Fajita Burger Recipe

I could eat a burger every day of the week. That’s why I’m writing a burger cookbook (I’ll discuss that more some other time). But having the same burger every day of the week sounds pretty boring. I think that burgers are totally versatile and up for anything and that’s why I came up with this fajita burger recipe.

The key to this fajita burger recipe is the marinade. This is the very slightly modified fajita marinade recipe from Laura in the Kitchen. She’s a famous food blogger/TV host and always has good recipes.

This is my take on her marinade recipe and this will make enough for about two or three 1/3 of a pound burgers.  I like to add more cilantro and garlic than she does.

This fajita burger recipe wouldn’t be complete without some grilled peppers and onions. Slice the onions a little on the thick side and then cut the peppers to match.

Now when you’re grilling the peppers, you don’t want them to just steam and get mushy. They’ll still taste good but a grilled pepper will have some black marks on it and that’s extra flavor. To If you’re cooking it in a frying pan, don’t stir them too much. Or if you find that there’s too much moisture, maybe make sure the peppers are dried off after you wash them. High flame and olive oil are a must.

And if you have a Blackstone Griddle like I do then you’ll be all set. This thing grills vegetables just as well as it makes burgers.

If you have time, you can make this recipe so much better by making your own guacamole. Making guacamole is actually pretty easy. The main thing you need is ripe avocados.

Knowing when avocados are ripe is a good skill to have. You have to look at the little nub on the end of them. I think this where they were attached to the tree. Just like picking scab, (GROSS!) you knock that thing off and you can tell how ripe it is. If it’s bright green, then wait a few more days. If it’s starting to get brown then you’re good. And if the avocado is still hard, that’s not a good sign of ripeness either.

Mash up the ripe avocados with some garlic powder, kosher salt and pepper. Don’t worry about too much, just keep adding until it tastes the way you like it. I used to work at a Mexican Restaurant and you would have been  shocked at how much salt went into our guacamole. Last step is to squeeze about 1/2 a lime worth of juice into it and mix it again. The acidity of the lime will ensure that the guacamole doesn’t get brown. And the best way to squeeze a lime is with this awesome gadget. It comes in handy when making margaritas too. There you go, you’ve got fresh guacamole.

You can top it with some diced tomato too. But that’s more of a garnish. If you are eating it with chips then yeah, go ahead dress it up. But if you’re having the guacamole in a recipe that also has salsa in it, like this fajita burger recipe then don’t bother.

Fresh salsa is another easy to make recipe. Bust out that food processor if you want to be finished in a minute or two. Just take some paste tomatoes, onions, 1 jalapeño, cilantro, salt and put it all in the processor. Now if you want thicker salsa, then only use the meat of the tomato. Use a spoon to scrape out the seedy insides of the tomato. The skin are alright, no need to turn this into a 12 hour project and remove the skins. They’re going in the food processor anyway.

This is your salsa base. If you want some other flavors in there like corn or black beans or fruits or whatever else you can think of, then go ahead. Now with fruits you should probably go lite on the cilantro. I like to smoke some poblanos and add one to the mix. There’s tons of salsa variations to try. But for this fajita burger recipe, I just stick with the base salsa.

Grill your marinaded burgers as you normally would. Whether it’s on the BBQ or a flat top grill or in a frying pan it’s going to taste great. Melt some cheddar or pepper jack cheese on your burger.

Time to stack it up! I like to go with a soft bun for this recipe. A brioche bun will work nicely. Using a kaiser roll or a ciabatta bun draws some attention away from the fajita flavor in my opinion.

Add the burger, add some onion and pepper, not too much is needed. If you have long strips of peppers, probably four slices, neatly arranged will be enough. Then a tablespoon of salsa, guacamole and sour cream. There you go , you’ve got a fajita burger. Congratulations!

Now just like different restaurants will serve their fajitas with different sides, you too can try different variations of this fajita burger recipe. Some places serve re-fried beans or black beans with their fajitas and you can too. If you liked it on your regular fajitas then you’ll probably like it on your fajita burger. Shredded lettuce seems more like a garnish for the sides but that’s pretty good too. And you know that lettuce and burgers work well together.