They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so... I'll just leave this right here for a moment and let you take all of this glorious golden cheese amazingness in.

...

Good? Good.

When I decided to try my hand at making a Juicy Lucy burger this week, I've got to admit, I was a little nervous! The last time that I attempted making a Juicy Lucy was with my dad grilling them up, and let's just say they didn't turn out as planned. Not at all.

The cheese completely disappeared out into the burger meat and/or oozed out in a sad waste. Leaving us with just plain old burger patties. How boring! It was cheese abuse at it's finest. So much cheese was lost that day... may it rest in peace. Today though, that wasn't the case. I was determined to have my Juicy Lucy, and eat it too with all of it's amazing cheese goodness tucked away inside where it's supposed to be.

Plus, my little brother who is staying with me right now, decided to bug out last night before dinner, so you just know that I've got to make him completely jealous with what he could have had for dinner. Why in the world would you leave this glorious cheese filled goodness behind?! Don't worry too much for him though, I kept him some leftovers like the good big sister that I am. Hah!

So to keep my Juicy Lucy lightened up, I decided to go with a traditional beef, but of course I had to get extra lean. Usually I'm a huge fan of turkey burgers, but I wanted to change things up a bit and be sure that the cheese stayed in the center of the meat as it's supposed to. My turkey burgers can be pretty loose, and I could see the cheese melting out into the meat a lot more easily than with the denser texture of beef.

Extra lean ground beef is a pretty firm meat and can dry out really quickly with such little fat content in it. When working with extra lean meat, you have to add back in some moisture. And what better way than with egg whites? It's one of my favorite burger tricks of all time.

I used my new frill top which I was super excited to get my hands on and try out. The grill top worked beautifully and just as well (if not better) than my traditional outdoor grill does.

Even though it didn't fit perfectly over my gas top stove, it still heated through pretty evenly across the entire surface and gave me some awesome grill marks on my burgers, as you can see.

Healthified Juicy Lucy Burgers
TheSkinnyFork.com

The Skinny:
Nutritional count below is for just the burger patties.
Servings: 5 • Size: 1 Burger Patty • Calories: 324.4 • Fat: 17.8 g • Carb: 9.2 g • Fiber: 0.9 g • Protein: 33.3 g • Sugar: 3.7 g • Sodium: 608.4 mg

Ingredients:
1 Lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef
2/3 C. Shredded Carrot
1/4 C. Whole Wheat Bread Crumb
2 Tbsp. Original Style BBQ Sauce
4 Egg Whites
1 Green Onion, Sliced
1 Tsp. Salt-Free Burger Seasoning
4 Slices Sharp American Cheese

Directions:
Preheat the grill top or outdoor grill.

I preheated the two oven burners below my grill top to a medium to medium-high heat.

In a large bowl, combine the 1 Lb. Extra Lean Ground Beef, 2/3 C. Shredded Carrot, 1/4 C. Whole Wheat Bread Crumb, 2 Tbsp. Original Style BBQ Sauce, 4 Egg Whites, 1 Green Onion, and 1 Tsp. Salt-Free Burger Seasoning.

Divide the meat into 5 equal pieces.

Use half of each divided portion to form the bottom of the patty, cut the cheese into squares and stack them in the center of the bottom part of the patty.

Form the remaining half of the meat into the top of the burger patty, using it to seal in the cheesy goodness.

Do make sure that the edges are s sealed completely so that the cheese doesn't escape while being cooked!