You know when you just have a craving for a great big juicy hamburger? Try making these seasoned elk burgers with Swiss cheese and prosciutto ham sandwiched between your favorite hamburger buns.
Elk Swiss and Prosciutto Burger
Makes 3/4 Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground elk
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 slices Swiss cheese
- 4 slices Prosciutto ham
- 4 hamburger buns or kaiser rolls
Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon coriander
Directions
Pre-heat oven to low broil. Mix all seasonings in a bowl and set aside. Divide ground elk into 4 equal portions and form 4 burgers. Season both sides of the burgers with the dry rub seasoning blend. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add oil. Place burgers in skillet and cook until browned and slightly charred on one side. Turn burgers and repeat. Top burgers with sliced Swiss cheese and Prosciutto ham. Place skillet in the center of the oven and broil until the cheese melts and the ham becomes crispy. Remove from oven and serve.
Toast hamburger buns or rolls and garnish with a thin layer of mayonnaise before serving.
I made this for my husband’s birthday and he loved it! I took your advice and used an egg instead of adding fat. The seasoning was just right. Thank you for this recipe. I will be consulting your website for game recipes in the future.
So glad I discovered your website! One of my husband’s customers gave us some Elk. I made these burgers a few weeks ago, going to make them again tonight. I only used one pound, but I didn’t decrease the seasoning and they were excellent! Only change I made, I used smoked mozzarella instead of Swiss cheese. Wasn’t intentional, I bought it by mistake. I had seen your recipe for sliders that called for smoked mozzarella, so that’s what I grabbed in the store. Got the two recipes confused. 😉 Same customer gave us some ground Elk sausage. Hopefully, you’ve got me covered on that too!
Melanie – you are awesome! Thank you for taking your time to leave me a message. I love hearing from everyone who has tried the recipes or has suggestions for improvements. Keep me posted. Have a wonderful weekend. Kristy
We are from Wyoming, we eat a lot of elk and have to say, what a wonderful recipe! These burgers are great!
Victor – thank you for your feedback. We always appreciate hearing from folks who love to cook wild game. I’m looking forward to visiting Wyoming this fall. Enjoy your weekend! Kristy
Do you ever add egg to your recipe?
Dave – Yep, I sure do. It usually depends on the ground burger I’m using. Sometimes I won’t mix any additional fat into the meat so I’ll use egg and either bread crumbs, stove top stuffing dry mix or white bread to make the burger bind and be more moisture to it. I have a few venison, elk and antelope burgers that I used an egg to bind the meat together… how do you make yours? ~Kristy
Do you think the garlic is too pungent? What do you think about roasting the garlic in a frying pan on medium with some olive oil to take away some of that huge flavor? I recently BBQ’d some lamb and placed slivers of garlic in the meat every 1″ (with fresh rosemary & olive slivers)…the lamb was awesome…but the garlic was a little sharp for me.
Dave – garlic can be really pungent to some people. If you find it to me to much, I think your idea is amazing to roast the garlic in the pan and then cook the burgers. I have several different varieties of our ground game. Garlic and bacon, plain bacon, some with kidney fat and some just plain ground. Let me know how it turns out…
Any recommendations or changes to the seasoning if I’m just using straight ground elk?
Mark – what are you wanting to make with the ground elk? If making burgers you can avoid adding fat by substituting a beaten egg to the mix. I’ve made plenty of ground elk burgers similar to making a meatloaf. Add an egg and a little breadcrumb to help bind the meat together. Brush with a little oil to avoid sticking and cook on a hot grill or in a cast iron skillet.
I think I just found my new favorite blog!!! I live in Wyoming and met a hunter and became a hunter too, and I am still stumped on how to cook elk a lot of the time. I will have to try some of your recipes!!!!
When you grind your elk, do you mix it with beef or anything?
Jessica – when we grind the meat I make several different batches using bacon ends and sometimes Beef Kidney fat (you can get this from a butcher). Check this link out for the different types of Grinds we do and let me know what recipes you find. https://www.nevadafoodies.com/elk-venison-ground-burger-recipe/
Enjoy!!! Kristy