A Juicy Lucy burger is a legendary cheese-stuffed burger from Minnesota. It features a core of molten cheese stuffed inside the beef. This low-carb version is served on crisp lettuce with tasty burger toppings. Of course, you can always serve it in a burger bun instead!
A Juicy Lucy is one of Minnesota’s biggest contributions to the culinary world (or at least Minnesotans like to think so!). Instead of topping a burger with cheese, the cheese is stuffed inside the patty. This results in a beautiful, melty center of cheese that oozes out with the first bite. If you’re a fan of cheeseburgers, you’re going to want to make this recipe! While you’re at it, try my goat cheese-stuffed turkey burger and this cheesy pizza burger next.
Why The Famous Juicy Lucy Burger Is My Favorite
My version tosses out the carb-loaded bun and features a fresh, crispy lettuce wrap, with a big fat slice of sweet summer tomato, my favorite pickled red onions, and a creamy burger sauce. This is going to become one of your all-time favorite burgers. I’m sure of it!
What You Can Expect:
- The legendary gooey, melty cheese filling. A Juicy Lucy recipe takes a cheeseburger to the next level. Slice into the juicy burger patty, and you’re met with a molten, cheesy center that you can stuff with cheddar or any cheese.
- Stuffing the patties takes minutes. Making these cheese-stuffed burgers is quite easy. Just form two thin patties instead of one, add some cheese in the center, and pinch the patties together.
- Serve it how you like it. I serve my burgers on lettuce wraps. If you’re a burger purist who can’t fathom eating a burger on a lettuce wrap – no judgment. Just add your favorite burger bun! Either way, you can customize the toppings any way you’d like.
Burger Ingredients
Here are the simple ingredients needed to make a Juicy Jucy burger at home. Scroll to the recipe card for the full list with exact measurements.
- Ground chuck – Use good-quality beef. And please, skip the ultra-lean stuff. To enjoy a truly juicy burger, it has to have a certain amount of fat mixed in. I use ground chuck with an 80/20 fat ratio, from our local butcher.
- Seasonings – I grew up on Mom’s burgers with her homemade pickles and Lawry’s seasoned salt, and can’t stray from tradition. I also add some kosher salt and pepper.
- Cheese – I’m a fan of Tillamook Cheddar Cheese Slices, but any thick slices of quality cheese will work. And for a truly authentic Juicy Lucy experience, American cheese is the cheese you’ll normally find in Juicy Lucy recipes in Minnesota.
- For serving – I serve these burgers on lettuce leaves for wraps, topped with a slice of ripe tomato, pickled red onions, and creamy burger sauce.
How to Make a Juicy Lucy Burger
My family LOVES to grill and uses it nearly every single day in the spring, summer, and fall. And what better reason to grill than a thick, juicy burger with a luxuriously melty center of cheese?
- Form the patties. Sprinkle the beef with the seasoning and mix until just incorporated. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions. Form each portion into two thin burger patties, about 5″ in diameter.
- Stuff the burgers. Next, cut each slice of cheddar into 4 pieces. Stack the cheese in the center of 4 burger patties. Top with a second burger patty and pinch the edges to seal. Press on the top to flatten slightly and compress everything together. Sprinkle with additional seasonings.
- Grill. Preheat your grill on high heat, clean and oil the grill grates. Then, grill the burgers for about 5 minutes on each side. This gets you medium-rare, so adjust to your desired doneness.
- Let rest. Afterward, remove the burgers from the grill and allow them to rest on a plate for a few minutes.
- Serve. Serve each burger on one or two large lettuce leaves. Top with tomatoes, pickled onions, and burger sauce, or whatever toppings you desire. Enjoy!
Stovetop Method
We love to grill during the warmer months, but these can easily be pan-fried as well. A large cast-iron skillet would work great.
3 Tips for Juicy Burgers
- Work with cold meat. It’s important to keep the beef well chilled in the fridge until forming the patties. It makes it much easier to work with, and you want to make sure the fat melts on the grill, not on your hands!
