My mother-in-law’s most requested recipe comes from a vintage charity cookbook.

When my husband and I started dating over 20 years ago, we often traveled to Pennsylvania to spend time with his family. Every time we visited, my now mother-in-law would make us a burger bundle for dinner. These delicious little meatloaf-like patties, stuffed with stuffing and topped with mushroom gravy, are deeply embedded in my memories of our early days of dating and later, our marriage.

What is a Burger Bundle?

For years, my mother-in-law continued to feed us burger bundles at home, and eventually, when we visited her home in Florida, she made them in my kitchen at my husband’s request. Since this dish uses canned concentrated soup and boxed filling, I thought my mother-in-law had memorized the recipe from the recipe on the label.

But she told me that her mother used to make her and her siblings bundles of hamburgers when they were kids. The recipe is taken from a charity cookbook published in 1972. Penn State Grangea community service organization. “Mom made (the hamburger bundles),” my mother-in-law said. “They were (her brother’s) favorites. She got the recipe from Grange’s cookbook.”

As far as I know, the burger bundle recipe first appeared in a “Better Homes and Gardens” cookbook called Jiffy Cooking, a collection of fun menus published in 1967. official menu The burger bundle includes mashed potatoes, green beans, and a retro dessert salad, and is accompanied by a recommended drink such as coffee or milk.

When my mother-in-law became a mother of three hungry boys, she revived this dish from her childhood table. “It was a quick and delicious meal,” she said. “My sons have always loved it.”

How to make a burger bundle

Until recently, I had never tried making burger bundles in my own kitchen because the recipes always felt like something special that my mother-in-law made for us. But once I tried it, I found it surprisingly easy.

After making the filling for the stovetop and mixing the ground beef and milk together, I divided the meat mixture into 6 equal parts and flattened each “burger” like a pancake. Place the stuffing in the middle of the flattened burger and wrap the meat around the stuffing to seal. It’s like a cross between meatloaf and stuffed meatballs.

The real draw of the burger bundle is the gravy-like sauce made from mushroom soup, milk, ketchup, and condensed cream of Worcestershire sauce. Pour this creamy sauce over a bunch of burgers in a baking dish and slowly roast the whole thing in a 350°F oven for 2 hours.

“Don’t forget the creamy mashed potatoes and everyone’s favorite vegetables,” my mother-in-law told me. “But is that really the case?”

What makes Burger Bundle so delicious?

Our version of the burger bundle is served with creamy mushroom gravy. But the recipe calls for any type of condensed soup, so the possibilities are endless. You could also consider making this recipe with condensed broccoli and cheese soup or cream of chicken. No matter what type of soup you mix, you’ll end up with a creamy gravy that’s delicious on top of burger bundles or mashed potatoes to accompany your meal.

A tried-and-true meatloaf-like ground meat mixture wrapped in a boxed filling makes this dish both flavorful and comforting. A burger bundle paired with mashed potatoes and oven-roasted green beans. A perfect combination.

Now that you know the full story behind the creation of the Hamburger Bundle, it will definitely be part of the dinner rotation on our kitchen table. It’s so easy to make that you don’t have to constantly wait for your husband’s mother to make the meal for you. That said, everything tastes better when mom makes it, so mom’s version is always a special treat.

Mother-in-law’s Hamburger Bundle Recipe

material

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/3 cups milk
• Several servings of cooked stovetop chicken-flavored stuffing
• 1 10.5 oz can of creamy condensed soup (such as cream of mushroom or broccoli cheese)
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

direction

1. Combine ground beef and 1/3 cup milk in a mixing bowl.
2. Divide the ground beef into 6 equal parts and flatten into pancake shapes. Form the filling into a ball and place in the center of each burger. Fold the ground beef around the stuffing until it forms a baseball shape, sealing the stuffing into the center of the burger bundle.
3. Place burger bundles in a 9X13-inch baking dish. Combine 1 cup milk, can of soup, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce in a mixing bowl or large measuring cup. Pour soup mixture over burger bundles. Bake at 350°F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetables.