The Juicy Lucy (Minneapolis Cheese-Stuffed Burger)
Two thin beef patties sealed around rounds of American cheese, seared in a cast-iron skillet until the cheese inside turns molten, and served on a potato roll with buttery onions and pickles.
A Jucy Lucy, or Juicy Lucy, is a cheeseburger turned inside out: the cheese is sealed in the middle of the meat and melts as it cooks (Wikipedia:). Two bars about three miles apart on Cedar Avenue in South Minneapolis both claim it. Matt's Bar credits its former owner Matt Bristol and tells of a customer in 1954 who bit in and said "Oooh, that's one juicy lucy"; the 5-8 Club, a former speakeasy, gives no origin story but claims the burger too. They even fight over the spelling. Matt's keeps the "i" out of Jucy, a supposed misprint from the start, and warns that if it's spelled correctly, "you are eating a shameless rip-off"; the 5-8's motto is "if it's spelled right, it's done right."
Matt's uses only American cheese; the 5-8 offers several. The rivalry reached Time in 2008, food television, and in 2014 President Barack Obama, who ate one at Matt's (Wikipedia). Twin Cities food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl told Serious Eats that "Matt's is the one" and that outsiders make too much of the rivalry.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Two thin beef patties sealed around rounds of American cheese, seared in a cast-iron skillet until the cheese inside turns molten, and served on a potato roll with buttery onions and pickles.
🇩🇪 The original
Germany's Frikadellen are pan-fried patties of beef and pork with a soaked roll, onion and parsley, eaten with mustard and potato salad, with no bun. The burger's name points to Hamburg, though how it got there is disputed. See the German Frikadellen (Hamburg-Style Meat Patties) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
A tight seal
Crimping both sides of the two patties traps the cheese, so it melts into a liquid core instead of leaking into the pan.
A little gelatin
Serious Eats adds it because a stuffed burger often gets cooked a bit longer to melt the middle, and the gelatin helps the beef hold its juices.
Step by step
- Step 1
Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, 10 to 15 minutes, until soft and starting to caramelize; add a splash of water if it browns too fast. Season and move to a bowl. Keep the skillet.
- Step 2
Take the beef out of the fridge 20 minutes before shaping. Stir the gelatin into the 1 tbsp water and mix it gently but thoroughly into the beef.
- Step 3
Shape 8 balls of 3 oz. Flatten each between two sheets of parchment with the bottom of a heavy pan into a 5-inch round about 1/4 inch thick.
- Step 4
Lay 2 cheese rounds in the middle of 4 patties, cover each with a second patty and crimp the edges all the way around; flip and crimp the other side so there are no gaps. Push the sides in gently to make 4-inch burgers about 1/2 inch thick. Refrigerate 15 minutes, until firm.
- Step 5
Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Season the burgers on both sides, add them and sear 3 minutes per side, until well browned.
- Step 6
Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until the meat reads 160°F with a thermometer slid in sideways about 1/2 inch from the edge (into the beef, not the cheese).
- Step 7
Move the burgers to a plate and rest 5 minutes so the molten cheese cools slightly. Meanwhile, toast the rolls cut side down in the skillet over medium-low heat, about 1 minute.
- Step 8
Build each on a roll: onions, burger, 3 pickle slices. Warn everyone about the first bite.
The Juicy Lucy (Minneapolis Cheese-Stuffed Burger)
Serves 4 · 4 stuffed burgers · 1 hr 5 min total
Onions
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion (8 oz), halved and thinly sliced
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Burgers
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef (80% lean)
- 1 tsp unflavored powdered gelatin
- 1 tbsp water
- 8 slices American cheese, cut into 3 1/2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
To serve
- 4 potato rolls
- 12 dill pickle slices
Method
- Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring now and then, 10 to 15 minutes, until soft and starting to caramelize; add a splash of water if it browns too fast. Season and move to a bowl. Keep the skillet.
- Take the beef out of the fridge 20 minutes before shaping. Stir the gelatin into the 1 tbsp water and mix it gently but thoroughly into the beef.
- Shape 8 balls of 3 oz. Flatten each between two sheets of parchment with the bottom of a heavy pan into a 5-inch round about 1/4 inch thick.
- Lay 2 cheese rounds in the middle of 4 patties, cover each with a second patty and crimp the edges all the way around; flip and crimp the other side so there are no gaps. Push the sides in gently to make 4-inch burgers about 1/2 inch thick. Refrigerate 15 minutes, until firm.
- Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Season the burgers on both sides, add them and sear 3 minutes per side, until well browned.
- Turn the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until the meat reads 160°F with a thermometer slid in sideways about 1/2 inch from the edge (into the beef, not the cheese).
