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The Best Bacon Cheeseburger has a thin and crispy smashburger-style patty, plenty of bacon, gooey cheese, and all your favorite toppings. Add grilled onions cooked in bacon fat if that’s your jam! This one’s a “must-make” for burger lovers everywhere.
It’s almost impossible for me to pick a favorite food (on my About Page, I list favorite ingredients instead). But when push comes to shove, my favorite might be a fantastic burger.
I love a hand-held sandwich brimming full of beef, cheese, bacon, and all the toppings! But I like to keep things simple, so we limit the bacon to the skillet rather than folding it into the patties or the mayonnaise. With a flavorful powerhouse like bacon, less is more.
I love the smashburger-style of burgers too, cooked flat and crispy on a skillet or flat-top grill. These burgers run edge-to-edge with a bun, never shrinking beneath a pickle chip. That’s my kind of burger.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Bacon: Substitute pre-cooked bacon if you don’t want to cook bacon yourself.
- Ground beef: I love ground chuck which is 15% to 20% fat, and burgers cook best when the meat is cool. To get ahead and have the best results, form the patties or balls ahead of time, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 2 days in advance.
- Onions: To make caramelized onions, save the rendered bacon fat. Peel, halve and slice 1 onion into 1/8th-inch slices, then add to a skillet over medium-high heat with the fat. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a large cold skillet, arrange bacon in a single layer (don’t let it overlap too much). Increase heat medium and cook, flipping the pieces often to promote even browning, until they reach your desired doneness (8 to 15 minutes).
- Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Spread butter on each cut side of the buns and toast until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes, working in batches if necessary.
- Increase heat to medium-high. Form beef into 4 balls, about 4 ounces each. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Place burger balls onto the hot griddle or skillet several inches apart (working in batches if needed). Using a grill press or spatula, press patties down, making burgers as thin and flat as possible. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Flip burger patties, scraping from the pan to keep the layer that has formed on the patty. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top each patty with a slice of cheese and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.
- Spread mayonnaise on each half of a toasted bun. Transfer patties to the bottom half of each bun. Top with 4 pieces of bacon, and your preferred toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles. Top with the top half of the bun and serve.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 juicy and delicious Bacon Cheeseburgers. Double, triple, or quadruple for a crowd.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Divide the ground beef and form balls for the patties, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 2 days in advance.
- Freezer: Cooked patties can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Double Double: For double bacon burgers, just double the amount of ground beef and cheese and stack them on top of each other.
- Special sauce: Thousand Island dressing is quite possibly the most popular burger sauce of all time.
Recipe FAQs
I prefer ground chuck, which has 15 to 20% fat and a rich, mouth-watering texture. Ground sirloin has amazing flavor, but sometimes can taste a little dry.
Look for a high-quality thick-cut smoked bacon.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy clean up and set a rack on top. Arrange the bacon in a single layer. Bake until bacon is cooked to your desired doneness (start checking at 10 minutes; I usually bake it for about 15 minutes). Remove from oven and drain on paper towels.
People who love bacon also really love to figure out the best way to arrange bacon on a cheeseburger, for an optimal bacon-to-burger ratio. Some cooks form an X with two slices, while some fold a strip of bacon into a sort of triangle shape before cooking to fit neatly under the bun. Yet others actually weave bacon into a sort of fabric for maximum coverage. Personally, I keep things simple yet decadent, with three slices of the best bacon I can find under the bun. I don’t mind a little overhang.
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Best Bacon Cheeseburger
Ingredients
To make the burgers:
- 8 slices bacon halved (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- 4 hamburger buns split
- 1 pound ground beef (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices American cheese
For serving:
- mayonnaise
- lettuce leaves
- tomato slices
- onions sliced (see note 3)
- dill pickle chips
Instructions
- In a large cold skillet, arrange bacon in a single layer (don't let it overlap too much). Increase heat medium and cook, flipping the pieces often to promote even browning, until they reach your desired doneness (8 to 15 minutes).
- Remove from skillet and drain on paper towels. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat. Spread butter on each cut side of the buns and toast until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes, working in batches if necessary.
- Increase heat to medium-high. Form beef into 4 balls, about 4 ounces each. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Place burger balls onto the hot griddle or skillet several inches apart (working in batches if needed). Using a grill press or spatula, press patties down, making burgers as thin and flat as possible. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Flip burger patties, scraping from the pan to keep the layer that has formed on the patty. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top each patty with a slice of cheese and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more.
- Spread mayonnaise on each half of a toasted bun. Transfer patties to the bottom half of each bun. Top with 4 pieces of bacon, and your preferred toppings such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles. Top with the top half of the bun and serve.
Notes
- Bacon: Substitute pre-cooked bacon if you don’t want to cook bacon yourself.
- Ground beef: I love ground chuck which is 15% to 20% fat, and burgers cook best when the meat is cool. To get ahead and have the best results, form the patties or balls ahead of time, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 2 days in advance.
- Onions: To make caramelized onions, save the rendered bacon fat. Peel, halve and slice 1 onion into 1/8th-inch slices, then add to a skillet over medium-high heat with the fat. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized.
- Yield: This recipe makes 4 juicy and delicious Bacon Cheeseburgers. Double, triple, or quadruple for a crowd.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Divide the ground beef and form balls for the patties, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 2 days in advance.
- Freezer: Cooked patties can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
This is a great base recipe that lends itself well to personal preferences. If you have time and a lot of self-control, try adding smoked bacon done on a grill with a moderate char; then for the burger, do a slow bake or sous vide to desired doneness, followed by a very hot reverse sear. The rest of the fixin’s are up to you. Just go light on the ketchup, sauce, mayo, or what have you so that the flavor of the meat combo can shine through. And if you can find and afford it, try ground bison with pepperjack for a special treat.
My goodness this was amazing!
Thanks Jake! – Meggan
Made these yesterday with all the fixin’s, baked potatoes and Bush’s original beans……….YUM!!
not bad