The Garbage Plate Burger!
And fabulous give away!! Make sure to read to the end to see the prizes, sponsors and your chance to enter!!!
By: Kecia’s Flavor Breakthrough!
This post is part of #BurgerMonth being hosted by Kita Roberts AKA #GirlCarnivore, however this belt bustin’ burger is 100% my creation!
Ah Rochester, NY… home of the Garbage Plate. The Garbage plate has been part of Rochester’s history for decades, actually 100 years. Nick Tahou’s is home of the Original Garbage Plate since 1918! I haven’t ever acquired the taste for it, but… my husband and son both LOVE a good Garbage Plate! A mishmash of all your neighborhood burger joint favorites piled high together on one plate! Burgers or hotdogs, mac salad and or baked beans, fries/home fries and hot chili sauce. The hot chili sauce is a combination of spices and ground beef. Of course, Nick Tahou’s chili sauce is a secret recipe. After testing several recipes, I was lucky enough that my sister-in-law let me try hers. It was the winner! Thank you, Mary! Now, her recipe does take a little time, but it is worth it! Being a Rochesterarian, I thought that this would make a great totally outrageous burger for the #BurgerMonth event hosted by #Girlcarnivore! There are many elements to this recipe, but it will be fun! As an added bonus, there is a great give-away you can enter with loads of fantastic sponsors! Links and info below! And I am sure any Garbage Plate fan will be happy, who knows… you might become a Garbage Plate fan, too! It was so good that my son asked me to make it again for his birthday meal!!
Serves 2
Ingredients:
Macaroni Salad:
- 1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
- ½ tbsp. minced onion
- 1/ tbsp. grated carrot
- ½ tsp. celery salt
- ½ tbs. chopped celery
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ cup mayo
Mix together in a bowl. Place in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight for flavors to come out.
** Hot Sauce: (recipe makes a lot, but it does freeze well)
- 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
- ½ tsp. cayenne (red)pepper
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 3 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
- ¼ bottle Red Hot Sauce
- 1 ½ cups chopped onion
- 1lb finely chopped ground beef
- 3 oz. olive oil
Brown ground beef in the olive oil, breaking apart well as it cooks. Boil the onion in a small amount of water (I used about 1 cup) until softened. Combine the onion broth, ground beef and remainder of the ingredients. Simmer for 4 hours, adding water as needed. For a spicier sauce add more of the Red Hot Sauce and/or cinnamon.
Burger ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef formed into 4 patties seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked to your liking (grill, fry, griddle)
- 1/2 cup macaroni salad, I like to use an ice cream scoop
- 1/2 cup Hot sauce
- 1/2 cup frozen (or homemade) French fries, cooked (The crinkle cut ones are best)
- 8 slices American cheese
- 2 hard rolls, open and use a little mayo on each half, grill till lightly browned
Extra toppings if desired:
- Chopped onions
- Mustard
- Ketchup
Of course extra fries along the side!
Assemble…
Place the bottom half of the hard roll on a plate. Top with a burger patty, 2 slices of cheese (I melted my cheese on top when I cooked the patties).
Top with some fries…
and a slather of the hot sauce.
Time for another patty and cheese.
Oh! Now a scoop of the mac salad.
Don’t forget MORE hot sauce.
Add those additional toppings!
Time to top it off with the top of the roll!
Don’t forget the wet wipes and extra napkins, you’re gonna need them!
Enjoy whether you chose to pick it up and take a big bit of it…
or dive in with a knife and fork!
** Hot sauce recipe courtesy of Mary Jerome THANKS Mary!

The Garbage Plate Burger!
Ingredients
Macaroni Salad:
- - 1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
- - ½ tbsp. minced onion
- - 1/ tbsp. grated carrot
- - ½ tsp. celery salt
- - ½ tbs. chopped celery
- - Salt and pepper
- - ¼ cup mayo
- Mix together in a bowl. Place in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight for flavors to come out.
** Hot Sauce: (recipe makes a lot, but it does freeze well)
- - 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
- - ½ tsp. cayenne redpepper
- - ¼ tsp black pepper
- - 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- - ½ tsp. garlic powder
- - 1 tsp. sugar
- - 3 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
- - ¼ bottle Red Hot Sauce
- - 1 ½ cups chopped onion
- - 1lb finely chopped ground beef
- - 3 oz. olive oil
- Brown ground beef in the olive oil breaking apart well as it cooks. Boil the onion in a small amount of water (I used about 1 cup) until softened. Combine the onion broth, ground beef and remainder of the ingredients. Simmer for 4 hours, adding water as needed. For a spicier sauce add more of the Red Hot Sauce or cinnamon.
