Pancetta and Swiss Cheese-Stuffed Burgers with Pesto Mayonnaise

"This is my answer to the bacon cheeseburgers we were eating way too often at our house. Stuffing the burger allows you to use a smaller amount of high-fat ingredients, but in a way that still makes a big impact. And as far as my husband is concerned, stuffing anything with bacon is never a bad idea." —Jill Simmons, Suisun City, Calif.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1  ounce  pancetta, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (about 2 slices)
• 1/3  cup  diced onion
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried Italian seasoning
• 1  pound  ground round
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese (such as Sargento)
• 3  tablespoons  light mayonnaise
• 1  tablespoon  commercial pesto
• 4  (2-ounce) whole-wheat hamburger buns

Preparation

1. Prepare grill or broiler.

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add the pancetta to pan; cook 4 minutes or until crisp. Remove pancetta from pan, reserving drippings in pan; set pancetta aside. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until softened, stirring frequently. Combine onion mixture, pepper, salt, seasoning, and beef in a bowl. Shape beef mixture into 8 (1/4-inch-thick) patties. Top each of 4 patties with pancetta and 2 tablespoons Swiss cheese, leaving a 1/4-inch border around edge. Top with remaining 4 patties; pinch edges to seal.

3. Place patties on grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray; cook 5 minutes. Turn and cook 5 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in center measures 160°. Combine mayonnaise and pesto. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise mixture on bottom half of each bun. Top each serving with 1 patty and top half of the hamburger bun.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

444

Fat:

18.3g (sat 6.2g,mono 7.3g,poly 3.1g)

Protein:

39.9g

Carbohydrate:

30g

Fiber:

3.4g

Cholesterol:

82mg

Iron:

4.4mg

Sodium:

687mg

Calcium:

229mg