Zero Carb Beer Bottle Cheese and Bacon Burgers

This fun recipe is great to use while trying to tempt non-ZC family members over to the dark side…

Because we have been used to eating a wide variety of foods with a mixture of different tastes and flavours for so many years before coming to Zero Carb, it can often be a struggle for a newcomer to keep their busy minds happy in the beginning.

The longer you do ZC the more often you are satisfied with very little variety with your meals. However, this is a nice recipe to rustle up when you fancy a treat on a Friday night, or you have curious family members who want to try out Zero Carb for themselves. Along with good old fashioned bacon and eggs, these make a tempting introduction to eating ZC.

For the burger, I used the recipe that Rachel had given me for her beef and turkey meatza. This includes egg, Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.

Ingredients for 4 burgers:

500 g beef mince
1 egg
1 tsp garlic salt or onion salt
2 tbs grated Parmesan cheese
4 rashers of streaky bacon
4 tsp full fat cream cheese
4 small pieces of Cheddar cheese

Method:

In a mixing bowl, squish together the beef mince, egg, garlic salt or onion salt and the Parmesan cheese until well combined. Divide the beef mixture into four equal size balls. You can make 4 small burgers like this, or you can make two larger burgers by dividing the meat mixture into two larger balls. If you choose to make 4 smaller burgers there will be less room for the filling, but these will probably be better for packing and taking out with you to work or school (less messy to transport than the big ones).

Take each meat ball and use the bottom of a clean beer bottle to press into the meat. Shape the burger around the base of the bottle, but make sure you leave a good thick base at the bottom. Spreading the meat too thin will make it collapse. Here are 4 small burgers I made for breakfast so you get the idea of the size difference.

Wrap a rasher of streaky bacon around the edge of each of the burger and place on a baking tray. The bacon edges will give the burger more stability while cooking. Put a teaspoon of cream cheese into the centre of each burger and then top with a piece of Cheddar cheese (you can use grated cheese if you prefer).

Here is a picture of two larger burgers I made, but this time I put two rashers of bacon around each burger to help create a wall for support and to better hold the filling inside. I also added a bit of chopped bacon to the cream cheese filling as there is more room for extra fillings in these larger burgers. You could add chopped ham or pepperoni slices if you wish.

Bake the burgers in the oven at 200C for about 20 to 25 minutes until cooked through. Serve hot. Enjoy!

You can vary the recipe to suit your tastes. You can leave out the egg and Parmesan, or crack an egg in to the centre of each burger etc. Here is how the proper experts do it……