Cheeseburger is one of the most popular fast food dishes. But if there is no fast food nearby, or you are tormented by doubts about what is actually included in the dish in a fast food cafe, or you just want to please your loved ones with another culinary masterpiece, you can prepare a cheeseburger at home.
If you use semi-finished products, cooking will not take more than half an hour. And then, most of the time will be spent on frying the cutlet. If you cook everything completely yourself, it will take a little longer, but this cheeseburger turns out to be the most delicious.
Cheeseburgers are convenient to take on picnics and trips - they are very nutritious, tasty both hot and cold, and children do not refuse such a treat.
Is a cheeseburger good or bad?
When they say that all the burgers that are so popular among young people are fast food and bad food, sometimes you start to think: maybe this is true? What's the point of cooking something at home that won't be healthy?
But there is no need to sound the alarm. The problem with fast food is that those who buy it often do not have excess time, and therefore eat on the go (fast food - “fast food” - and translated as fast food). Fast food, even if it is the greenest vitamin salad, will not benefit the body. At a minimum, because it is not chewed thoroughly enough, and therefore it is poorly absorbed.
The problem with fast food chains that sell fast food is that they are catering. And in any catering kitchen, hygiene is not observed as strictly as at home. In addition, buyers do not know what fats are used to prepare the filling, whether flavor enhancers are used, and how long ago the oil in which the cutlet is fried was changed. There is no such problem at home: all the products and technologies here are of high quality, and therefore if you make a cheeseburger at home, this dish will bring nothing but benefits.
And if you break down the composition of the dish into individual ingredients, you get only meat (proteins), baked goods (carbohydrates), vegetables (carbohydrates), cheese and a small amount of sauce (fats). That is, even in terms of calorie content, this dish is fully consistent with proper nutrition.
How to cook a cheeseburger?
Essentially it is a sandwich in a round bun. The required components of any cheeseburger will be:
- bun;
- cutlet;
- sauce;
- pickles;
- tomatoes;
- white onion
To make a cheeseburger completely yourself at home, the most difficult thing you have to tinker with is the bun. But proper, airy and light buns require free time and inspiration. Sometimes it's easier to buy ready-made burger buns (fortunately, this is not uncommon in stores today) and move on to the next step.
Cheeseburger buns can be frozen for future use. You can buy several packages at once and put them in the freezer, and take them out a few hours before preparing a cheeseburger - and they will become soft and airy again.
When the issue with the bun is resolved, proceed to the cutlet. Traditionally it is made from beef, but at home you can experiment by making it from pork or chicken, or from a mixture of minced meat. The main difference between such a cutlet and traditional ones is that it must be chopped and flat. To do this you will have to stock up on a sharp knife, but the result is worth it. Only spices (salt and pepper) are added to minced meat. Onions, like bread, are superfluous here. The diameter of the cutlet should be one centimeter larger than the diameter of the bun, as it will become fried during the cooking process.
The cutlet can be deep-fried (in this case, after cooking, it is thoroughly blotted with a paper towel to remove fat), grilled, in the oven, or in a regular frying pan with minimal addition of oil.
While the cutlet is frying, pickle the onion: cut it into rings and pour it with marinade prepared from water and vinegar in a 1:1 ratio. After 20 minutes, the onions will become characteristically crisp and fragrant.
Now the cheeseburger itself is assembled. The bun is cut in half. Sauce is applied to the lower part. It can be either tomato, for example, ketchup, or mustard; even ordinary mayonnaise is suitable. Then - cutlet. After the cutlet, lay out a circle of tomato (or two or three, if the tomatoes are small) and a slice of cheese. For this dish, it is better to use toasted cheese - its consistency is ideal for a cheeseburger.
Thinly sliced cucumbers and onions are placed on the cheese. The sauce is also applied to the second half of the bun and the cheeseburger is covered with it. If it turns out to be high and unstable, you can fasten it with a wooden skewer.
This is a traditional cheeseburger. But the advantage of cooking at home is that you can experiment, creating new flavor combinations. You can add black olives, olives and capers to a cheeseburger; Replace pickled cucumbers with fresh ones; add green leaves; use several types of cheese; deep-fry onions. All this allows you to create your own signature dishes.
How to cook a bun?
