Sous Vide Burger – Bacon Blue Cheese Perfection!
If you’re looking for burger perfection, look no further than the Sous Vide Burger. And if you’re looking for flavor perfection, then keep on reading (hint: bacon blue cheese yumminess!)
There’s nothing like sinking your teeth into a perfectly cooked medium-rare burger. And when I say perfectly cooked, I mean the exact temperature you want edge to edge! In fact, I only know of one way to get burger perfection. The Sous Vide Burger.
What is Sous Vide, you ask? In a nutshell, it is a method of cooking that involves vacuum sealing food and placing it in a water bath for a certain period of time at a specific temperature and your food comes out perfectly cooked every single time. Anova has a great “what is sous vide” page! Check it out if you want to know all the details!
I discovered sous vide cooking a couple of years ago. And when I got my first taste of that absolutely perfect sous vide burger, my first thought was… where have you been my whole life! Yes, it’s that good!
No more stressing about how long to leave those suckers on the grill. (Heaven forbid serving a well-done burger! Yuck!) No more doing the poke-that-burger-with-your-spatula-to-guess-whether-it’s-actually-done.
With sous vide you just set it and forget it. Want medium-rare? 31-33 degrees (the burgers in the photos here were cooked at 133). If you’re after rare then go for 129. Well done? (yeah… you probably don’t want well done if you’re going with sous vide. Might as well just toss it in the microwave! 😉 ) 45-60 minutes at any of the above temps will work just fine!
I’ve got this super helpful time and temperature chart for all of your sous vide cooking!
The sous vide burger will be fully cooked when the cooking time is complete, but searing it in a hot skillet for a minute per side gives it that nice, rich traditional exterior color. So I highly recommend not skipping this step.
Now let’s talk about taking it up a notch (or two or three) by adding some cooked bacon pieces, a handful of blue cheese, and a sprinkling of sliced green onions. Now we’re talking!
And as luck would have it, I just signed up with Butcher Box (they deliver super high-quality meats directly to your door) and they have a special offer right now (limited time only). Save $10 AND get free bacon in your first box! Just click the photo below for the deal.
How to make a Sous Vide Burger with Bacon and Blue Cheese
Saute chopped bacon in a large skillet until crisp and remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve bacon grease. Mix ground beef, cooked bacon, blue cheese crumbles, Worchestershire sauce, and sliced green onions. Form into patties and place in a single layer into a gallon-sized zip top bag. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Fill a large pot with water and heat to 133 degrees (for the higher end of medium-rare) with your sous vide circulator. Remove air out of the bag with the burgers (here’s a full description of the displacement method) and submerge them in the bag in the heated water for 60 minutes. Remove from water and pat dry. Heat the large skillet with the bacon grease over high heat and sear the sous vide burgers 1 minute per side. Serve on a toasted bun! (full recipe below)
Watch me make it on my YouTube Cooking Show!
(My cooking show is where I show you the easiest ways to get the best results in your kitchen! Subscribe here if you’re interested!)
No hassle. No worries. No risk! That’s the beauty of sous vide cooking. Now all you need is a great side dish to go with these burgers! (Might I suggest my Instant Pot Pinto Beans?)
These sous vide burgers are an easy way to dip your toe (food?) in the sous vide waters. Give it a shot. You’ll never cook your burgers another way again. And they’ll always be perfect!
And don’t forget your free bacon with Butcher Box!
Sous Vide Burger - Bacon Bleu Cheese
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef, at least 15% fat content for flavor
- 1 pound bacon, sliced crosswise and cooked to crisp
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 ounces blue cheese crumbles
- 2 green onions, sliced thinly crosswise, green parts only
Instructions
- In a large skillet or cast iron pot, sauté bacon (sliced crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces) over high heat until crisp. Remove bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and drain all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from pan. You will use remaining bacon grease in the pan to sear the burgers when they are done cooking.
- Mix together ground beef, cooked bacon pieces, Worcestershire Sauce, salt, green onions and blue cheese crumbles in a large bowl until well-combined. Do not over mix or the meat will get tough. Separate mixture into 6 equal parts and form 6 burger patties. Press an indentation into the center of each one to prevent misshapen patties after the searing process.
- Place burgers into a gallon-sized zip top bag (these are large burgers so I use 2 bags and put 3 in each) and place them laying flat into the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This helps them firm up and keep their shape better during the sous vide process. If you are short on time, you can omit this step.
- Fill a large pot or sous vide container with warm water. Remove all the air from the bags with the burgers using the displacement method (see above for details). Do not vacuum seal the burgers because this will cause them to squish together.
- Heat up your sous vide water with your circulator to 133 degrees for medium rare. (128 degrees for rare, 140 degrees for medium and 150 for well done.) Submerge the bags containing the burgers, ensuring the burgers are fully covered with water and cook for 60 minutes.
- Remove burgers from sous vide bath when cooking time is done. Pat dry. Salt and pepper to taste before searing. Heat the pan you cooked the bacon in (with the remaining 2 tablespoons of bacon grease) over high heat until very hot. Sear burgers one minute per side and remove. Serve on toasted hamburger buns with a schmear of mayonnaise, if desired.