Making burgers at a cookout with your friends and family members is a whole other feeling. It feels comfortable, wholesome, and is definitely light on the pocket than catering from your favorite restaurant.
However, when making burgers, there is likely to be some wastage. Maybe your guests did not eat as many burgers as expected, or you miscalculated and ended up making more than necessary. Regardless of the reason, you are left with burgers that you have no idea how to use by the end of your party. Moreover, you also probably don’t want to spend the next two weeks making burgers or leaving the meat in the fridge to rot. So, what to do with leftover burgers?
Well, there are loads of recipes that can help you utilize leftover burgers, keeping you from storing the burger meat in your refrigerator until it goes bad.
What to Do with Leftover Burgers?
Cheeseburger Pasta
- Use your best macaroni and cheese recipe and whip it up quickly.
- While the pasta is boiled, cut the leftover burger into small chunks and add it to the pasta. Make sure to do this before you mix in the cheese.
- Top it off with some burger toppings, such as sliced tomatoes, red onions, shredded lettuce, and jalapenos. Add some dill pickle.
- Sprinkle shredded cheese on top for a burst of flavor.
Grilled Cheese with Meat
- If you have some extra burgers left from your cookout, you can use these to make a wonderful patty melt in the next few days. To create your patty melt, follow the instructions for your favorite grilled cheese sandwich. The only difference you need to make is throwing in a burger patty while frying the sandwich.
- In case the leftover burgers are very thick, you can chop them up lengthwise before you reheat them to use in your new recipe.
- Include toppings such as peppers, mushrooms, and grilled onions.
- If you want your sandwich to be extremely cheese, you can add cheese on both burger sides.
Meatball Sandwiches
- Make some spaghetti sauce at home as you usually would. You can even use a jar of your favorite marinara.
- Cut up the burgers into quarters.
- Using red sauce, saute them in a pan till they are heated all the way through. If you want, you can cut the burgers into round shapes and use the trimmed bits for this recipe.
- Place the meat onto baguettes that have been toasted.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese or mozzarella for the ultimate kick.
Gravy and Hamburger Steak
- Make some brown gravy by browning onions in butter. Then, remove the onions and continue stirring until the butter changes color. Add some flour and stock, and stir till the mixture is smooth.
- Once your gravy is ready, sauté some mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions.
- Add the sauteed vegetables and burgers to the gravy you made previously.
- Stir properly to combine everything, and flip the burgers not to be left dry. You want them to be enveloped with gravy.
- Heat the burgers.
- Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, depending on what you are in the mood for.
Fries and Cheeseburger Omelet
- If you want to make use of some burger leftovers, an omelet is a wonderful way to do this. Start by chopping your burgers into smaller pieces.
- Make an omelet like you usually would. However, make sure to add lots of cheese, along with the burgers that you have chopped.
- In your omelet, add in some fries. You can make fries from scratch or add frozen ones from your local market.
- Throw in different items like sauteed mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers.
- Serve with some salsa on top. You can also simply use a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise if you do not have time to make the salsa.
Vegetable Pizza Casserole
There is no better way to consume your vegetables than by covering them with a generous amount of cheese. You can add in your leftover burgers to increase the protein content in this recipe. The recipe given below will make a total of eight servings.
Ingredients
- Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
- Chopped vegetables: 1 cup (onions, spinach, mushrooms)
- Leftover burgers: 2 cups, chopped or crumbled
- Pizza sauce: One 14-ounce jar
- Pepperoni slices: One 3.5-ounce jar
- Mozzarella cheese: 8 ounces
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In a pan, sauté your pizza vegetables, including spinach, peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
- Put the pizza sauce on a square casserole platter.
- Mix your leftover crumbled burger into the sauce, along with the vegetables.
- Stir well to combine everything.
- Layer shredded cheese.
- Put some slices of pepperoni on top of the pizza.
- Bake the mixture for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or till it is sufficiently heated.
Stuffed Peppers
- You can crumble the leftover burgers into smaller pieces.
- Take some bell peppers and wash them thoroughly.
- Get rid of the seeds so that the bell peppers are empty from the inside.
- Stuff them up with the leftover burger bits. Make sure to cut the burger before doing this.
- You can also include any vegetables going bad in your fridge or add some leftover rice.
Korean Rice and Beef Bowl
- There is no better way to utilize your leftover burgers than making this yummy Korean bowl.
- All you have to do is cook your leftover burgers with some garlic and a mixture of red pepper flakes, ginger, sesame oil, brown sugar, and soy sauce. Make sure the heat is low.
- Add some warm, cooked rice into the mix. This will create a savory and sweet flavor.
- Top your dish with green onions, sesame seeds, and chili flakes.
- You can also add some of your favorite vegetables, such as cabbage, cucumbers, and carrots, if you are looking for extra fiber!
Our Final Thoughts
What to do with leftover burgers is a dilemma that many people face, especially since throwing away perfectly good burgers is a waste. With these ideas, you can make any dish you want with a twist. All you have to do is save your last week’s beef burgers and get creative!
