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How to Make the Best Burger from Leftovers


Do you watch cooking shows? I have been letting it play in the background as I work lately. Oh my goodness, it’s hard not to get sucked in because these chefs and junior chefs are so inspirational and creative.

Since Haylie Duff received her great grandmother’s cookbook from her dad, she’s found a love for cooking and is now serving up a fresh approach. If you haven’t seen any of her television series related to cooking, you should check it out. Today, I got inspired while watching Haylie’s America. After all it was almost lunchtime, so I headed to the kitchen to see what I had to work with. I found:

  1. a leftover, cooked Bubba Burger

  2. jalapeno cheese

  3. diced onion

  4. cut avocado

  5. sliced tomato

  6. spinach

  7. raw, sliced potato chips

  8. a bun

  9. ranch dressing

  10. ketchup

  11. mustard

  12. barbecue sauce

  13. Tabasco

These ingredients screamed specialty burger. Let’s do this!

First, I threw some diced onion in a pan with a little avocado oil. While these were caramelizing, I threw some raw, sliced potato chips on a pan and popped them in the oven on 350 degrees. I actually used too much avocado oil on the onions, so I fried a few chips with the onions before adding them to the pan in the oven – just for a little extra crisp, if you know what I mean.

Next, you want to set the onions aside and melt some cheese on top of the bubba burger. Butter the bun and prepare it for grilling. While your meat is heating and cheese melting, mix your sauce. This sauce made the burger…

I can’t tell you how much of each sauce I used, so be sure to mix these ingredients one at a time, in this order and taste between each ingredient. You should like the flavor at each tasting. I mixed ranch and ketchup first, until I liked the flavor. Next, I added barbecue sauce and 4 drops of tabasco for a little kick. Since it was missing something, I put in a little mustard too. It still wasn’t right, so I added a bit of ketchup until I got the right flavor. Mmm! I knew this was gonna be a good burger, once I completed this sauce.


After the cheese and burger were melted, I toasted the buttered bun on the stove top, where I grilled the onions, heated the burger and melted the cheese. And once the bun was grilled, it was time to assemble this baby…

Pull the chips from the oven, as long as they are crispy enough, dusting with a little sea salt. To assemble the burger exactly as I did, add grilled onion to the bottom half of the bun, add the burger with cheese, top with avocado and tomato, then drizzle a layer of sauce. Next add a few chips, drizzle another layer of sauce, top with spinach, close it with the top bun, and ENJOY!

At first bite, I knew I’d made a winner burger. To add a little more flavor to my homemade chips, I dipped them in the leftover sauce. The combination of flavors required that I share this recipe with you. Might be a lot of work to make for more than a few people, but, nonetheless, it’s a tasty way to enjoy a leftover burger.

When you decide to try this recipe, please come back and comment below. If you find a way to improve it, let us know that too!