If the easy way is not an option, and you want to cook a cheeseburger completely on your own, you should, of course, start with a bun. To prepare it you will need:
- flour - 550 g;
- yeast - 1 pack;
- milk - 350 ml;
- salt - 1 tsp. with a slide;
- sugar - 3 tbsp. l.;
- eggs - 2 pcs.;
- butter - 50 g;
- light sesame - 2 tbsp. l.
For buns, the dough must be yeast, which means that the dough is first mixed: 300 ml of milk is mixed with 315 g of flour and a package of yeast. In this case, the milk must be warm, otherwise the yeast will not “wake up” and the dough will not rise. The batch is covered with a clean towel and left for an hour in the kitchen.
After this time, the remaining flour, sugar and salt are added to the dough. One yolk is beaten with soft butter and also added to the dough. The dough is thoroughly kneaded until it becomes homogeneous and elastic. After this, cover again with a towel and leave for 2 hours, or until the volume doubles.
The risen dough (without kneading!) is divided into 10-12 parts and covered again with a towel. This time leave for 20-30 minutes. Now the formation of the bun begins. To do this, knead the piece and give it a rounded shape, pulling the edges of the dough down.
The prepared balls are placed on a baking sheet. Now you can lightly press on them to give them a flattened shape. Here the dough should rise within 1.5 hours.
At this time, the oven must be turned on at 200°. By the time of baking, it should be well and evenly heated. When the final proofing time has expired, the remaining milk is mixed with the egg and the resulting mixture is covered with the buns - this will give a golden brown crust. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the egg and milk mixture.
Baking time depends on the oven and is in the range of 15-20 minutes. Take out the finished buns immediately so that they do not overbake, but you need to wait until they cool down before using them.
Cheeseburger buns are ready! Their preparation takes time, but they turn out fresh, aromatic and very, very tasty.
How to cook a hamburger at home, recipe with photos step by step
Burgers or hamburgers are a familiar fast food that came to us from overseas. But what we usually buy at fast food chains contains many harmful preservatives, stabilizers, flavor enhancers, etc. How to make hamburgers at home so that they are just as tasty, but not so harmful? At first glance, it seems that you can buy ordinary buns, ketchup, semi-finished cutlets, various vegetables and combine it all into a multi-story sandwich. Don't make mistakes in choosing products so that your burgers don't disappoint you. For juicy and appetizing hamburgers, it is better not to use store-bought semi-finished products, but to prepare homemade buns with sesame seeds. After all, first of all, the taste of fast food depends on the quality of the bread base. And when you bite into a burger, the first thing you feel is how the soft bun springs. It should be incredibly tender; the correct recipe for hamburger buns like at McDonald's can be found at the link. Baking them is a pleasure. In addition, the test does not use additional harmful components. The same goes for the other components of the burger. And if you have homemade ketchup, pickled cucumbers and thick homemade mayonnaise in stock, then it’s generally great. All other vegetables for the burger (except pickles) are fresh. Here are some more secrets, which are revealed in more detail in the recipe below. It is better to use round red or flat Crimean onions - they are sweeter and crispier, unlike regular ones, which can be unpleasantly bitter. We take green and crispy salad, preferably not in a bunch of leaves, but sold as a bush. Lettuce leaves quickly wither when they come into contact with hot cutlets, so we will distribute the layers correctly. Let's take tomatoes that are fleshy, but ground. If it’s winter outside and there are only tasteless greenhouse tomatoes on sale, then it’s better to take small cherry tomatoes. You can only use minced beef, or you can dilute it with pork in a 1:1 ratio, the cutlets will be tastier with it. And here’s another “trick” from the famous chef Jamie Oliver: a little beer is added to the minced meat, this makes the cutlets incredibly juicy.
What is the difference between a hamburger and a burger? A burger is the general name for closed sandwiches filled with a grilled patty, lettuce, sauce and vegetables. There are several types of burgers, and among them is the hamburger. This is a bun with a meat patty, lettuce, tomatoes and special sauce. Other types of burgers: cheeseburger (with cheese), chickenburger (with chicken fillet or chicken cutlet), fishburger (with fish filling). There are even sandwiches for vegetarians - veggie burgers, they do not contain meat. By the way, this is how burger is translated - a sandwich, or a bun, cut lengthwise.
Now let's move on to the recipe and figure out how to cook a hamburger at home.
