Want an absolutely epic grilling meal? These burger stuffed onion rings are IT. Not just because they’re wrapped in bacon and glazed with BBQ sauce, but get this: they’re stuffed with burger meat and shredded cheese.
Told you it was epic.
Plus, I had all the ingredients for these monster onion rings delivered right to my door using Kroger Delivery. I’m a huge fan of Kroger Delivery since their professional drivers use refrigerated trucks to keep all the food nice and fresh. I took the meat straight from the fridge to the grill without even leaving my house!
Sponsored by Kroger Delivery.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
- Burger Stuffed Onion Rings Ingredients
- No Crying Over These Onions
- How to Make Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
- Stuffing the Onion Rings
- What to Serve with Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
- More Beef and Onions
- Leftovers and Reheating
- FAQs
- Flavor X Fire & FOOD X Fire
- Burger Stuffed Onion Rings Recipe
Why You’ll Love Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
Love onion rings but don’t love deep frying? This viral recipe combines tender beef, shredded cheese, smoked bacon, and thick rings of juicy onion for literally the best onion rings, all thanks to your smoker. No deep fryer required!
The jalapeño garnish will bring out a spicy flavor that will keep you coming back for more. Add in our zesty sauce, and you’ve got a perfect onion ring right from your own kitchen. For a recipe that doesn’t have a ton of ingredients, these burger stuffed onion rings deliver.
Looking for more easy recipes for your next cookout? Try our Bacon Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Burgers, Beer Cheese Smash Burgers, and Smoked Pizza Burgers.
Burger Stuffed Onion Rings Ingredients
- Burger Filling: Ground beef and shredded cheese are all you need for this part of the recipe.
- Onions: I’m not crying, you’re crying. But after you’re done getting all emotional, grab yellow onions or sweet onions for your burger stuffed onion rings. I try to avoid white onions in this recipe since they have a sharper bite. The mild flavor of yellow onions or sweet onions (like Maui or Vidalia onions) works great.
- The Wrap: Mmmm, bacon. Plus your favorite BBQ rub, favorite BBQ sauce and sliced jalapeños for garnish.
- Zesty Sauce: Because we’ve got to dip onion rings, right? Our zesty sauce is even better than any buttermilk dressing. It features mayonnaise, prepared horseradish, Dijon mustard, ketchup, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar, lemon juice, cayenne powder and kosher salt.
No Crying Over These Onions
When you’re making these burger stuffed onion rings, I recommend you use cold bacon and cold ground beef. If either of these proteins are warm, they will be more malleable and won’t hold well. Also, even though we are cooking these onion rings indirectly, keep an eye on the flames from the fire. We don’t want a bacon fat flame flare up — that hot oil hurts! Plus, it will cause the bacon to char (and likely burn) before the ground beef cooks within the onion rings.
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How to Make Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
Let’s dive into this unique, tasty recipe!
Prepping the Onions
First, begin by peeling the outside layer of your 3-4 whole onions. Slice the onions into inch-thick rings. Then, grab 6-8 of the largest “rings” and inside “rings” from the slices of onions to make the outside shape for our burger stuffed onion rings.
Stuffing the Onion Rings
Next, in a large bowl, mix together 1.5 pounds ground beef and 1 cup shredded cheese. Take an outside ring, grab a handful of the hamburger mixture and place it in the center of the raw onion ring. Shape the ground beef mixture to the outside of the onion, then place the smaller onion ring into the ground beef to make a donut shape.
Once you’ve stuffed the rings with beef, curl a bacon slice around the inner and outer rings of each donut. You want the bacon to cover up the entire onion ring.
Set your wrapped and stuffed onion ring on a wire rack inside a baking tray, then repeat these steps until you have used all the remaining onions (or you have all the Burger Stuffed onion rings you’d like).
To finish, season all the stuffed onion rings with your favorite BBQ Seasoning and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.
The Sauce!
While the burger stuffed onion rings are setting, in a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the zesty sauce: 1 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon ketchup, ½ tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sugar, 1.5 teaspoons white vinegar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper and kosher salt to taste. Place the sauce in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the onion rings.
Grilling the Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
Now it’s time to cook these bad boys! Preheat your smoker to medium heat (about 275 degrees Fahrenheit) for indirect cooking. If you’d like more smoke flavor, toss in some wood chunks or chips.