- Seal the edges well. Make sure to pinch tightly around the edges to seal them after you add the second patty on top. If they’re not sealed well, the cheese can run out.
- Try to avoid touching the burgers on the grill. Do not press on burgers because you’ll lose juices and have flare-ups, as well as cause the cheese to burst out from the centers.
Don’t Dive In Too Fast!
- Most importantly: A good Minnesota server will always warn you about the explosively hot center of cheese when they hand you a Juicy Lucy. Be careful. That first bite is always an extra hot one!
Optional Burger Toppings
I eat the majority of my burgers on a bed of lettuce, sans bun. But I’m always sure to have some soft buns on hand for the traditional hand-held burger. Options, people! I like to lightly butter and then grill the buns to add even more texture and flavor. Then, I’ll top my burgers with pickled onions, a fat slice of tomato, and creamy burger sauce. These are more ideas:
- Eat your Juicy Lucy with ketchup, mustard, or mayo
- Homemade dill pickles or bread and butter pickles
- Fried onions
- Grilled pineapple (for something more exotic)
- Pickled jalapeños along with sweet corn relish, for a spicy kick
Serving Suggestions
As for sides, I love a cool, crisp, creamy cucumber salad or a cucumber salad with vinegar dressing. This creamy coleslaw or my mom’s sweet onion and vinegar coleslaw are also favorites. And you can’t go wrong with a side of truffle fries. They’re ALL great options with a grilled cheeseburger!
How to Store Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Cooked Juicy Lucy burgers can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat. You can reheat them quickly in the microwave or on the stovetop. They’ll end up a little more done than the first time you made them and may not be as juicy, but they’ll still be incredible!
More Grilling Recipes
Juicy Lucy Burger
Ingredients
- 1-½ pounds good quality 80/20 ground chuck chilled
- 2 teaspoons Lawry’s seasoning salt divided, plus a bit more for sprinkling over prepared patties
- 1 teapoon ground black pepper plus a bit more for sprinkling over prepared patties
- 4 slices Tillamook Farmstyle Thick Cut Medium Cheddar Cheese Slices
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt plus a bit more for sprinkling over prepared patties
- 4 slices large ripe tomato
- 4 to 8 large lettuce leaves
- pickled red onions
- your favorite creamy burger sauce
Instructions
- Add ground beef to a large bowl and sprinkle with 1-½ teaspoons of the Lawry’s salt and the black pepper. Mix by hand until just incorporated. Divide beef evenly into four sections.
- Form each section into two thin burger patties, to equal eight burger patties total. They should be about 5” in diameter each. Cut each cheddar slice into four pieces, and then place four of the smaller pieces (1 whole cheddar slice) in the center of each of four burger patties, fanning the pieces out a bit. Place another burger patty over each patty with cheese. Pinch edges of patties tightly to seal each burger, then cup each burger with your hands to round out the edges. Press on the top center to flatten slightly into a single thickened burger patty. Each burger should be about 4” in diameter. Sprinkle both sides of each burger lightly with additional Lawry’s, black pepper, and kosher salt.
- Heat grill to high heat. Once hot, clean the grates really well. Then generously oil the grill grates using a long tongs and a folded paper towel soaked with vegetable oil. Decrease heat to medium. Place burgers on grill grates and let cook for 5 to 6 minutes on the first side. I try to keep the burgers just on the edge of the grill’s hot spots, to cook a bit indirectly. Then carefully flip the burgers over and grill for about 5 minutes longer for medium-well burgers. Do not press on burgers because you’ll lose juices and have flare-ups, as well as cause the cheese to burst out from the centers. Adjust cook time for desired doneness. The goal is melty cheese inside, with burgers cooked to your liking.
- Remove burgers from grill and let rest for a couple minutes. This is an important step, as the cheese inside is incredibly hot and tends to explode out with your first bite. Be careful!