To make hamburgers at home, you will need:
- 8 buns;
- 800 g minced pork + beef;
- 5 tbsp. beer in minced meat;
- Iceberg lettuce inflorescence;
- 2 large tomatoes;
- 6-8 small pickled cucumbers;
- red sweet onion;
- 500 g of Cheddar cheese in slices;
- 100 g homemade tomato ketchup;
- salt and pepper to taste.
for mustard sauce (like McDonald's):
- 2 tbsp. thick mayonnaise;
- 50 g pickled cucumbers + 1 tbsp. marinade;
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar;
- 1 tbsp. sweet mustard;
- 0.5 tsp without a hill of paprika;
- 2 pinches of dried garlic;
- 2 pinches of dried onion.
How to make a hamburger at home, recipe with photo
1. Mix all ingredients for the sauce with a blender. If you don’t want to bother, you can just mix mustard and mayonnaise. In classic hamburgers, it is customary to use sweet mustard, but if you don’t have that, you can add a little honey to the usual one. It also tastes pretty good with regular mustard.
2. Pour the minced meat with beer, mix and let it brew a little.
3. Prepare the filling: cut the pickled cucumbers.
4. Cut the red salad onion into rings.
5. Tomatoes are also rings.
6. Wash and tear with your hands or chop the iceberg lettuce. This crunchy lettuce variety is best for hamburgers. Curly leaves of soft varieties quickly wither.
7. Cut the buns in half and fry without oil in a frying pan until golden brown. This is necessary so that the sauces do not soak into the dough and soften it, otherwise the bun will begin to fall apart right in your hands. By the way, to carefully cut hamburger buns, use a bread knife with large teeth.
8. Fry the tops and grease with homemade ketchup.
9. Grease the lower parts with mustard sauce.
10. Place lettuce leaves on top.
11. Now it’s the turn of the pickles.
12. Separate the onion into rings and place on the cucumbers.
13. Form cutlets 1.5-2 cm thick. Make them larger than buns, because they will get fried. We use a round mold, and if you don’t have a press (I have a large one for buns), a salad mold, cup, etc. will do.
14. Place on a lightly oiled (or without) grill pan. To make the cutlets more tender and juicy, add salt and pepper to them already in the frying pan.
15. Fry until done on each side over medium-high heat so that the juice does not leak out. It will take 3-4 minutes on each side. To prevent the cutlet from arching in the center and creating clear grill marks, lightly press it down with a spatula.
16. Place cheese on the fried cutlets until it begins to melt.
17. Now the cheese patty moves into the hamburger.
18. Place tomatoes on top.
19. Cover with a bun and ketchup.
20. To serve, prick with a skewer or knife.
21. Juicy homemade hamburgers just like at McDonald's (even better!) are ready. Bon appetit!
Whoever said that fast food is harmful clearly did not mean homemade burgers, because what could be tastier than a juicy homemade cheeseburger with cola, juice, or a glass of cold beer? For those who like tasty and quick food, we will tell you how to cook a cheeseburger at home and share the most mouth-watering recipes for this dish.
Homemade cheeseburger
For those who do not know how to cook a homemade cheeseburger, the following recipe has been created. Everything is simple, satisfying, tasty and nutritious.
Ingredients:
- minced beef – 650 g;
- Cheddar cheese - 8 pieces;
- vegetable oil - for frying;
- salt, pepper - to taste;
- iceberg lettuce – 1 head;
- tomatoes – 2 pcs.;
- pickled cucumbers – 3 pcs.;
- ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard - to taste.
Preparation
When preparing a cheeseburger, you should start by forming beef patties, for which the minced meat is divided into 4 parts. Then, from each portion you need to make a meat cake about 2.5 cm thick, in the center of which you press a hole with your finger. Place the cutlets in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Before frying, season them with a mixture of salt and pepper on both sides, and then fry on a grill or frying pan: 3-4 minutes on one side, and 2 on the other. Next, put cheese on the cutlets, cover the pan with a lid and cook for another 2-3 minutes. We basically remove the finished dish from the stove and leave it to “rest” on a plate, covered with foil.
While the cutlets are waiting, fry the buns until browned, chop the tomatoes and cucumbers, and separate the lettuce leaves.
All that remains is to form the burgers: spread the bun with a mixture of sauces, place a leaf of lettuce, then a cutlet, tomato rings and sliced cucumbers, cover everything with a second bun and eat with pleasure.
Mexican cheeseburger recipe
This cheeseburger was nicknamed Mexican because of the mixture of spices included in its composition, which give it a characteristic mild spiciness and piquancy.
