Chelsea’s Cheeseburgers with secret sauce
These burgers are already world-famous in New Zealand – I’ve simply had the most amazing feedback on this recipe. The magic, I think, is not only the patty, but also in the secret sauce – it makes your taste buds sing with joy. The ‘secret’ ingredient in the sauce is the finely chopped gherkins, which are cunningly hidden. They add an amazing savoury sweet & sour flavour. Just don’t tell anyone it’s in there and they’ll wolf it all down and ask for seconds – it’ll be our little secret.
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
700g beef mince
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
¼ cup chives, finely chopped
¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
¾ cup grated cheese
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
Secret sauce
¾ cup mayonnaise
1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped (or 2 tbsp onion, minced)
3 gherkins, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon tomato paste
To serve
6-8 burger buns, halved
Sliced cheese
Lettuce, red onion, avocado, ripe tomato
Tomato relish (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to grill. Place all the patty ingredients in a bowl, season and combine. Shape into 6-8 patties, cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until needed.
Preheat a large frying pan (or BBQ) to a medium heat. Brush the patties with olive oil, add to the pan and cook for a few minutes until browned on one side. Turn the patties over, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for another 8-10 minutes until cooked through.
Transfer the patties to a roasting dish or oven tray and lay a slice or two of cheese on top of each one. Cook under the grill for a minute or so until the cheese starts to melt over the patties. Add the cut buns for a couple of minutes to crisp them up too.
To make the secret sauce, combine all the ingredients and season to taste. Refrigerate until needed.
To serve, smear the sauce on a butter bun base, add a patty and salad. Spread relish on the top bun if you like, squash down and serve!
Tips
Go for good-quality fresh bakery buns – not the crumbly processed sugary cheap ones.
Don’t try and turn the patties too quickly or they will break apart – just leave them alone until they start to cook through.
To make fresh breadcrumbs, process a few slices of crust-less bread to a fine crumb, or crumble with your fingers.
I have the book with this recipe but for ease I came here to print it. It is now “plant based” recipe? I’m sure it was real meat and the bread/milk trick/onion etc or maybe I’m going nuts???
Hi Chelsea, do you use prime or premium beef mince? I’m not sure which level of fat content would be best for your recipe. Thank you!
Our go to burger recipe – absolutely YUM! My daughter calls them McMummies (sorry)! We make them slightly smaller and put between slider buns…delicious!!
Help! What am I doing wrong? Every time I have made these they seem to start splitting/falling apart in the pain! What could I be doing wrong?
Make sure the onion is really finely chopped – and don’t turn them too soon :)
Yummy de yum yum!!!
These burgers are a-maz-ing!!! I’m not a burger fan but I am sooooo looking forward to having the leftovers tomorrow night. YUM!
YUM! Will be making these this weekend! Thanks Chelsea – they look deeeeelish!
Could these be frozen raw?
The onion might go a little funky but yes, you can.
These are epic Chelsea, and easy to make!
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Chelsea, what burger buns are they – it’s always a hard task finding the perfect bun!
The slice wholemeal toast bread, crusts removed, soaked in 2 tablespoons milk.
Do you just tear that up and mix it into the pattie mixture?
I’m a Kiwi living in the USA and boy I miss our food. So it was so cool to see u put ur recipes on Facebook so I print as much as I can to feel like I am eating like I’m eating nz food again. I must get ur recipe book one day. Well keep them coming :)
I made these last night from your new cookbook and LOVED them! The best patties I have ever had and the sauce just took them to the next level. I’m going to make a batch to freeze for the upcoming BBQ season. Waaaaaaay better than any bought patties!
These burgers surprised me – in a good way!
The pattie mixture was pretty basic and had nothing too special that made me think ‘Wow, they will be amazing’ but they actually were!! Goes to prove, keeping things simple and fresh really does deliver.
I loved the secret sauce too. It tasted like NZ, Summery, BBQ’d goodness. The kind that a homemade burger must have!
We had ours with only some lettuce leaves and tomato sauce on garlic buttered grilled buns and as simple and easy this dinner was, it was a hit all round! Thanks Chelsea!
Hi Chelsea, stupid question I’m sure – I made this sauce last night & it was a disaster :-(
do you use mustard powder or ready made mustard in your recipes – I used mustard powder as was all I had on hand & think this was why it was a flop but I’m never sure when it says mustard in recipes if it’s powder or sauce to use :-)
Hi Michelle, I always use Dijon mustard from a jar – it has quite a different flavour to powdered English Mustard :)
Your special sauce is fanfreakentastic!!
LOVED these tonight. any ideas what we could do with the leftover special sauce? It’s so so good!
You can use it with steak or rissoles, on sandwiches or wraps, on chicken, as a dip – lots of uses!
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Oh my gosh… Serious secret sauce crush!!!!
Also added a little BBQ sauce and some bacon. These burgers are amazing!!!
Thanks Gemma, glad you like the sauce!
OMG these burgers are delicious! We are having them for the second time this week lol
That’s amazing feedback! Fabulous to hear Natasha.