Copy Cat Carnival Cruise Guy’s Burger Recipe - Tammilee Tips (2024)

You all know we love cruising with Carnival! To celebrate National Hamburger Day we are sharing thisCopy Cat Carnival Cruise Guy’s Burger Joint Burger, The Straight-Up with a Pig Patty Burger!

Copy Cat Carnival Cruise Guy’s Burger Recipe

We just got off the Carnival Vista this week and enjoyed quite a few lunches at Guy's Burgers! They are the perfect quick lunch after a day in port!

Located on the Lido Deck you can't miss Guy's Burgers on Carnival 2.0 ships!!! This is a must-try restaurant during your cruise!

Straight-Up with a Pig Patty Burger

Recipe courtesy of Guy Fieri, for Carnival Cruise Line

Total Time: 2 hr. 50 min

Prep: 30 min

Cook: 2 hr. 20 min

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 heads garlic
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 12 ounces thinly sliced Applewood smoked bacon
• 32 ounces ground beef (80/20 blend)
• 8 slices cheddar
• ¼ cup low-sodium chicken broth mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 4 brioche hamburger buns, cut in half

• 1 kosher dill pickle, finely sliced
• ½ sweet onion, very finely sliced
• 1 beefsteak tomato, finely sliced
• ