Cola burgers are a fun and easy way to add some flair to your next grill out or get together! These burgers are made sweet by giving them a glaze made from your favorite cola drink. Making the cola glaze is extremely simple and it's a fun way to make this recipe your own.
For our glaze, we decided to make ours out of Coca-Cola, however pepsi would work just as well. If you like it hot, you could always try pibb xtra and add some red pepper flakes to give you glaze some heat! Making the glaze is as easy as boiling away the excess water until you have slightly thick syrup left. When we made our burgers, we reserved about 1 tbsp of the pop before boiling into the syrup. We added the pop directly to the meat mixture to make sure that we had the flavor of the pop *in* the meat as well as on the exterior of the meat.
We also found that using more than ~1 tbsp of pop changed the texture of the meat and made it almost too mushy to form proper burgers. Not only that, but doing it this way ensures that you preserve most of the beefy goodness of the meat while still bringing on that sweet flavor of the cola.
1) In a mixing bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients, making sure to reserve 2 ½ cups cola for glaze. Mix ingredients until well incorporated. Remove about ½ cup of meat and form into patties. Place patties on a plate, cover, and refrigerate
2) In a pan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and the cola. Bring to a light boil and cool until thickened, about 8 minutes. Remove glaze to a heat proof bowl
3) Grill patties over medium high heat for 1-2 minutes per side or until no longer soft. Using a basting brush, baste burgers and let cook for 30 seconds to a minute, flip and baste with more glaze. Repeat basting 3 or 4 times or, for stronger flavor, baste until glaze is gone be sure not to overcook and dry out burgers
4) Remove burgers from grill, let cool for 1-2 minutes and serve with desired toppings and fries!