Once the smoker is up to temp, place the onion rings on the smoker to cook indirectly for 45-60 minutes, or until the center of the beef’s internal temperature is 165F.
In the last 10 minutes, drizzle your favorite BBQ sauce over the top to glaze the onion rings. When the BBQ sauce is tacky and each beef onion ring is done, pull off and let cool for 5 minutes. To absorb excess oil, place a layer of paper towels on top of a baking sheet or a large plate.
Place each finished beef-stuffed onion ring on top of the paper towel-lined plate or sheet to pick up the excess grease and end up with the crispiest onion rings you can get!
Serve the stuffed rings by garnishing with slices of jalapeños, zesty dipping sauce on the side and enjoy!
What to Serve with Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
This recipe is a delicious standalone, since it combines onion rings — the perfect appetizer — with burgers, bacon, and jalapeños. But if you’d like a side dish, some tasty sweet corn, potato salad, tangy slaw with green onions or other cookout favorites would be perfect alongside these onion rings. And don’t forget a drink! Pale ales, lager beer or even a dark beer would be a freakin’ delicious way to round out your dinner.
More Beef and Onions
Leftovers and Reheating
If you just can’t eat all of these delicious onion rings in one sitting, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat them in the oven or in an air fryer for maximum freshness.
FAQs
Sure, any ground meat will work well for this recipe. If you have some ground chicken, turkey, or venison around, you can use that instead. Just keep in mind that the flavor profile will be different.
If you’re trying to create this recipe but the meat just won’t stick, pop it back into the fridge for a while. Cold beef works better than lukewarm beef because it is less mushy.
You can definitely cook these onions right on the grill, but they might be missing some of that smoky flavor. Make sure to check the internal temperature of each burger-stuffed onion ring to make sure the beef is cooked through before taking them off the grill. Cooking them directly also increases your possibility for flare ups. So, make sure to keep an eye on that too.
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Burger Stuffed Onion Rings
Ingredients
Burger:
- 1.5 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 cup Shredded Cheese
Onion Ring:
- 3-4 Whole Onions ideally yellow or white
- 2 lbs Sliced Bacon
- ¾ cup Favorite BBQ Rub
- 1.5 cups Favorite BBQ Sauce for glaze
- Sliced Jalapeños for garnish
Zesty Sauce
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp Prepared Horseradish
- 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tbsp Ketchup
- ½ tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 tsp White Sugar
- 1.5 tsp White Vinegar
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Cayenne Powder
- Kosher Salt to taste
Instructions
- Begin by peeling the outside layer of your onions and slicing into 1” thick onion rings.
- Grab 6-8 of the largest “rings” and inside “rings” to make the outside shape for our burger stuffed onion rings.
- In a bowl, mix together the ground beef and shredded cheese.
- Take an outside ring and grab a handful of ground beef and place it in the center.
- Shape the ground beef to the outside of the onion then place the smaller inside ring into the ground beef to make a “donut” shape.
- Next, wrap bacon around the outside and set on a tray. Repeat these steps until you have all the burger stuffed onion rings you like.
- Next, season all the Burger Stuffed Onion Rings with your favorite BBQ Seasoning and set in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.
- In a bowl, mix together the ingredients for the Zesty Sauce and place in the fridge till ready to serve.
- Preheat your smoker for indirect cooking at 275F. Add some wood chunks or chips for added smoke flavor if you like.
- Add the burger stuffed onion rings to the smoker to cook for 45-60 minutes or until they are 165F internal.
- In the last 10 minutes, drizzle your favorite bbq sauce over the top and glaze the onion rings.
- Once the BBQ sauce is “tacky” and the rings are done, pull off and let cool for 5 minutes.
- Serve by garnishing with slices of jalapenos, zesty sauce on the side and enjoy!
Could you make this in an air fryer or oven? I don’t have a smoker or grill? These look amazing!
Of course you can!
Love this recipe! We use it so often I figured I’d comment on our two favorite ways to do these tasty treats. We like to add strips of cheese into the beef. We also really enjoy doing a super shredded rotisserie chicken variant. Mix the shredded chicken with ranch seasoning and garlic and herb cream cheese and dust the outside bacon with more ranch seasoning for a chicken bacon ranch twist.