A while back I shared a recipe for Homemade Honey BBQ Sauce which I love. Have you tried it yet? I used that beloved BBQ sauce in my BBQ Chicken Taco recipe which are amazing, and I still had a little jar left in the fridge so I decided to make these Western Bacon Sliders. Oh yeah, and I made some fried cheese curds to go with. And on top…
Too many fried cheese curds? Don’t be silly!
Have you ever had fried cheese curds? If you live in the midwest, you might have grown up on them. I had never heard of them until we got our first Culver’s in town. I saw them on the menu a few weeks ago and although I couldn’t bring myself to order them, my interest was definitely piqued.
My husband is from Illinois, and so he LOVES cheese curds (especially the squeaky ones?). Lucky for him, we can actually buy fresh cheese curds from a local dairy at Costco. And you might also recognize these little pretzel slider buns from Costco too. Seriously, what would I do without Costco? Buy toilet paper four rolls at a time? Madness.
Deciding to fry up the curds we had in the fridge was a little risky, but wow, these little guys are the way to go when you are craving an ALL OUT BURGER. And yes, even when you are topping your burger with fried cheese, DO remember to top your patty with a slice of cheddar. Because CHEESE plus CHEESE equals YES please!
So the actual frying of the cheese curds was easier than I thought. I was worried about them melting in my oil and making a big mess. The batter takes two minutes to whip up, and after a quick dunk the cheese curds are ready to hit the hot oil. A few of them leaked a little but it really was okay because those little bits of cheese just got nice and brown and crispy right along with the batter. No biggie. My advice would be to make this as a team and have one person in charge of the grilling and another in charge of the frying. Hard to be inside frying and outside grilling (while settling mild disagreements between three hangry little boys) at the same time.
Okay, I think I’ve probably sung the praises of this burger enough by now. Just remember, when you think of fried cheese curds, think little creamy puff balls of cheese heaven, and you’ve pretty much got the gist of it!
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Western Bacon Sliders With Fried Cheese Curds
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: American
Description
Might just have to say this was the most amazing burger I’ve ever made, and it might just have something to do with the fried cheese curds!
Ingredients
For the Sliders
- 1 lb. ground beef (I use 85 percent lean)
- Seasoning Salt and Pepper
- 6 buttered slider buns
- 6 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 slices bacon, cooked
- BBQ Sauce (your favorite or homemade)
For the Fried Cheese Curds
- cheese curds
- oil for frying
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
For the Sliders
- Preheat grill to medium high heat, about 350 degrees.
- Brush grill grates with oil to prevent burgers from sticking.
- While the grill is preheating, form your ground beef into 6 small patties. Be careful to pack them only as much as you need to to keep them together.
- Sprinkle seasoning salt and pepper to taste on both sides.
- Place burgers on the grill, cooking about 5 minutes on the first side, and then flipping.
- When you have cooked your burgers for 3 minutes on the second side, place a slice of cheese on top and add your buttered slider buns to a cooler part of the grill to toast them.
- Assemble burgers with BBQ sauce, bacon and fried cheese curds.
For the Fried Cheese Curds
- In a large heavy bottomed pot, pour oil (vegetable, canola, or peanut oil) so that it is 1-2 inches deep. Turn the heat onto medium high, and stay close by as it preheats.
- In the meantime, you can make your batter for frying. In a medium bowl add flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In another small bowl, whisk water and egg. Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- You will know your oil is ready when you can drop a bit of batter into the pot, and it immediately starts to bubble and fry. If you have a cooking thermometer, the oil should be about 350 degrees.
- Dip your cheese curds into the batter and then carefully drop them into the hot oil. In order to keep them from sticking together, you can do about 8 at a time. Stir them around a bit, and when they have just turned golden brown, remove them from the oil with a metal slotted spoon and drain them on a paper towel. Repeat with remaining cheese curds.
- Some of your cheese curds may ooze out a little bit. Most of mine stayed intact, but this happened to a few of them and they tasted just fine.
Notes
Recipe for the fry batter is from Food.com.
Sarah @ The Budding Table says
OMG yum. Cheese curds are my love language, and these look fabulous!
Julie says
Haha! That’s awesome, thanks Sarah!
Valerie | From Valerie's Kitchen says
Cheese curds are definitely not a California thing but it looks like we’ve been missing out! Love those pretzel buns from Costco. These little sliders are dangerous!
Julie says
Maybe someday Culvers will come to California. It is the home of the Butterburger! But at least you guys get to have In-N-Out 🙂
Melanie @ Garnish & Glaze says
Oh my YUM! Double the cheese + bacon + burgers?! My husband would die! And I was totally going to ask where you got the buns. Looks like I’ll be heading to Costco again which I don’t mind (free samples/lunch)!
Katya @ Little Broken says
I can totally just have the cheese curds ! Yum.
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
I grew up in MN and fried cheese in MN, WI, or IL is THE thing 🙂 Gosh, the memories 🙂
Jeni says
Great meal combo! I’m going to bust this out and surprise my family!