Volcano Buffalo Burgers

Put the fire department on speed dial. Call anyone who likes hot and spicy food. It’s time to fire up the grill and set your mouth on fire too. Grab the antacids and a giant glass of milk if you can’t handle the heat. You will need a pile of napkins too. One bite and there will be molten hot sauce dripping out all over. This is THE thing for hot food fanatics. A volcano buffalo burger puts a mark on the heat scale and goes down as something you won’t soon forget.

This burger is a creation I’ve worked on for a while. It’s been on the to-do list longer than I can remember. I started to make it several weeks ago and that’s when the thumb incident happened. Chopping up the garlic and not paying attention landed me a visit to the doctor. Now it’s almost completely healed and was time to get it done.

Volcano Buffalo Burger is a combo of spicy. First, there are fresh jalapeño peppers cooked with onion until they are soft and almost on their way to being caramelized. Along comes hot wing sauce to the pan. To clarify, wing sauce that is classified as “Hot”. They are simmered together to meld the flavors and spooned on top of freshly cooked burgers. You could bump it up another notch by putting pepper jack cheese on the burger too.

How hot and spicy do you like your food? Mild, medium, hot, or 911? It should be obvious with this recipe that I’m in the hot to 911 range. I can always cool things down with a frozen treat like peanut butter ice cream. Or perhaps make a milkshake and serve it alongside. Now that’s a great idea. I’ve haven’t done a milkshake recipe yet. Stay tuned…

Volcano Buffalo Burgers

45 minutes

Makes 4 servings

For the volcano buffalo topping:

• • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 3 to 4 jalapeño peppers, sliced
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup hot buffalo wing sauce

For the burgers:

• 1 to 1 1/3 pounds ground beef (ground round recommended)
• 4 hamburger buns
• Lettuce
• 1 tomato, sliced

For the volcano buffalo topping:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and jalapeños. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat if onions are browning.

Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add wing sauce and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

For the burgers:

Shape the ground beef into 4 patties. Season with salt and pepper. Cook or grill patties to desired doneness.

Place lettuce and tomato on the bottom half of the buns. Top with hamburger patties. Spoon volcano buffalo topping over patties. Cover with top half of buns.

Read more:

• Say Bye-Bye Beef, Hello Lentil Burgers