Strawberry Basil Bleu Burgers

Strawberry Basil Bleu Cheese Burgers are a perfect threesome of flavors.  You’ve got sweet from the berries, a slight peppery, savory flavor from the basil and a cool, creamy sharp bite from the bleu cheese.  They’re worth every sloppy bite!

I recently went strawberry picking with my mother in law, son and daughter and we all had so much fun.  (If you follow along with me on Instagram you can see a few pictures of us in the fields.)  I had never been strawberry picking before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  The weather wasn’t too hot and for as much as it has rained in Central IL this June, it wasn’t that muddy either.  Win-win.  I believe my daughter had more fun eating the strawberries right off the plant than actually doing any work and placing them in the basket.  When we approached the table to weight and pay for our strawberries, it was apparent, with the red mustache my daughter was sporting that she had sampled a few…err..ok, a lot of berries.  So I made a joke to the farmer that we could weigh her belly if they’d like. Luckily, those were on the house!

Together, we walked away with 15lbs of strawberries and I took home 8.  So, expect a lot of strawberry recipes this summer as I’ve got an arsenal of them just waiting to be made into delicious recipes.  No problem there though as my family loves strawberries, even my picky little eaters.

First on my list, for the strawberries, was coming up with a Red, White and Blue theme for the fourth of July.  It’s still 4th of July week around here on the blog and I wanted to have a main dish for you guys to serve.  I had a really hard time coming up with something blue for the burgers until I remembered a recent appetizer I had just enjoyed at a local restaurant.  It featured strawberries and blue cheese.  For this red, white and blue burger, the blue cheese serves as both the white and the blue.  Creative, I know but trust me, you can get away with serving these as red, white and blue burgers and if someone says something, don’t worry, after the first bite they won’t care what you called them.

I’m still working my way through mastering the art of burger making and honestly, my best friend, is this ” target=”_blank”>guy.  It makes the perfect patty every.single.time.  It’s perfectly round, flat and the press is see through so you see how thick your burger is and the amount of meat that’s in your patty.   You can also stuff the burger with deliciousness.  I’ve got ideas just churning in my head for my next burger recipe, think spicy, so stay tuned.

I was recently out to dinner with my girlfriend and I was telling her about this newest burger recipe I made and she proclaimed, “you put your fruit in weird places.”  LOL, I about died, but you know what, she’s right!  But those weird places make for some amazing food pairings. (Side note, I ordered a burger with grilled pineapple for dinner and she turned her nose up at that too, tsk tsk, I’m looking at you, Chelsie 😉

There is so much you can do with fruit.  While it’s great just eaten on its own, it’s also delicious in salads, sandwiches, burgers and grilled!  Next time you’re grilling, throw on some peaches, cut side down, and when they appear golden brown, pull them off and top with vanilla yogurt,  ice cream and/or chopped nuts.  It’s delicious and the perfect summer dessert.

For the Strawberry Basil Bleu Burgers,  I first started by making a basil burger.  I made a pretty basic burger and then added some chopped fresh basil.  For the blue cheese dressing, I used my dad’s recipe and it’s phenomenal.  There’s definitely a divide; you either love blue cheese or you loathe blue cheese.  Personally, I love it and have been eating it since I was little. We are HUGE cheese heads, on my dad’s side, and blue cheese is one of our favorites.  There was always a wedge in my fridge and we’d always put it on salads, baked potatoes and use it for slathering on our buffalo chicken tacos.   I topped the burger with strawberries and a few extra sprigs of basil and placed the whole thing on a ciabatta roll.  I wasn’t feeling a regular hamburger bun could do this burger justice and I think the ciabatta worked really well.

I also think these burgers would taste wonderful with ground chicken or turkey.  The next time I make them, I am going to use the ground turkey and see how they compare.  Also, for all you non blue cheese eaters (shame on you, j/k) you can top your burgers with some steak sauce, as my husband did, he’s on the loathe blue cheese side, a little mayo if you wish or balsamic vinegar would be a great pairing with the strawberries.  The burger does need some sort of sauce to keep it from being dry with the chewier bread like ciabatta.

This burger is really something special.  The flavors really meld well together.  The strawberries are bursting with sweet flavor and the creamy, sharpness from the blue cheese balances everything out.  It was so good that it’ll be added into our summer meal rotation as the strawberries are at their peak right now, my basil bush is out of control and I cannot get enough blue cheese dressing in my life as it is, put.it.on.errthing.

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Strawberry Basil Bleu Burgers

Prep 20 mins

Cook 15 mins

Total 35 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 4

Strawberry, Basil Bleu Burgers are a perfect threesome of flavors. You've got sweet from the berries, a peppery flavor from the basil and a cool, creamy bite from the bleu cheese.

Ingredients

• For the Burgers:
• 1 pound ground beef, turkey or chicken
• 2 tablespoons red onion, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Burger buns of choice, (ciabatta, pretzel, white, sesame)
• Blue Cheese Dressing:
• 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 3 tablespoons of sour cream
• 2 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons of milk of choice, I used buttermilk
• dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 sliced strawberries (about 1 strawberry per burger)

Instructions

1. For the Burgers:
2. Place your ground beef in a large bowl and add the remaining ingredients
3. Mix to just combine. If you over mix, the burgers will be tough.
4. Form into 4 equal patties
5. Place the burgers on the grill or grill pan heated to medium and sprayed with cooking spray
6. Cook burgers 5-7 minutes per side or until an internal meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees
7. For the dressing:
8. Place blue cheese crumbles into a small bowl and mash with a fork to break up large crumbles. Add in the remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
9. Assembly:
10. Place the burgers on the bottom bun of your bread. Top with blue cheese, then the strawberries, a little more chopped basil if you wish and then the top bun.

Notes

*If you do not like blue cheese, you could use steak sauce, mayonnaise or balsamic vinegar

Courses Main

Cuisine Burger

Tell me, where’s the weirdest place you’ve put fruit in your cooking?

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen  I love to see your versions!