- Move the burgers to a plate and rest 5 minutes so the molten cheese cools slightly. Meanwhile, toast the rolls cut side down in the skillet over medium-low heat, about 1 minute.
- Build each on a roll: onions, burger, 3 pickle slices. Warn everyone about the first bite.
Adapted from Jed Portman, "The Juiciest Juicy Lucy", Serious Eats (July 22, 2024; updated June 6, 2025), serves 4. We use the recipe's store-bought option (8 slices of American cheese cut into 3 1/2-inch rounds) instead of its homemade beer cheese, and keep its gelatin, its eight 3-oz patties, its crimped seal, its 15-minute chill and its butter-cooked onions. Serious Eats sears 2 to 3 minutes a side and advises against a thermometer, which can open a channel for the cheese; we add a covered finish over lower heat and check the meat near the edge for 160°F. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Chilling the stuffed patties firms the seam so it doesn't split in the pan.
- If a patty starts to leak, pinch the crack closed with the spatula and turn the leak side up.
- The 5-8 Club's peanut butter and American cheese version, topped with strawberry jam, is real (Serious Eats); so is the Blue Door Pub's blue-cheese "Blucy".
- Serious Eats' homemade beer cheese (with sodium citrate) makes an even runnier core if you want to try it.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Matt's Bar invented it in 1954. Disputed: Matt's says 1954 or credits Matt Bristol; the 5-8 Club also claims it (Wikipedia). Serious Eats calls Matt's the place that "likely" invented it.
- Jucy or Juicy. Disputed by design: each bar's spelling is its brand (Wikipedia).
- Never stick a thermometer in a Juicy Lucy. Disputed: Serious Eats warns it lets the cheese escape; USDA says ground beef needs 160°F, read with a thermometer. We read the meat at the edge.
- Only American cheese. Folklore: true at Matt's; the 5-8 and other bars use other cheeses.
- Let it rest before you bite. Documented (Serious Eats; Wikipedia says servers may warn customers).
Every other burger
German Frikadellen (Hamburg-Style Meat Patties)
Germany's pan-fried meat patties, made with half beef and half pork, a stale roll soaked in milk, sweated onion and parsley, then fried slowly to a deep brown crust and served with mustard.
Japanese Hambagu (Hamburg Steak with Red Wine Sauce)
Tender oval patties of beef and pork bound with panko, milk and sautéed onion, steamed in red wine and finished with a glossy pan sauce of butter, ketchup and tonkatsu sauce.
The Louis' Lunch Hamburger on Toast (New Haven)
A square patty of ground chuck and sirloin with an onion slice pressed into it, cooked over a hot fire and served the New Haven way: between two slices of white toast with tomato, onion and a sharp cheese sauce, and no ketchup.
The Classic Backyard Grilled Cheeseburger
Thick, juicy patties of 85 percent lean beef with a dent in the center so they grill flat, topped with American cheese and stacked on soft buns with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard.
The Smash Burger
Two small balls of beef chuck smashed paper-thin onto a screaming-hot pan, scraped up with every bit of brown crust, and stacked with a slice of American cheese melting between them.
The Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger
A small ball of beef smashed thin on a hot skillet with a mound of paper-thin onions pressed into it, flipped so the onions fry and caramelize, then topped with American cheese and a bun steamed right over the onions.
The Wisconsin Butter Burger
Lean ground sirloin enriched with cold butter seasoned with a little soy sauce, seared in a hot skillet and topped with a thick pat of the same butter and a spoonful of soft stewed onions, so the butter melts down into the bun.
The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger
Thick ground-chuck burgers grilled over a two-level fire, topped with melted cheese and a heap of freshly roasted, peeled and chopped New Mexico green chiles, on soft buns with tomato and lettuce.
The Australian Burger with the Lot
A seasoned beef patty with onion, garlic and parsley, piled into a toasted roll with barbecue sauce, lettuce, cheese, canned beetroot, a pineapple ring, tomato, a fried egg, bacon and red onion.
Vada Pav (Mumbai's Potato Fritter "Burger")
A spiced mashed potato patty dipped in chickpea batter and deep-fried, tucked into a soft white roll with green chutney and a crunchy dry garlic, coconut and peanut chutney.
30-Minute Weeknight Skillet Burgers with Onions and Horseradish Sauce
Garlicky burgers seared in one skillet, then onions browned in the drippings, with a quick sour cream and horseradish sauce, on the table in 30 minutes with no grill.
Double-Double Style Burger, Animal Style, Inspired by In-N-Out
Inspired by, not official: two thin mustard-seared patties with American cheese, deeply caramelized onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce and a pink Thousand Island-style spread on a toasted bun.
Meatballs of the World
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Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
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Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
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The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
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Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
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Lion's Head Meatballs
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Chicken Tsukune
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