Smoked Cheeseburgers - Upgraded
I love a good smoked cheeseburger. They're easy to prepare, and the smoky flavor adds a little extra that makes every bite sooo good. I recently made some smoked cheeseburgers with hatch chiles, and the flavor was kicked up to a notch that I really wasn't expecting.
These smoked cheeseburgers with hatch chiles on top are some of the best burgers I've ever had.
What Makes Hatch chiles so special?
Hatch Chiles are meaty and flavorful. They're grown in a specific area of New Mexico, and because of the soil quality down there, the flavors you get from hatch chiles are much more complex than the flavors of other roasted chiles.
How to Smoke Hatch Chiles
Smoking hatch chile on your smoker is a simple process. You can smoke as many or as little as you want, but I'd recommend buying at least a pound of fresh chile now while you can.
Smoke them all, and freeze what you don't use for meals later in the year.
When you're ready to get started get your smoker going and set the temp to around 375-400 degrees.
Place the chiles directly on the grill rack, and let them smoke for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and flip every five minutes to get even charring. About halfway through you'll start to see them puff up and then char, this is good!
Once they've been thoroughly charred remove them from the smoker and place them in a large bowl that you can cover. Keep the chile in the covered bowl for about 15 minutes to let them steam. This will make it easy to pull the skins off and expose that tasty green chile flesh you're hoping for.
After the green chiles have steamed, peel away the skin, and deseed the peppers.
If you're doing a large batch, now is the time to put aside any of the peppers you won't be using right away so you can freeze them.
Dice up the green chile you'll be using for the smoked cheeseburgers, and mix in a little bit of minced garlic. I reserved three whole chiles for the burgers and that was plenty!
Smoke the Burgers
I've talked about the reverse sear method before. If you haven't tried this for burgers or steaks, you are missing out!!
While the chiles are steaming, place your burgers on the grill and smoke them for 45 minutes to an hour. Then, crank the heat up to high and cook them for an additional 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature is to your liking (165 is safe by USDA standards for ground beef).
When the burgers are getting close to done, pile on some cooked onion slices, and a combination of Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. Let the cheese get nice and gooey and then pull the burgers.
Place each burger on a bun, pile on the green chiles, and any other fixings you want (I added tomato, and butter lettuce to mine), and then dig in!!
Looking for other great weeknight meal ideas? Smoked Skirt Steak Skewers and Juicy Lucy's are always a good option!
I'm excited to have plenty of leftover chiles in my house... In the not so distant future, I plan on making some green chile queso, and some green chile pulled pork!
What are you going to make with your hatch chiles?
Hatch Green Chile Cheeseburger
Ingredients
- 4 ½ pound Beef Burger Patties I prefer Wagyu
- 1 pound Hatch Green Chiles
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 ounces Monterey Jack Cheese
- 4 ounces Cheddar Cheese
- Hamburger Buns
- Sliced Tomato
- Lettuce
- Condiments
Instructions
- When you're ready to get started get your smoker going and set the temp to around 375-400 degrees.
- Place the chiles directly on the grill rack, and let them smoke for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them and flip every five minutes to get even charring.
- About halfway through you'll start to see them puff up and then char, this is good!
- Once they've been thoroughly charred remove them from the smoker and place them in a large bowl that you can cover.
- Keep the chiles in the covered bowl for about 15 minutes to let them steam. This will make it easy to pull the skins off and expose that tasty green chile flesh you're hoping for.
- While the chiles are steaming, place your burgers on the grill and smoke them for 45 minutes to an hour.
- After the green chiles have steamed, peel away the skin, and deseed the peppers.
- Dice up the green chile you'll be using for the burgers, and mix in a little bit of minced garlic.
- After the burgers have smoked for at least 45 minutes turn the heat up to high and cook them for an additional 3 to 4 minutes per side
- When the burgers are getting close to done, pile on some cooked onion slices, and a combination of Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. (Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temp, and get them up to 165 degrees to be USDA safe)
- Place each burger on a bun, pile on the green chiles, and any other fixings you want (I added tomato, and butter lettuce to mine) and then dig in!!
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