As I was making hamburgers for our Labor Day meal, I looked around the pantry to see what I could come up with to season the meat. (My family knows that I NEVER make hamburgers the same way twice. EVER.) I saw I had a lot of basil, onions, and some garlic left from the two Italian packs I contributed for…. and that case of Roma tomatoes I just got…. and WHA-LA. Italian burgers were made! I got so excited about the idea because I just love basil. LOVE it!
My husband and daughter loved them, and I have to say that this may be my favorite burger recipe to date!
So, here’s what I did! 🙂
** There was a large handful of the meat mixture that I used to make meatballs to freeze for use at a later date. It made almost two dozen small meatballs. YUM!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds ground beef
- 1 small onion, half chopped and half sliced
- 4 cloves of minced garlic
- 1/8 cup (approximately) finely chopped basil leaves
- 1 1/2 tsp CREOLE seasoning ( I used Tony Cachere's ~ Weird, I know)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 slices mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Break up ground beef in large mixing bowl.
- Add all ingredients except cheese and SLICED onions, mixing very well by hand. Usually until beef starts to stick together and hold shape.
- Shape into four equal sized patties. (There will be about one large handful of meat mixture left over. I used this to make a dozen and a half meatballs to freeze for further use.)
- Place in hot grill pan along with sliced onions surrounding the burgers, and cook until they reach desired doneness, only flipping once.
- Add mozzarella cheese to the tops of the burgers during the last few minutes so they can melt.
- Serve and top however you like it! I used lettuce, tomato and grilled onions.
Try topping the burgers with your own favorite Italian ingredients such as marinara or fried eggplant. You might just surprise yourself and find a new addiction!