Burger ingredients:
- - 1 lb. ground beef formed into 4 patties seasoned with salt and pepper cooked to your liking (grill, fry, griddle)
- - 1/2 cup macaroni salad I like to use an ice cream scoop
- - 1/2 cup Hot sauce
- - 1/2 cup frozen or homemade French fries, cooked (The crinkle cut ones are best)
- - 8 slices American cheese
- - 2 hard rolls open and use a little mayo on each half, grill till lightly browned
Extra toppings if desired:
- - Chopped onions
- - Mustard
- - Ketchup
Of course extra fries along the side!
Instructions
-
Assemble…
-
Place the bottom half of the hard roll on a plate. Top with a burger patty, 2 slices of cheese (I melted my cheese on top when I cooked the patties), top with a little of the hot sauce and add the French fries, another patty and cheese, now a scoop of the mac salad and finally more hot sauce. If additional toppings are desired add them now. Time to top it off with the top of the roll! Don’t forget the wet wipes and extra napkins, you’re gonna need them! Enjoy whether you chose to pick it up and take a big bit of it or dive in with a knife and fork!
Recipe Notes
** Hot sauce recipe curtesy of Mary Jerome
Enter the contest to win all of these great prizes!!
A BIG shout out and THANKS to all of the sponsors for #BurgerMonth!
American Lamb Board – Ground lamb, cutting board and apron
Anolon – Anolon SureGrip Cutlery Bronze 3 Piece Chef Set & Anolon Advanced Bronze 11″ Deep Square Grill Pan w/ Pour Spouts
Cabot Cheese – $25 Cabot Legacy Gift box – Includes eight bars of Cabot Cheddar, cheese knife, and a wine opener. Award-winning cheese brought to you by the 1,000 farm families who own Cabot Creamery Co-operative.
Crow Canyon Home – Red Marble Enamelware Prize Box 1 each: Red Marble Jelly Roll Tray, Red Marble Oval Platter, Red Rim Large Open Roaster, Red Marble 6-cup muffin pan
Melissa’s Produce – Grilling Veggie Box
Microplane – Herb And Salad Chopper, Microplane Elite Series Extra Coarse Grater, Microplane Spice Mill
New York Beef Council – Beef, It’s What’s for Dinner Swag Bag including tote, knives, oven mitt and apron
Red Duck – Gourmet Ketchup Variety
Spiceologist – 4 Rub Grilling Spice Set
Veal Made Easy – 5 lbs Veal and grilling gear
Weber Grills – Grilling Pack – Weber Tumbler and Weber Grill Hat
Participant Blogs in #BurgerMonth 2018!
A Day in the Life on the Farm ♦ A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures ♦ A Southern Fairytale ♦ Adventures of Frugal Mom ♦An Affair from the Heart ♦ Bread Booze Bacon ♦ Brocavore ♦ Butcher Betties ♦ Cluttercafe ♦ Comfortably Domestic ♦ Cookie Named Desire ♦ Courtney’s Sweets ♦ Culinary Adventures with Camilla ♦ Eating Richly ♦ Everyday Southwest ♦ Family Around the Table ♦ Family Food on the Table ♦ Fearless Dining ♦ Food Above Gold ♦ Gimme Some Grilling ♦ Girl Abroad ♦ Grilling Montana ♦ Grumpy’s Honeybunch ♦ Hall Nesting ♦ HORNS BBQ ♦ Jolene’s Recipe Journal ♦ Kecia’s Flavor Breakthrough ♦ Kudos Kitchen by Renee ♦ Life of a Ginger ♦ Love and Confections ♦ Mildly Meandering ♦ Miss in the Kitchen ♦ Moore or Less Cooking ♦ My World Simplified ♦ Palatable Pastime ♦ Pastry Chef Online ♦ Pook’s Pantry ♦ RDelicious Kitchen ♦ Sailrockland ♦ Sarah’s Cucina Bella ♦ Seduction In The Kitchen ♦ Sumptuous Spoonfuls ♦ Sweet ReciPEAs ♦ Tampa Cake Girl ♦ The Beard and The Baker ♦ The Complete Savorist ♦ The Crumby Kitchen ♦ The Farmstand Market ♦ The Redhead Baker ♦ The Schmidty Wife ♦ The Spiffy Cookie ♦ The Suburban Soapbox ♦ Thyme for Cocktails ♦ Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen ♦ Wok & Skillet
OMG I LOVE! We only went to for a garbage plate after a night of frat parties. I really should create one for the hubs to try. It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever tasted.
Thank you Christie! You should!! He would probably love it! It really is a unique dish!!
Damn girl, you did that plate justice! And now I need a plate… or now I need to make this. The only thing I would’ve done differently on mine is homefries since that’s what I get with my plate, but those might be harder to stay put on top of a burger than crinkle fries… so good thinking!
Thank you Erin! I wanted to do the home fries, but it was a bit of a challenge! So many loose ingredients!
OMG! I’ve never heard of these and I’ve been missing out!!! This is just awesome, Kecia!! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe so that we can all have a taste of these famous burgers!!
Hi Kelly! The garbage plate is a staple here and making it into a burger was so fun!