Ingredients:
- minced beef – 500 g;
- tomatoes – 2 pcs.;
- parsley – 1 bunch;
- hamburger buns – 4 pcs.;
- Cheddar cheese - 4 pieces;
- jalapeno pepper – 1 pc.;
- chili powder – 1 tbsp. spoon;
- salt – ½ teaspoon;
- oregano and cumin – ½ teaspoon;
- black pepper – ¼ teaspoon;
- salad onion – 1 pc.;
- lettuce leaves – 4 pcs;
- ketchup, sour cream - to taste.
Preparation
Before making the cheeseburger, in a bowl, mix the minced meat with chopped parsley, chili powder, jalapeno pieces, salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Mix the mass thoroughly and divide it into 4 equal portions, each of which is formed into a cutlet.
Grease a grill or frying pan with vegetable oil and fry our cutlets for 6 minutes on each side until cooked. Cover each of the meat patties with a slice of Cheddar, cover the dish with a lid and wait for the cheese to melt.
Brown the burger buns in a frying pan. On the bottom half of the bun we put a tablespoon of sour cream, a little ketchup, a cutlet, chopped tomatoes, lettuce and onion rings, which can also be grilled first. Cover the burger with the second bun and serve.
Double cheeseburger with bacon - recipe
The name “double cheeseburger” speaks for itself; this dish, unlike the original, contains twice as much meat and cheese, and therefore twice as much pleasure from eating. Find out how to make a double cheeseburger at home in the recipe below.
Ingredients:
- minced beef – 600 g;
- bacon – 200 g;
- Cheddar cheese - 6 pieces;
- Swiss cheese - 6 pieces;
- salad onion – 1 pc.;
- table vinegar - 1 tbsp. spoon;
- sugar – ½ teaspoon;
- mustard, barbecue sauce - to taste;
- salt, pepper - to taste.
Preparation
Season the ground beef and beat it thoroughly 8-10 times. Divide the minced meat into 4 parts, form each into a cutlet and fry until done, 5-6 minutes on each side. Place a piece of each cheese on the prepared meat flatbreads and cover with a lid, waiting for the cheese to melt.
Meanwhile, cut the onion into rings and marinate in a mixture of water and vinegar (2:1) with the addition of sugar and salt. Fry the bacon strips until golden brown. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of water into a hot frying pan to create steam. Then, immediately place the top part of the bun in the pan and wait 7-10 seconds. This technique will make the buns softer, and their surface will be covered with a varnish shine.
All that remains is to put the cheeseburger together by placing a cutlet on a bun greased with sauce, a layer of bacon, another cutlet and bacon, pickled onions and cover everything with a second bun. Bon appetit!
Pass the beef along with the fat through a meat grinder or chop it by hand with 2 heavy knives or hatchets. Peel the onion, chop very finely and fry in vegetable oil until golden brown. Cool on a paper towel to drain the oil and add to the mince along with all the other burger ingredients.
Knead the minced meat very thoroughly, for at least 10 minutes. It’s even better to not only knead, but beat it on the work surface, lifting the lump of minced meat to a height of about 40 cm and throwing it forcefully on the table or board. Then the burgers will definitely not fall apart when frying. With wet hands, form 4-6 cutlets 2-2.5 cm thick from the prepared minced meat. Place the cutlets on a heated and oiled grate and fry over well-burnt coals - first over strong coals for 30 seconds. on each side, and then on low (to do this, rake the coals under the grate), 6–7 minutes. for medium rare. Simultaneously toast the bun halves, cut side down. The burger is served open: on one half of the bun there is a cutlet and a slice of cheese, on the other - lettuce, tomato slices, onion rings and thinly sliced pickled cucumber.
How to make a cheeseburger identical to the classic store-bought one using homemade ingredients? In cookbooks and recipe collections you can find a large number of different recipes for sandwiches with meat and vegetable fillings. But not everyone agrees with the methods of preparing traditional burgers in terms of composition and taste. And yet it is possible to assemble a delicious bun at home. The quantity and quality of components should be adjusted at your own discretion.
Cheeseburger at home: recipe with photo
Sandwiches in fast food restaurants are very popular and in demand because they are low priced and taste good. These dishes contain a large amount of sugar and harmful sauces, so consuming them is often not recommended. A homemade burger may be a less unhealthy alternative. Additionally, you can refill it according to your own taste.
