Pimento Cheese Burgers are for cheese lovers! This style of burger is popular in the South. If you haven’t tried a burger this way, you are missing out on one flavorful cheeseburger.
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Southern Cheeseburger
Pimento Cheese Burgers are a great take on the much-loved cheeseburger. Pimento Cheese Burgers are popular in the Carolina’s but that doesn’t mean everyone else can’t enjoy one!
Homemade Pimento Cheese is Best
You could use your favorite Pimento Cheese for this recipe. I like to make mine fresh because this way I know the cheese I am putting into the cheese spread and I know exactly how that cheese will melt.
Some brands of pimento cheese spreads do not melt as well as others. I also like to add a touch of smoked paprika to the cheese spread. This gives the pimento cheese a nice smokey flavor.
Recipe Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- Mayonnaise
- Diced pimentos
- Cayenne pepper
- Smoked paprika
- Ground beef chuck
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- Hamburger buns
- Butter
What type of ground beef should you use?
Many authorities in burger-making suggest that ground chuck which has a ratio of 80% lean meat to fat is the best to make burgers. This ratio has just the right amount of fat to make a burger juicy, but not too much to make it greasy.
Season the ground beef with salt and pepper. Or use homemade burger seasoning for additional flavor.
How to Make Pimento Cheese Burgers
- Combine shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, cayenne pepper, and paprika in a bowl.
- Use your hand to gently combine ground beef, salt, and pepper.
- Divide the beef into 4 portions.
- Shape each portion into a 1-inch thick patty and make a small indention in the middle of the patties.
- Melt butter in an iron skillet over medium heat.
- Toast the cut side of the buns in the skillet.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and place the burger patties in the skillet.
- Cook the burgers for 3 to 5 minutes on each side.
- Place the burger patties onto the bottom buns.
- Top the patties with pimento cheese.
- Put the top buns on the burgers.
Burgers: to grill or to make on the stove?
This recipe will work either on the grill or on the stovetop. For me, the decision often depends on the weather outside.
I am lucky I have a gas grill so I can pop burgers on the grill most of the year. You should prepare these burgers whichever method works best for you!
Love pimento cheese? Try these recipes!
Favorite Burger Recipes
- Backyard Burger
- Breakfast Burger
- Culver’s Burgers
- Frisco Burger
- Garlic Butter Burger
- Juicy Lucy
- McDonalds Hamburgers
- Stuffed Hamburgers
- The Whopper
- White Castle Burger
Check out more of my homemade burger recipes and the best copycat recipes right here on CopyKat!
Pimento Cheese Burgers
Ingredients
Pimento Cheese Spread
- 4 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise plus 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon diced pimentos
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Burger Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds ground beef chuck
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 hamburger buns
- 2 teaspoons butter for buns
Instructions
Pimento Cheese Spread
- Place the shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, Cayenne pepper, and paprika in a bowl. Stir to combine. Set to the side while you make the burgers.
Burger Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef, salt, and pepper.
- Divide the beef into 4 portions.
- Shape each portion into a disk about 1 inch thick.
- Press a small indention into the middle of the patty. This will help keep your burgers from shrinking when cooking.
- Heat an iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add 1 teaspoon of butter to the pan and toast the cut side of the buns in the skillet. The average skillet will allow you to heat up 2 buns (2 tops and 2 bottoms), at one time.
- Repeat this process until all of the buns are toasted.
- Increase the heat to medium-high.
- Place the burger patties in the skillet.
- Cook the burgers for 3 to 5 minutes on the first side. The burgers will be ready to flip when you start to see the patty brown on the underside.
- Flip the patties and cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes on the other side.
Building the burger
- Place the burger patties onto the bottom buns.
- Put two tablespoons of pimento cheese on each patty.
- Cover the burgers with the top buns.
Darcy
What do you do with the pimentos? Just add them the top of the burger at the end? The instructions say “Place the shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, Cayenne pepper, and paprika in a bowl. Stir to combine.” Or ido they go on in the the step where you “Put two tablespoons of pimento cheese on each patty,” and it should say to put the put the pimentos AND the cheese on the burger?
Kara
I’m not a huge pimento cheese fan, but we wanted to give these a try. They are soooo good!! Definitely didn’t need other toppings. We used brioche buns.
Angelina
I love this. We’ve been making Pimento Cheese Burgers for a long time. Our Italian families have roots down south, so we have many yummy ‘tried & true’ southern recipes that we enjoy. Our recipe for Pimento Cheese has a few more ingredients than yours, but I’m sure yours is also very tasty. Hey, did you ever make a “Pimento Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich”? Just use 2 slices of a healthy whole grain bread (we like to use Whole Grain Oatmeal Bread) then smear Pimento Cheese Spread (very generously) between the two slices of bread. Lightly butter the outside of both slices of bread, and place on a frying pan until the first side is nicely browned. Flip the sandwich over, and brown on the second side. ENJOY!
Henry
These were great on the grill.