The weather is still not cooperating with us Midwesterners, but I said to heck with it today and fired up the indoor grill to make The Iowa Burger!
I created The Iowa Burger recipe to showcase the 2 quintessential flavors of Iowa, in one yummy cheeseburger:
1. Bacon – Tickets to this year’s Baconfest sold out faster than a Taylor Swift concert at Madison Square Garden. No seriously, like in under 4 minutes. I’d say us Iowans definitely like our bacon!
2. Sweet corn – It’s so abundant in the summertime, they give it away for free!
My recipe starts by combining ground beef and chopped bacon. Yes, there’s bacon in the burger. There’s bacon in the burger!!!
After the patties are cooked up and topped with ooooozy cheese,
they’re nestled onto a sesame seed bun that’s been slathered with avocado spread, then dressed with fresh sweet corn relish.
free email bonus
Dinner Made EASY
5 days of simple yet flavorful recipes that take the stress out of dinnertime!
The Iowa Burger
Description
The Iowa Burger incorporates all the ingredients that make this state great into one juicy burger!
Ingredients
- For the Burgers:
- 1lb 85/15 ground beef
- 6 strips bacon, finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 slices American cheese
- 4 sesame seed buns
- For the Sweet Corn Relish:
- 2 strips bacon, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 3 ears of corn, kernels cut off the cob
- 2 Tablespoons minced jalapeño
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- For the Avocado Spread:
- 1 avocado
- salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
- Combine beef, finely chopped bacon, salt and pepper, and then form into four patties. Cook on a hot grill to preferred doneness, about 3-4 minutes a side for medium-rare. Turn the heat off, place cheese slices on top of burgers and close the grill lid to allow cheese to melt.
- Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chopped bacon and cook until crispy. Melt in butter then add corn, jalapeno, green onion, salt and pepper to the skillet. Cook until corn is just tender, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in maple syrup and remove the skillet from the heat.
- Mash avocado flesh with salt and pepper, then spread equally on the bottom of each bun. Top with cheeseburger patty and sweet corn relish. Enjoy!
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
That yoghurt looks fancy, and really good!
As does your burger. Corn is the same way here in the St. Louis area – my bf refuses to buy it when it’s not in season, straight from the farmer. Those burgers look fantastic. I think a St. Louis burger would have some kind of pork in it (we have fantastic pork here!), though not bacon. Some kind of sausage/beef combination maybe? I wonder how a burger would be topped with a farm-fresh egg?!
Well I’m a Cali girl, so In-n-Out is our namesake, but if you ask anyone whose had a Sunflower Drive-In Nut Burger, they’d say that is California! Seriously, you should google it (it’s in Fair Oaks, CA) YUM!
Happy almost-Easter. :) Looks like you’ve been a busy lady.
Love your blog. Glad you had some quality family time. My mom and bro came to visit me in Minnesota and I’m soaking in every second!
Kudos on the Iowa burger! If you really want to make it an all-Iowa burger, you could leave off the avocado and top the burger with a fried egg. Iowa is No. 1 nationally in egg production. Have you had the bacon-burger patties at Fareway? They are good.
that burger looks SOOO GOOD. Being from WI… the burger would have to have cheese & beer. Which would be absolutely disgusting–but it would represent us accurately. ;-)
Hmm…A SoDak burger…I’ll have to mull that one over. I can say with confidence that if I were to create a burger to represent SoDak, I’d probably make it with ground buffalo instead of beef. Beyond that, I’ll have to think on it! :)
And since I’ve never been to Five Guys or In-n-Out, I’d say my perfect burger would be the bacon cheeseburger from Thurman’s Cafe, in Columbus, OH. With a side of their hand-cut fries.
What a fun burger combination!
I agree that In and Out burgers are simply amazing. I am in a wedding in California in June and In and Out will be one of the first places we stop! :) Although, I love Five Guys and Fries too. :)
Five Guys for me, with fries from the state I call home…Idaho!
Mmm…In-N-Out…yumm!! Happy Easter!
This burger looks outstanding and OHHH THAT’S WHAT THAT AUSTRALIAN YOGURT STUFF IS. Thanks for this good post and recipe :)
mmmm! my husband makes the best burgers. i don’t know what his secret is!
I think my perfect burger IS the In-n-Out burger. So good!
i think you did just fine representing our great state of Iowa, so i would just go with your creative burger! as far as my favorite burger to make; Fareways own ground hamburger….cooked clear thru, no pink please! w/a lite sprinkle of garlic powder, a toasted Rotella bun, pepper jack cheese, ketchup, mayo, sweet vadalia onion, and extra pickles! for a dining out burger; a cheeseburger from The Waters Edge in Polk City. and for fast food; a mushroom burger from Little Johns on 2nd Ave in Des Moines!!! YUM!!
Can’t wait for the recipe for that burger! It looks delicious!
Thanks for the hint for picking a ripe pineapple. I’ve never heard of doing that and always wondered how to pick the best one.
That burger look amazing. I was going to have pizza for dinner but I might switch to a burger.
Thanks for the pineapple trick! I love pineapple and almost always buy fresh chunked pineapple so I never new how to tell if they were ripe. Very useful for a pineapple lover to know.
I tried it once! Just wasn’t as big a fan of it as Chobani! :)
Okay, good, maybe you are not soooo stubborn – ;-)
Tillamook Chedder Cheese Baby! Representin the West Coast.. Oregon… where I am from originally.
You are soooo stubborn… everyone is raving about Fage and you just will NOT go there! hahahahahah…..
Will have to give Noosa a try cause I have seen it on lots of blogs!
Noosa yoghurt is my new fave splurge! I used to splurge on the 2% Chobani Pineapple greek yoghurt but this may have replace my old 2% fat fave! I tried the mango and blueberry and am uber excited about the strawberry rhubarb! Bring on the summer. :D
Yes, In-N-Out are great, so are 5 Guys.
Dude…that burger looks DUH-vine!!!!! Anything that begins with bacon must end well.