cooked separately and mixed together at the end. You can make thisratatouille on the grill OR you can dice up the vegetables and put on a sheet pan and roast them in a 400° oven. Ilike to grill the red peppers, zucchini and eggplant and roast the grape tomatoes and mushrooms in the oven. Topbleu cheese stuffed burgers with this Ratatouille for a real treat.
Oh my, that looks amazing! Thanks for the great tips!
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