Griddle Chili Cheeseburger with Homemade Chili Sauce
This chili cheeseburger is seasoned with a homemade chili seasoning and cooked on the griddle or in a cast iron skillet. But the real star of the show is the homemade chili sauce, the perfect topping for hot dogs or burgers.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
For the Homemade Chili Sauce:
- 2½ lb 80/20 ground chuck
- 2 tbsp butter or oil
- 1 medium onion small diced
- ½ jalapeno small diced
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 8-10 tbsp chili seasoning see recipe below
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 - 1½ cup beer optional - or substitute more beef broth or water
For the Chili Seasoning:
- 4 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp mustard powder
- 2 tbsp paprika
- ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tbsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp red pepper flake optional
For the Chili Cheeseburger:
- 1 lb 80/20 ground chuck
- homemade chili seasoning or your favorite burger seasoning
- ½ medium onion diced
- 4 slices American cheese
- 4 hamburger buns
Instructions
To Make the Chili Sauce and Seasoning:
- In medium bowl, combine all chili seasoning ingredients and mix well. Set to the side.
- In a large pot over medium heat, brown ground beef until beef is cooked through. As the beef is cooking, break it up into fine crumbles. Transfer beef to colander to drain excess fat.
- In the pot, sauté diced onions and jalapeños in about 2 tablespoons of butter or oil until tender. Add the drained beef.
- To the pot, add 1 cup beer (or water/beef broth) and tomato paste. Mix to combine and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and 8-10 tablespoons of the homemade chili seasoning. Mix to combine. Stir in 2 cups of beef broth.
- Taste for seasoning and add more chili seasoning if needed. Continue to cook the chili sauce over low to medium low heat, stirring often, until sauce is reduced to your desired thickness, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
To Make the Chili Cheeseburgers:
- Preheat griddle on low to medium low.
- Form ground beef into 4 equally sized patties. Season with some of the homemade chili seasoning or your favorite burger seasoning.
- When griddle is hot, place the burger patties on the griddle and allow to cook on the first side until about halfway cooked through.
- Add a small pile of diced onions to the griddle for each burger, then flip the burgers to the second side on top of the onions. Cook for 1-2 minutes and add one slice of American cheese to each burger patty. Continue to cook the burgers in the diced onions until burgers are cooked to your desired doneness. Then transfer burgers to a cutting board or plate to rest for about 5 minutes.
- Add one cheeseburger patty to each bun, top with homemade chili sauce, and add desired condiments (like mustard and diced raw onion). Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe includes instructions for making the homemade chili sauce with 80/20 ground beef. You can also smoke a chuck roast and grind the meat yourself by following the instructions in my YouTube video.
- This recipe makes plenty of homemade chili sauce, so you'll have extra for chili dogs or chili cheese fries. You can also freeze the leftover chili sauce in a freezer bag. Or, even use it as a chili starter when you need a quick hearty dinner idea.
- If you want your chili sauce to be looser in consistency, you can add more liquid or not reduce the sauce as long.
- If you're not using beer, substitute beef broth or water, or a combination of the two.
- For a slightly sweeter chili sauce, add 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.