Inside-Out Turkey Bacon Cheeseburgers with Oven O-Rings

These we're good but the spicy brown mustard was a little overpowering, but it might just be me since I'm not a huge mustard fan. The onion rings were a little dry but I think more milk mixture is needed during dipping to make sure they get fully coated or maybe a light spray of pam or olive oil would help them not get so dry.

Inside-Out Turkey Bacon Cheeseburgers with Oven O-Rings Recipe

6 slices of bacon or turkey bacon, chopped*
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup corn meal
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup all purpose flour, for dredging
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or substitute 1 and 1/2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice and the remainder milk)
1 large sweet onion, sliced 1.2 inch thick and separated into rings
2 pounds ground turkey
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
3/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 head lettuce, chopped
1 tomato

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove bacon and let cool on a paper towel. Once cool, chop the bacon and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bacon grease in the pan and set aside.

While the bacon is cooking you can work on the onion rings. First, gather three bowls. In bowl one, combine the cornmeal and chili powder. Fill bowl two with flour and bowl three with buttermilk. Dip the onion rings into the buttermilk then dredge in the flour. Dip the onion rings for a second time in the buttermilk (make sure you are thoroughly covering it in buttermilk), then dredge in the cornmeal. Place the fully dipped onion rings on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

While the onion rings are baking, you can work on the burgers. In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground turkey with the salt, pepper, and the spicy brown mustard. Divide and shape the meat into 4 equal burger patties with a well in the center. Fill the well with 2 tablespoons of cheese and a 1/4 of the bacon then carefully mold the burger around the filling (I don't think I covered the filling well enough because as you can see in the picture it cracked open a bit during cooking!). Place the burgers in the pan and cook over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes on each side then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the burgers for about 3 minutes on each side. (Do not press down on the burgers as thy cook).

Serve the burgers on top of a bed of lettuce topped with a tomato slice and o-rings on the side. Don't forget to add another vegetable to create a balanced meal.



*The recipe said to use turkey bacon but if I'm going to use bacon in a recipe, its going to be real bacon! I don't even use bacon bits, I always cook up my own and chop it!