This recipe works beautifully with blue cheese, goat cheese, or cream cheese—choose your favorite.
I picked up a pound of ground beef the other day and woke up craving blue cheese–stuffed burgers. I’d never made stuffed burgers before, but they’re simple: form a meatball, press an indentation, add cheese, seal, and flatten into a patty.
Blue cheese pairs especially well with figs, pancetta, and balsamic vinegar. I usually keep pancetta on hand, so I diced some and mixed it into the meat for extra savory flavor.
I also made a quick fig marmalade by cooking down red onion, garlic, diced figs, and a few peppadew peppers. The peppers are optional—use jalapeño if you prefer more heat—but the peppadews add a mild, sweet kick and I had five to use up. The marmalade turned out so flavorful I didn’t need any other condiments.
I served the burgers on soft King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls with a smear of butter and a generous spoonful of the balsamic fig marmalade. When you bite in you reach the melted cheese in the center, which flavors the burger from the inside out.
Stuffed Pancetta Burgers with Balsamic Fig Marmalade
Ingredients
Balsamic Fig Marmalade
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 5 peppadew peppers, diced
- 4 figs, diced
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons peppadew juice, from jar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. coarse ground black pepper
Stuffed Pancetta Burgers
- 3 ozs. sliced pancetta
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- 3 ozs. blue cheese or goat cheese
- 6 King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
- Butter
Instructions
Balsamic Fig Marmalade
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Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the diced red onion and minced garlic and sauté about 8 minutes, until softened.
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Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, diced peppadew peppers, diced figs, balsamic vinegar, peppadew juice, honey, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reduces, about 4 minutes.
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Lower the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes while you prepare the burgers, stirring occasionally, until thickened to a jam-like consistency.
Stuffed Pancetta Burgers
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Preheat your grill to medium-high.
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Dice the pancetta and combine it in a large bowl with the ground beef, soy sauce, kosher salt, coarse black pepper, and garlic powder. Mix gently until just combined.
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Divide the mixture into six equal portions and roll each into a ball. Use your thumb to press an indentation into the center of each ball. Spoon about ½ ounce of blue or goat cheese into the cavity, then carefully enclose the cheese and flatten each ball into a patty, ensuring the cheese is fully sealed inside.
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Grill the patties over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes per side, or until they reach your desired doneness. Remove from the grill and let them rest while you prepare the rolls.
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Slice the sweet rolls in half and spread butter on each cut side. Grill over low heat until golden and lightly toasted.
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Assemble each burger: place a patty on the bottom half of a roll, top with a spoonful of the balsamic fig marmalade, add the top half of the roll, and serve.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximation.