But between me and you, I HATE frying bacon. Ugh. So messy. I usually bake my bacon in the oven because it’s much tidier but that takes some planning ahead and these burgers needed to go down ASAP because I was feeling that summer vibe this past weekend. So here’s what I did instead: I added chopped raw bacon to the ground meat (I used bison from Pederson’s Natural Farms but you could use grass-fed beef, too).
Wondering if you should purchase grass-fed beef? Learn how to choose quality red meat in this post!
Yes. I added the bacon to the burger before it was cooked. And it was crazy amazing. The burger stayed nice and tender even though I’d cooked it all the way through. And you got the smokey bacon flavor with every bite. No more trying to balance the bacon on top of the burger and strategically trying to place it so that you get a bite of burger + bacon with every bite. You do do that, right? Surely I’m not alone in this struggle.
And look at those grill marks!
Grill marking is a little obsession of mine and these Grilled Bacon Burgers turned out gorgeous. I mean, c’mon. See those lines and itty bitty bits of bacon goodness there? So good. Oh! And the mushrooms and onions. Almost forgot about those. Man, those were good, too. I love using the grill to prepare vegetables because A) I get to stand outside and cook, and B) they get such an awesome flavor and caramelization that’s hard to replicate with a frying pan. If you don’t already have a perforated stainless steel grill pan you’ll want to get one. It’s how you keep your veggies from falling into the coals. This is the one I use:
For this recipe I tossed the thinly sliced onions and mushrooms with avocado oil and a pinch of sea salt. Because both onions and mushrooms give off moisture when they cook they’ll take longer to get caramelized and lightly charred on the edges than the burgers will to cook. Therefore, I grill the vegetables first then remove them from the grill and cook the burgers. If your grill is large enough you can simply slide the pan to the side then add the burgers to the grill.
It’s totally your call. However you do it, just do it. Your tastebuds will thank you a million times over. Especially if you add a dallop of something cool and creamy and Whole30-friendly like some Primal Kitchen Chipotle Lime Mayo (which, sadly, I cannot eat but I enjoy listening to my hubby ‘food moan’ while enjoying it on his burger. Okay, maybe I don’t ‘enjoy’ it because I’m secretly resentful that I can’t eat eggs… but you get the idea!)
Break out the bacon and brush off the grill – it’s burger time!
Pin now, make later!
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