This “Juicy Lucy” is a burger lovers dream.
Instead of adding cheese to the top of the burger, as it typically is during grilling, the cheese is sandwiched and cooked between two burger patties that have been pressed together.
This delivers oozy molten melted cheese, with every bite. Combining the burger and the oozing melted cheese creates a unique flavor and texture sensation.
Why You Should Try This Weber Kettle Grilled Juicy Lucy Hamburger
- The delightful combination of burger and molten cheese – The combination of flavors and the sensation of the oozy melted cheese, paired with the charred fatty burger placed between a toasted Brioche bun, is an outstanding burger experience. To experience a Juicy Lucy is to become a fan for life.
- Six simple and easy-to-find ingredients – Burger, cheese, bun, dry onion soup mix, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce; it doesn’t get any easier than this. But the Juicy Lucy you create from these six simple ingredients is remarkable and somewhat breathtaking.
- Making this extraordinary and unique burger is fun – What could be more fun than mixing in the burger with your hands, smashing the burger with a plate, adding melting cheese, placing another burger on top, and pinching and molding the two together? If you are a cook who enjoys playing with your ingredients, then this Juicy Lucy recipe was made for you!
Ingredients For Weber Kettle Grilled Juicy Lucy Hamburger
This recipe is for one Juicy Lucy burger, so multiply the ingredients for as many burgers as you are going to make.
- 8 ounces, 80% lean, 20% fat, ground beef, divided in half
- ½ packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 ounces Velveeta cheese
- 1 Brioche burger bun
Directions For Grilling Juicy Lucy Hamburger
1. Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile.
2. Bring the ground meat to room temperature and mix – Mix the ground meat, dry onion soup mix, garlic powder, and the Worcestershire sauce together with your hands, and form two four-ounce round meatballs. Place each meatball on a piece of plastic wrap (to prevent sticking to your cutting board), and with the back side of a bread plate, press down on each meatball to form a thin, flat patty roughly the size of your hamburger bun.
3. Cut the Velveeta cheese into a two-ounce square – With your fingers, press the Velveeta cheese into a round shape and place it in the center of one of the meat patty. Place the other meat patty on top of the cheese, and pinch the two sides of the patties together to form a seal around the edges. Pick up the Juicy Lucy and gently mold it into the shape of a hamburger.
4. Place the Juicy Lucy on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the Juicy Lucy over one pile of the charcoal for direct grilling to char the outside of the Juicy Lucy, then flip and do the same for on the other side, roughly three minutes a side. Then, place the Juicy Lucy in the center of the grill grate for indirect grilling so that the Velveeta cheese in the Juicy Lucy has time to melt completely, and put the lid on the Weber Kettle. Let the Juicy Lucy cook on the closed Weber Kettle for roughly 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your Juicy Lucy.
5. Remove the Juicy Lucy from the Weber Kettle – Remove the Juicy Lucy from the Weber Kettle and place it between the Brioche burger buns. Add any and as many condiments and toppings as you like. Cut your Juicy Lucy in half and enjoy!
Variations And Substitutions For Weber Kettle Grilled Juicy Lucy Hamburger
Add other ground meats to your Juicy Lucy – You don’t want to use very lean ground beef to make your Juicy Lucy. If the burger is too lean, the Juicy Lucy will dry out and lose much of its flavor. I recommend using 80% lean and 20% fat ground beef and adding roughly 25% ground pork to the burger for a juicy Juicy Lucy. You might even consider adding bulk Italian sausage to create even more flavor and juiciness.
Use your favorite condiments and toppings – As I’m sure you noticed in this recipe, no condiments or toppings are added to the Juicy Lucy. That’s because the traditional Juicy Lucy has no condiments or toppings except for either raw or grilled onions if requested. But feel free to add whatever you like to your Juicy Lucy, like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard (even BBQ sauce), lettuce, tomato, and pickles.
