Special Bacon Wrapped Burgers

FolkDiva's Note:

This is one of the best burgers I've ever had! I must give credit to my co-worker Allen for the basic recipe.....he grilled them for a casual dinner party and I pestered him for hours to get the 'secret'. I've now perfected my own version and frequently serve them up fully dressed and folded into large lettuce leaves for a fun low-carb meal.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 4.0 burgers

• 1 1/3 lbs ground beef (I use ground sirloin)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sweet barbecue sauce (look at those ingredients and find one WITHOUT the high fructose corn syrup!!!)
• 4 -6 slices bacon
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• tony chacheres spicy cajun seasoning (or your favorite grilling seasoning, to taste)

Directions:

1. Fire up the grill (adding a little hickory to the coals adds some extra flavor).
2. Mix raw beef, chopped onion, barbeque sauce and salt/pepper until thoroughly blended. (*Option if you have kids who will not eat visible onion is to mince the onion in a food processor rather than chopping. They will never know!).
3. Form 4 large, thick 1/3 lb burgers.
4. Wrap each burger's circumference with a strip of uncooked bacon and secure with a couple of toothpicks. (*Option if you prefer crisp bacon is to precook the bacon to about half done, let it cool slightly and then wrap each burger. With this method, the bacon is somewhat shrunk so two slices may be needed to surround each burger. It's a little messier prep, but the bacon ends up nice and crisp by the time the burgers are fully cooked.).
5. Once wrapped you can flatten them out a little bit with the palm of your hand. The bacon will 'stretch' to accomodate the sirloin mixture.
6. Sprinkle each side with your favorite grilling spices.
7. Grill 10 minutes or so on each side or just until center is perfectly pink. (*I also get great results broiling in an iron skillet. Just be sure to place your rack on the highest setting and preheat both the oven and the skillet at 500 degrees before switching over to 'broil' and adding the burgers to the hot skillet. This way, you should not even have to flip the burgers -- juicy and delicious!).
8. Dress as you like and enjoy! (Don't forget to remove the toothpicks!).

Reviews

[lazyme]

Great burger! I made one burger and loved the taste. I microwaved my bacon for about 1 1/2 minutes to get it started and it turned out really well. Thankd FolkDiva for a great meal. Made for 123 Tag.

[loof]

Amazingly delicious burgers! I don't care for onions so left them out, otherwise made as directed. Even with so few ingredients these burgers had such great flavor and were so moist and juicy. Cooked them on the grill and just loved them - thanks for sharing this great recipe!

[IndyEater]

Husband loved this. I used "filet" trimmings and Montreal Steak seasoning. I did microwave my bacon in advance.