For cooking you will need the following products:
- fresh minced beef, chicken or pork (according to preference);
- egg (for making cutlets);
- preferred size buns with or without sesame seeds;
- tomato;
- lettuce leaves (whole or chopped);
- chopped onions;
- mustard;
- mayonnaise sauce (optional);
- cheese (processed cheese made for burgers is perfect);
- salt (optional).
You can assemble the dish step by step as follows:
- In a bowl, mix minced meat, salt, half the onion, and egg. Form round, flat cutlets using cling film.
- Place the meat in the freezer to harden and then retain its shape.
- Cut the prepared buns in half (lengthwise). Fry them in a small amount of vegetable oil until a light crust forms (fry only on the cut side).
- In a bowl, mix mayonnaise sauce with mustard approximately one to one. The balance can be changed to taste.
- After the rolls have cooled, the cuts must be greased with a thin layer of previously prepared sauce.
- Fry the frozen cutlets for five to seven minutes on each side.
- Place a lettuce leaf on the greased bottom of the bun and carefully place the finished cutlet on top.
- The meat should be covered with a slice of cheese and a slice of tomato.
- The last step is to cover the resulting sandwich with the top.
Many note that many people enjoy such experiments at home. This alternative often turns out to be healthier and beneficial for the body. In addition, the preparation of such a dish guarantees high quality, since all the ingredients are selected by the chef himself.
Cooking a cheeseburger like at McDonald's
You won’t be able to try a delicious burger like you would at home in a fast food restaurant, since fast food restaurants tend to make the same product every time according to a certain standard. To do this, each employee is given special step-by-step instructions. But how to cook a cheeseburger like at McDonald's and is it possible? You can make such food at home, but in order to bring the taste and composition closer to the original, you must adhere to certain standards. In particular, cutlets in a restaurant kitchen are prepared without adding oil, eggs or other ingredients. They contain only ground fresh meat. Frying is done on a special grill, but at home it can be made in a coated frying pan. The same goes for buns - they get a golden crust in a special toaster.
Required Components
A standard set according to a classic recipe includes the following components of the dish:
- buns without sesame seeds;
- fresh minced meat without onions, salt and seasonings;
- tomato ketchup without additives;
- mustard without fillers;
- pickled cucumbers, cut into slices;
- onions (fresh or pickled);
- processed cheese slices (Cheddar).
The cutlets must be formed in advance. To do this, put the minced meat on cling film and form small circles out of it. Also cover the product with film on top and put it in the freezer to harden (using a mold is allowed). Salt and pepper are added after frying the meat on the grill, frying pan or in the oven. If the cutlets burn, you can add a small amount of oil.
The buns also need to be fried on the cut side until golden brown. It is recommended to avoid using oil. The onion must be cut into small cubes. The original recipe uses Hochland's Cheddar cheese (one slice per bun, two for the double burger). The quantity of pickles is also doubled for a double serving.
Butter buns, close to those sold through the restaurant, can be prepared by yourself at home. But similar options are also sold in supermarkets.
Note: The fast food restaurant serves regular (single) sandwiches and double sandwiches. In the first case, you need one bun, one slice of cucumber, a cutlet and a piece of cheese. In the second, the amount of cucumbers, meat and cheese is doubled.
How to assemble it
According to the classic recipe, the cheeseburger is assembled as follows:
- Place a small amount of mustard and ketchup to taste on the top of the bun.
- Place some onion on top. Add a slice of cucumber.
- Place a slice of melted cheese on the onion.
- Place a meat cutlet on top of the cheese, then close the bottom of the bun.
If you need to make a double sandwich, then put another piece of cheese and a cutlet on top of the cutlet. There should be two cucumber slices.
In this way, it is possible to obtain a product almost identical to the restaurant product. But you can make a cheeseburger at home by changing the recipe at your discretion. For the sandwich you can choose any cheese, type of cutlet, sauces to taste.
Photo and video
Homemade burger recipe 1
Original sandwich
Conclusion
Delicious hot meat sandwiches are quick and easy to prepare, so there's no need to constantly visit a fast food restaurant to grab a bite. The original dish requires a minimum of ingredients; classic homemade burgers also do not require a large number of expensive ingredients. The only difficulties that can arise are the formation of cutlets, as well as the selection of similar sauces. But the easiest choice is to buy dressings to taste without additives. The number of components can be adjusted independently.
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