- Serve on top of one to two large lettuce leaves. Use a sturdier lettuce to eat like a wrap. A more tender lettuce, or one with smaller leaves, can be used to eat the burger like a salad, with a fork and knife. Add a tomato slice, pickled onions, and your favorite burger sauce. Of course there’s a ton of other options; use what you like. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, pickles. You get the idea…
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Minnesota food and drink
When you think about Minnesota, what foods and drinks come to mind? Besides the Juicy Lucy, of course!
For me, Minnesota means tater tot hotdish (I sprinkle mine with shredded sharp cheddar!), fresh-caught walleye, creamy chicken wild rice soup, Swedish meatballs, lefse, lutefisk, SPAM, Honeycrisp apples (as well as many other famous apple varieties bred at the University of Minnesota), pans of bars, Pearson’s Nut Goodies, and all the delicious fun found at the Minnesota State Fair.
I could also throw in a staggering number of excellent newer-to-the-scene craft beers, as well as longtime beer icons such as Grain Belt. Minnesota makes some beautiful wines and ciders. And have you ever had 1919 Root Beer?
Melty Fest with Tillamook – a celebration of the Minnesota Juicy Lucy
Tillamook and Bauhaus Brew Labs hosted a Melty Fest event here in the Twin Cities earlier this week. And it was a blast – with crazy good Juicy Lucys and great craft beer.
I hadn’t been to Bauhaus before, had only seen pictures that made me add it to my “craft brewery must-visit” list. This once-booming iron foundry has a great history, and it makes me happy to see this abandoned space rescued and filled with new life. Bauhaus and its large covered patio, plus a perfectly perfect Minnesota evening, provided for an awesome Melty Fest setting.
Five local chefs cooked up their version of a Juicy Lucy for Melty Fest. Pictured above is a slider from Burger Dive (Nick O’Leary and Josh Thoma), with a soft-boiled egg in the middle plus pepper jack melted seductively over the top.
Justin Sutherland from Handsome Hog was serving up his Pimento Cheese Juicy Lucy. If you aren’t from Minnesota, maybe you know this chef from watching him on Iron Chef or Top Chef? Here’s a fun interview to learn more about him.
Justin’s pimento cheese-stuffed burger rocked. I ate the whole dang thing, and would have gladly welcomed another couple bites!
Tillamook is a farmer-owned cooperative in Oregon. They’ve been making naturally aged cheddars with no artificial ingredients for over 100 years. Minnesota is so happy to have them here!
For more information about Tillamook, visit their web site. You can also find them on these social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Thank you to Tillamook for sponsoring this post!
* This is a sponsored post, created in partnership with Tillamook.
new dish to me, so thank you for sharing it, love stuffed burgers (when I allow myself to eat cheese) and really nice touches here like lettuce wrapping it, thank you!
I can’t stop staring, I mean, drooling at that cheese! Gorgeous! What an awesome burger! I hope you enjoy your holiday! :)
Looks amazing..!! (.. and living close to Tillamook myself makes this recipe sound even better. Can’t wait to see make it. )
Thank you! And lucky you, I hope I can visit Tillamook one day!
Thank you and your talented as well daughter! I appreciate. Keep blogging
Thank you and your talented as well daughter! I appreciate. Keep blogging
What do you suggest for a burger sauce. Love your blog and try almost all of your recipes which we love. You do such good work. Thanks for this recipe. Looks and will taste yummy. Thanks!
Hello Anne – thank you so much, what a lovely note! There are burger sauces in the condiment section at the grocery store, but I haven’t personally tried them. My daughter created this one for the Juicy Lucy – she used 1/2 c. mayo, 1/2 c. ketchup, 1 T. spicy pickle juice, 2 tsp. prepared yellow mustard, 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika. Enjoy! :)
Also…that makes a good amount of sauce…because we’re big on the condiments. Cut in half if you like!