Cheeseburgers with Sriracha Aioli

Cheeseburgers are a nice easy weeknight dinner. Unfortunately, they get very boring after a while. I like to keep Matt on his toes by adding different toppings and seasonings. We've been in a little bit of a rut lately. I've been seasoning our burgers with blackening seasoning for a few months now. It tastes good but it was time for a change. Matt asked if I could add a sauce to the burgers. Challenge accepted!

Immediately I thought of making an aioli ( pronounced eh-OH-lee) which is essentially mayonnaise flavored with garlic and lemon. Anyone who knows Matt and I knows that we are incapable of eating anything that isn't spicy. Ok, that might be an overstatement. But, we really like spicy food. So, I decided to jazz up my sauce with a little Sriracha sauce. This is a Thai hot sauce and it can be found in the Asian section of almost any grocery store. Fun fact of the day: Sriracha is named after the Thai city of Si Racha; it's kind of like saying Buffalo sauce (as in Buffalo, NY).

Cheeseburgers with Sriracha Aioli

1 lb lean ground beef

Sliced cheddar cheese

Salt & pepper

1/4 Cup Mayonnaise

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 Tsp garlic powder

2 Tsp Sriracha sauce

• Prepare the aioli by combining the mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic, and sriracha. Set aside.
• Season the burgers with salt and pepper.
• Grill the burgers until well-done.
• Top with cheddar cheese.
• Place the burgers on toasted buns then top with the sriracha aioli.

If you have extra aioli left over, it makes a great dipping sauce for french fries!

A note about ground hamburger: many people like to cook their burgers to medium or medium-well. With steak, this is perfectly safe. The center of a steak has never been exposed to air and the chances of contamination are minimal. However, with ground beef, it has a lot of surface area and all of it has the potential to be exposed to contaminants. Therefore, I recommend always cooking your burgers to well-done. You can go here for a better explanation if you're interested.