These 2 Cowboy-Style Toppings Take Cheeseburgers To The Next Level

When it comes to choosing toppings for your cheeseburger, the options are countless. Between vegetables, spreads, condiments, and cheese varieties, you can build a new burger every day of the year, plus many more. But if you haven't given your cheeseburger the cowboy treatment yet, saddle up and get ready to give your tastebuds a punch of the Wild West. Without adding anything else, putting some cowboy bacon and candied jalapeños on your bun and patty will have you saying, "Yee-haw!" with gusto.

These two exciting toppings bring so much texture and flavor to the cheeseburger table. With a standard bun-cheese-patty combo, you already have lots of savory umami flavor, plus the gooey cheese and pillowy soft bun. Cowboy bacon is basically created by baking the breakfast staple in the oven with a sweet and tangy glaze along with sliced jalapeños. The result is a sweet, spicy, smoky, salty, pleasantly chewy treat that all gets imparted on your cheeseburger. The candied jalapeños (an intense snack the Pioneer Woman calls "cowboy candy") bring even more sweet, tangy, and spicy goodness that will enhance the meat and cheese on your burger. This makes for a powerhouse cheeseburger, hitting all of the flavor you crave. Of course, if you're lily-livered when it comes to spice, beware, partner.

As you might imagine, life on the American Frontier could be difficult for cowboys. They worked outdoors from sunup until sundown. When they drove cattle, they took a limited number of foods with them, most of which were portable and non-perishable. Salt pork or bacon fit these requirements well. The bacon wasn't exactly the same as we see today — it was known as sowbelly, and while we know it was heavily salted, there is no sourcing telling us it was candied.

In the Old West, cowboys also ate plenty of other foods like beans, game meats, jerky, and hardtack (a type of cracker). As for produce, choices were limited because of their perishability. However, dried fruits and chili peppers could be brought along. It wasn't until the 1920s when the concept of candied jalapeños came to life on a ranch in Texas. Lore says candied jalapeños originated from the WHH Ranch in 1922 when 7-year-old Mindie Heironimus got creative with extra jalapeños that were growing on her family's ranch. She decided to pickle them in a mixture of sugar and spices, making the first batch of what we know as cowboy candy. So, when you add candied bacon and jalapeños to your cheeseburger, you are giving it a pretty legit cowboy attitude, and we think any vaquero or rancher in the Old West would have loved this combination.