Hangover Burger
A grass-fed beef patty loaded with cream cheese, thick peach wood bacon, and a smoky Bloody Mary sauce on house-style focaccia. Breakfast and a burger had a beautiful, chaotic baby.
Prep: 25 min · Cook: 20 min · Total: 45 min · Serves: 4 · Difficulty: Medium · Rating: 5/5 (193 reviews)
INSPIRED BY
Skirted Heifer — Colorado Springs, CO
Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives
Inspired by Skirted Heifer in Colorado Springs, CO — a DDD gem where chef Casey Doyle built a burger menu around the philosophy that a burger should be a complete sensory event. The Hangover Burger was created as the ultimate morning-after cure and became the restaurant's signature before anyone even asked for it.
Story
I'm going to be honest, I named this for what it is, and I made it on a lazy Saturday when my husband and I had stayed up too late the night before and needed something big and restorative around noon. The inspiration is a burger I had once at Skirted Heifer in Colorado Springs, a Bloody-Mary-meets-burger thing that I haven't been back to taste since, so this is my memory of it more than a copy. The Bloody Mary cream cheese sauce is the whole personality of this burger. You whip cream cheese smooth, then stir in tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and celery salt until it's tangy and bold. The first time I made it I under-seasoned it, played it safe, and it tasted like nothing. Be aggressive. Taste it and make it punchy, because it's competing with a big beefy patty. The patty itself is where I had to unlearn my smashburger instincts. This is not a smashburger. You form loose patties, season right before they hit the pan, and you do not press them, because you want the juices locked in. I pressed one out of habit and watched all the good stuff hiss out onto the cast iron. Four minutes a side for medium, then rest. The bacon matters more than I expected. The recipe calls for peach wood or applewood, something with a little sweetness, and when I used plain smoky grocery bacon it overwhelmed the Bloody Mary sauce. The slightly sweet bacon plays nicer. Arugula on top is not a garnish, its pepperiness genuinely cuts the richness. Honest assessment: this is a heavy, indulgent, slightly chaotic burger, and it is not a weeknight thing or a kid thing. My kids took one look at the cream cheese smear and the arugula and opted for plain cheeseburgers, which I'd anticipated and made on the side. But for two adults nursing a slow morning, it absolutely did its job. The focaccia is a nice touch but a sturdy brioche bun works if that's what your store has. Just toast whatever bread you use cut-side down in the pan, or the sauce makes it soggy fast.
By Casey
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs ground beef (80/20, grass-fed preferred)
- 8 slices thick-cut peach wood or applewood bacon
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup tomato juice or Bloody Mary mix
- 2 tbsp prepared horseradish
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp hot sauce (Tabasco or similar)
- 1 tsp celery salt
- 4 pieces focaccia (3x3 inch squares), toasted
- 1 cup baby arugula
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the thick-cut bacon in a skillet over medium heat until rendered and crispy. Set on a rack to drain. Peach wood or applewood bacon brings a light sweetness that makes this whole burger work — don't use generic smoked bacon if you can avoid it.
- Make the Bloody Mary sauce: whisk together cream cheese until smooth, then stir in tomato juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and celery salt until you get a creamy, tangy, slightly spicy spread. Taste it — it should be bold. Adjust heat with more hot sauce if you need it.
- Divide the ground beef into 4 equal portions (about 6 oz each). Form loosely into patties slightly wider than the focaccia since they'll shrink. Season generously with salt and black pepper right before cooking.
- Cook patties on a screaming hot cast iron skillet or grill. For a medium burger, go 4 minutes per side. Don't press the patty — you're not making a smashburger, you want those juices locked inside.
- While the burgers rest 3-4 minutes, toast the focaccia squares cut-side down in the skillet until golden and slightly crispy on the cut surface.
- Assemble: spread a generous smear of Bloody Mary cream cheese sauce on the bottom focaccia piece. Add the burger patty. Layer on two slices of bacon, crossed. Add a small handful of baby arugula — its peppery bite cuts through the richness perfectly. Crown with the top focaccia piece, give it a gentle press, and serve.
Chef Tips
- The Bloody Mary sauce is the star of this burger and it's all about balance — the cream cheese provides richness and body, the horseradish and Worcestershire bring savory depth, and the hot sauce and celery salt keep it bright and sharp. Make it a day ahead if possible; the flavors meld and deepen overnight in the fridge. Focaccia is not a decoration here — its airy, slightly oily, dimpled crumb holds up to the saucy, juicy burger without disintegrating, which is something brioche struggles with on a wet burger. If you can't get peach wood bacon, applewood is the right substitute; avoid hickory-smoked here as the heavy smoke competes with the Bloody Mary flavors.
Cook's Notes
- **Beef blend:** 80/20 ground beef is the minimum fat content for a juicy hangover burger. Higher fat (85/15 or 70/30 brisket blend) is better. Lean ground beef will be dry.
- **Egg tip:** A fried egg with a runny yolk is the signature — cook over-easy (flip briefly, yolk stays liquid) or sunny-side-up. The yolk becomes the sauce.
- **Make-ahead:** Form the patties and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Keep them cold until they hit the pan — room-temperature patties don't develop as good a sear.
- **Storage:** Cooked patties: 3 days refrigerated. Assemble fresh — the egg doesn't hold.
- **Common mistake:** Pressing down on the patty with a spatula while it's cooking. This squeezes out the fat and juices that keep the burger moist.
- **Doneness cue:** For medium, the patty springs back with slight give when pressed. Internal temp: 130-135°F for medium, 160°F for well done. The egg yolk should still be liquid for the full effect.
- **Bacon crispness:** Cook bacon until genuinely crispy, not just cooked. Soft, floppy bacon slides out of every bite. Render it fully until it shatters.