St. Patrick's Day Burgers with an Irish Twist

St. Patrick's Day Burgers: a potato bun, Irish bacon, and Irish cheddar make this the ultimate St. Patrick's Day burger for celebrating.

I had a little St. Patrick's Day party, and wanted a menu that went beyond Irish Stew, or Corned Beef and Cabbage, and this is what I came up with, the ULTIMATE St. Patrick's Day Burgers. We gave our regular hamburgers an Irish twist with addition of some great Irish ingredients. They were so delicious. These are a great for celebrating St. Patrick's Day with family and friends.

I made my own Potato Buns, and then made a burger topped with Irish Cheddar Cheese, and Irish Bacon. And of course, what every St. Patrick's Day dinner needs is more potatoes, so we served them with a side of potato chips. These might be our new favorite burgers! The addition of the potato bun, the Irish cheese and Irish style bacon make our Irish themed burger so delicious. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Potato Buns

I started out with the potato buns. I'm not really a bread maker, but I thought I'd give it a try. I found Grandma Roses Potato Rolls Recipe here.

I used my mixer and bread hook (nice to break it out, since I've never used it before) instead of kneading the dough. Since I was making them into hamburger buns, rather than the clover ones in the recipe, I weighed out about 100 grams per bun, to make them all even.

It all seemed to go very well. I followed the recipe, and they did turn out to be really good. I found them slightly dense though, and if I were making them again (or if you were going to give it a try), I would have let them rise again after I formed them into rolls, to make them a little larger and lighter. They were really good though and made delicious burger buns.

You can also use regular hamburger buns from the grocery store, brioche buns, or a pretzel roll for other great options. Toasted buns will make them even better.

Burgers

For our beef burgers we had simple ground beef burger patties. You may use your favourite homemade burger recipe, or buy beef patties already prepared. We favor an all beef burger patty, mixed with only an egg. This easy recipe makes the most tender beef mixture. Take care not to overmix your meat mixture if you're making your own, and add your sea salt and black pepper after the patties are formed to each individual burger. This ensures the most juicy burgers. If you can cook your beef patty on the bbq, the flame broil makes such a good burger.

Irish Bacon

I used some Irish bacon for the burgers. I found it at my local grocery store, but you might be able to get some from your local butcher, ask for bacon rashers, it's a slightly different cut, somewhere between Canadian back bacon, and regular streaky bacon -and oh so yummy. As a Canadian I did a little research on the difference between Irish and Canadian bacon. I realized that we usually eat wet cured peameal bacon here. Irish bacon is cured and is a slightly different cut, that included the pork loin, but also has a small portion of the pork belly included. If you can't find Irish bacon, the Canadian back bacon is a good substitution. Fry it up in a large skillet, and serve your bacon hot on top of your burgers.

Irish Cheddar Cheese

For cheese I used Dubliners Irish Cheddar. We added it on top of your burgers just as they were finishing, so the cheese could melt. The Dubliner cheese is a robust cow's milk cheese. It's similar to cheddar, with a combination of a sharp, sweet, nutty flavor. It melts beautifully and that's why we've chosen it for our St. Patty’s Day hamburgers.

Toppings

We topped our burgers with regular mustard, ketchup and relish. Another great option would be some caramelized onions. Cook sliced onions slowly until they are caramelized and sweet and serve them on top of the burger. Onion rings would be a delicious topping for the burgers also, delivering crunchy onions in each bite.

Just for fun, I made used some free printables from Love The Day, and attached them to a green toothpick for the perfect little St. Patrick's Day touch. Just add them to the top bun for a special St. Patrick's Day touch.

These were so, so yummy served up with some kettle cooked potato chips for an easy side. These were way better than boiled cabbage, so if you're looking for a special Irish recipes to use for a St. Patrick's Day dinner, this one is a winner. They'd also be delicious with some fresh cut french fries.

Irish Drink Ideas

And what do you enjoy with an Irish Burger? How about a strong stout, or an Irish Cider? Serve it up with an Guinness beer for the ultimate Irish pub burgers experience.