This super easy bbq hamburg skewer recipe includes a really thick bbq molasses sauce. The thick molasses bbq sauce makes these skewers sing as a fast bbq meal idea the whole family will love! Get away from the every day of plain old hamburgers with these delicious meat skewers.
I love a good summer bbq as much as the next person. Still, after a while, it is good to have some budget-friendly meal ideas using lower-cost ground beef that doesn’t just end up being another hamburger. While my partner can eat burgers all day, the rest of our family likes a bit more variety. I also love that this easy hamburg skewer recipe is a quick-to-prepare meal, so much so that you can easily make the skewers up in a matter of minutes and ready for the grill!
The thick molasses bbq sauce is easy and requires little cooking to be ready. The recipe makes a sizeable batch of the sauce, so go ahead and jar it for use later. It will keep in the fridge for up to a month, but I promise your family will love it so much you will find yourself using it on all sorts of bbq foods. I even use this one on meatloaf in the winter; it’s that tasty!
If you love a good bbq, check out our marinated Asian-style pork chops!
So let’s start with the molasses bbq sauce.
This first step is to grab your saucepan. Any mid-sized saucepan will work for this thick sweet bbq sauce. It’s as simple as measuring all the ingredients into your saucepan and stirring it. You will want to cook this at a rolling boil for a few minutes to ensure that the flavors blend and it will thicken a bit. It’s smelling so good already!
Once you’ve cooked the bbq sauce for five minutes, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool some. We will jar it after it cools slightly. A large mason jar is sufficient as it will fill it three-quarters full.
The hamburger meat skewers are a simple blend of ground beef, red onion, and seasoned bread crumbs. That’s it! I promised you simple, and I meant real simple. The hardest thing is getting the hamburger to wrap around the skewer. We’ll be doing this once the meat mixture is well blended. You will want to presoak your wooden skewers in water so they don’t burn up when cooking. If you are using metal skewers, then you will be fine to go ahead with shaping the hamburg skewers.
This recipe made ten large hamburg skewers. If you are making smaller-sized skewers, you will have enough for twenty! These are a hearty bbq meal, and each person will likely only eat one or two before being full, assuming you also have other sides.
Suppose you need a side to go with these. In that case, I recommend our family recipe for potato egg salad and a basic garden salad. Of course, any summer salad goes well with beef!
Shaping the hamburg skewers goes like this; take a fistful of the ground beef mixture and start squeezing it around the skewers shaping as you go. You want the meat to be approximately one inch thick when fully wrapped around the skewer. This will allow it to cook evenly and quickly. Make sure the meat is the same thickness for the entire skewer length. Leave yourself enough skewer to grab hold of when turning on the bbq or eating.
The grill should be prepared for this the same as you would for burgers. I use a grill cooking spray, although some people swear by using half an onion rubbed over their grill. The bbq needs to reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit before you start putting these on. Let them sit on the first side for at least one minute before turning. As you turn the skewers over and over, you will apply a generous layer of bbq sauce. Continue to turn and coat the skewers until they are cooked through and look glossy.
You want to avoid cooking these with the cover down as that creates an oven, and we are grilling, not baking. Once the skewers are fully cooked, serve immediately, as they will cool off fairly quickly.
Ideas for substitutions:
- Instead of our molasses bbq sauce, use any bbq sauce your family loves.
- If you have ground chicken, turkey, or even lamb would work with a sauce that matches a bbq skewer.
- If you don’t have breadcrumbs, use straight ground beef with onion. The onion is needed as the bbq sauce does include any of that flavor.
Expert Tips:
- The first and most important tip is to grease your grill thoroughly. If you don’t, the meat will stick, and you will have it falling off the skewers.
- If you notice the meat wants to stick even after greasing your grill, use a spatula and gently insert it between the skewer and the grill to lift and roll it.
- If your bbq sauce is causing too many flare-ups on the grill, move the skewers to the top rack. It will take them longer to cook there, so you should close the grill now.
BBQ Hamburg Skewers With Homemade Molasses Barbecue Sauce
Equipment
- 10 Large Wooden Skewers Or metal (20 small skewers)
- 1 Grill/BBQ
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Medium Sauce Pan
- 1 Mason Jar
Ingredients
Homemade Molasses BBQ Sauce
- 1½ Cup Ketchup
- ½ Cup Molasses
- ¼ Cup Rice Vinegar Or cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp Hot Sauce I used Franks Hot Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Worcestshire Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Prepared Mustard
- ½ Cup Water
Hamburg Skewer
- ½ Large Red Onion Diced
- ½ Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs
- 2 lbs Ground Beef
Instructions
Homemade Molasses BBQ Sauce
- In a medium saucepan measure all ingredients.
- Bring to a boil and let cook while stirring for five minutes.
- Remove from heat to let cool.
- Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to one month.
Hamburg Skewers
- Dice the red onion and add to the ground beef in a mixing bowl.
- Measure and add in the seasoned breadcrumbs.
- Using your clean hands mix the meat mixture together until well blended.
Assembling the Hamburg Skewer
- Grab a fistful of the meat mixture and holding a skewer in one hand put meat and skewer together.
- Use both hands to form the meat along the skewer to one inch thickness.
- Leave enough of the end of the skewer to grasp.
- Place in shallow dish or plate until ready to grill.
Grilling the BBQ Hamburg Skewers
- Grease the grill well before igniting.
- Turn grill up med-high.
- The temperature should be a minimum of 250℉ before placing the skewers on the grill.
- Lay skewers on grill and let cook for one minute with grill open before turning.
- Gently turn the skewer by grabbing the stick.
- If you are having a hard time getting the skewer to flip gently slide a spatula/lifter underneath between the meat and the grill. Lift and gently roll skewer.
- Start generously applying the bbq sauce to cooked sides of the meat.
- Coat at least twice fully before removing from grill.
- Serve straight from grill while hot as they will cool off quickly.