Epic Breakfast Burger Recipe

burger on a plate with fries and tomatoes

This is an epic breakfast burger recipe for the ages, friends! So much breakfast all on a homemade bun made with cooked stone ground grits! You got your corned beef hash in the burgery patty, some sweet-hot pepper jelly, stone ground cheese grits cakes, fried egg, and sausage gravy. Good eatin' friends!

Cook time reflects cooking time for all the different components combined.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 50

Servings burgers

Calories 1179kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

Per Burger, from bottom to top

1 burger bun use my grits bread recipe or use your favorite buns
2 Tablespoons pepper jelly
1 fried cheese grits cake See Below
1 corned beef burger patty See Below
1 fried egg over medium or hard, depending on if you like a runny yolk
¼ cup sausage gravy See Below

For the grits cakes

2 cups leftover cooked grits hot
1 ½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg
flour for dredging
oil or bacon drippings or a combination for frying

For the Sausage gravy

4 oz bulk breakfast sausage
2 Tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste

For the Burger Patties

½ can corned beef hash
1 pound ground beef I used grass-fed
1 egg
1 slice white bread
¼ cup milk
salt for sprinkling before cooking

Instructions

For the Grits Cakes

Mix the hot grits with the cheese and stir well.
Spread out in a thin layer in a 9x9 pan. Mixture should be about 1/4-1/2" thick.
Cover and refrigerate until cold or overnight.
When ready to fry, beat the egg and put it in a shallow bowl and put some flour onto a plate.
Using a cutter about the size as your buns, cut 4 circles out of the set grits. They will hold together just fine.
Dredge each cake, one at a time, in the egg and then flour. Let sit on a rack for five minutes to set up a bit.
Repeat the dredging in egg and flour one more time and let sit on a rack while you heat your oil.
Pour your fat in a skillet to a depth of about 1/4".
Heat the oil until the oil starts to immediately sizzle when you dip an edge of one of the grits cake into it.
Fry the cakes 1-2 at a time until golden brown on each side, a total of about 4-5 minutes. Don't crowd the pan.
Keep the grits cakes warm in the oven or toaster oven.

For the Sausage Gravy

Place the sausage into a cold pan and heat over medium heat until the sausage is thoroughly cooked and browned. Break up the sausage as it cooks into small crumbles.
Add the flour and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
Cook until the sauce has thickened up nicely.
Taste and add salt and pepper if needed, to taste.
Keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally.

For the Burger Patties

Mash the milk and bread together until you have a paste. Whisk in the egg.
Pour this mixture over the corned beef hash and ground beef and mix gently but thoroughly. These burgers will be a bit softer than an all-beef patty.
Form the mixture into 4 patties about 1/2" thick.
Fry in a bit of oil or bacon grease for 4-5 minutes on one side.
Carefully flip and fry an additional 3-4 minutes until cooked through.

To Assemble Your Burgers

Split your burger buns and lightly brown them under the broiler or in a pan with a bit of bacon fat.
Spread pepper jelly on the bottom bun.
Add a hot fried grits cake.
Place a burger patty on top of the grits cake.
Top with a fried egg, fried however you like it and then spoon on the sausage gravy.
Top with the top bun.
Take a deep breath, pick that bad boy up, and dig in!

Video

Notes

Make Ahead Options

I have given instructions for making everything on the same day. You can absolutely make the sausage gravy and the grits cakes ahead of time. Reheat the gravy with a touch more milk to thin it back out. Crisp up the grits cake in the toaster oven for a few minutes, and then proceed with the recipe.

You could even make the patties ahead of time. They actually reheat very well and stay nice and moist because of the bread and milk.

Nutrition