Try other cheeses and more of it – The traditionalcheese for a Juicy Lucy is good old American cheese. Yes, the one that comes individually wrapped in plastic – that one! But I find that Velveeta cheese melts better and provides more flavor. I’ve also seen Juicy Lucys prepared using blue cheese or mozzarella. And one quick tip: add as much cheese as you like until your Juicy Lucy is about to burst. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Tips And Tricks For Weber Kettle Grilled Juicy Lucy Hamburger
Use a Weber Kettle hinged grilling grate – The hinged portion of the grill grate on both sides lifts up so you can add more charcoal or wood chips as you need to. This is an incredible game changer because you don’t need to lift the entire grill grate off the Weber Kettle every time you need to add more fuel.
Add soaked wood chips – If you want to add a bit of smokey flavor to your Juicy Lucy, add some small wood chunks or wood chips soaked in water to the top of your charcoal pile. The smoke from the soaked wood will add just a hint of smokey goodness to your Juicy Lucy.
What’s the best way to tell when your Juicy Lucy is done – Once the Juicy Lucy is moved to the center of the grill and the lid is put in place, it doesn’t take much time for the Velveeta cheese to melt, roughly 10 minutes depending on the thickness of your Juicy Lucy. Be sure to check the temperature of the Juicy Lucy with a meat thermometer, and shoot for a temperature of 135 degrees for medium rare. If you see any cheese oozing out, then you know your Juicy Lucy is done as well.
What is a brioche burger bun? – Once you’ve had a brioche bun for your Juicy Lucy (or any hamburger), you will never go back to regular hamburger buns again. Brioche is made from dough enriched with butter and eggs to produce a softer texture and sweeter taste. Be sure to brush a small amount of olive oil on the top and bottom bun and place on the grill grate to toast.
Using a bread plate to smash your Juicy Lucy burger – This trick really works and is SO much fun! I’ve noticed that the back of a standard bread plate is almost exactly the size of the Juicy Lucy pressed thin patty you want to create. Turning a round ball of ground meat into a patty is so simple and easy, and no special equipment is needed except a bit of hand pressure from you. But don’t push too hard, or you’ll have burger mush.
Juicy Lucy Burger
Equipment
- 1 Weber Kettle Grill
- Charcoal briquets
- 1 Charcoal Chimney Firestarter
- 1 BBQ Spatula
Ingredients
- 8 ounces, 80% lean, 20% fat, ground beef, divided in half
- ½ packet dry onion soup mix
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 ounces Velveeta cheese
- 1 Brioche burger bun
Instructions
- Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets to each pile.
- Bring the ground meat to room temperature and mix – Mix the ground meat, dry onion soup mix, garlic powder, and the Worcestershire sauce together with your hands, and form two four-ounce round meatballs. Place each meatball on a piece of plastic wrap (to prevent sticking to your cutting board), and with the back side of a bread plate, press down on each meatball to form a thin, flat patty roughly the size of your hamburger bun.
- Cut the Velveeta cheese into a two-ounce square – With your fingers, press the Velveeta cheese into a round shape and place it in the center of one of the meat patty. Place the other meat patty on top of the cheese, and pinch the two sides of the patties together to form a seal around the edges. Pick up the Juicy Lucy and gently mold it into the shape of a hamburger.
- Place the Juicy Lucy on the Weber Kettle grill grate – Place the Juicy Lucy over one pile of the charcoal for direct grilling to char the outside of the Juicy Lucy, then flip and do the same for on the other side, roughly three minutes a side. Then, place the Juicy Lucy in the center of the grill grate for indirect grilling so that the Velveeta cheese in the Juicy Lucy has time to melt completely, and put the lid on the Weber Kettle. Let the Juicy Lucy cook on the closed Weber Kettle for roughly 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of your Juicy Lucy.
- Remove the Juicy Lucy from the Weber Kettle – Remove the Juicy Lucy from the Weber Kettle and place it between the Brioche burger buns. Add any and as many condiments and toppings as you like. Cut your Juicy Lucy in half and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Equipment List
Weber Kettle grill
Charcoal briquets
Charcoal chimney fire starter
BBQ spatula
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
