Thanksgiving Smash Burgers

Thanksgiving-inspired smash burgers featuring a cranberry bacon maple jam and stuffing.

Ingredients

For the burgers and stuffing

• 4 ground turkey patties
• 1 package turkey stuffing
• 4 slices gouda cheese
• 2 eggs (1 to bind stuffing, 1 to bind turkey patties)
• 2 brioche or challah buns, toasted
• Butter for toasting buns
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the jam

If you like, you can skip a lot of this and just use a slice of canned cranberry sauce if you want a more nostalgic “Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich” vibe.

• 1 package fresh cranberries
• 1 orange and zest
• 1 and 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package bacon
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup freshly brewed black coffee
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

For the dijionnaise

• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup mayo

Directions

1. To make the jam, start with the cranberry sauce. To a saucepan, add your fresh cranberries, juice of 1 orange, zest of 1 orange, cinnamon, and white sugar. Put pan on medium-low heat and allow to cook down, lightly smashing the cranberries until sauce forms, roughly 8-10 minutes.
2. To make the bacon jam, add your bacon to a large skillet on medium heat and cook until browned. Remove from pan and leave the bacon fat. Add your onion and lower heat to medium-low and allow onions to caramelize for 30 minutes. Add back your bacon, maple syrup, brown sugar, coffee, apple cider vinegar, and red pepper flakes. Cook sauce until it thickens, roughly 45 minutes. At around 30 minutes, add in 1/2 cup of your cranberry sauce and cook for another 15 minutes.
3. To make the stuffing patty, cook your stuffing according to box directions. Once done, add stuffing to a bowl along with 1 egg and mix. Form a ball of stuffing in your hand and add to a pan on high heat. Flatten to make a patty and grill on both sides until browned. Remove from heat.
4. To make the burger, add 2 patties (mixed with an egg and salt/pepper) to a skillet on high heat and flatten to make them nice and thin. Cook for 6 minutes and flip. Add your provolone cheese and wait until melted. Put one patty on top of another and remove from heat. To build burger, and a dollop of dijonnaise, burger patties, stuffing patty, some cranberry bacon jam, and top bun!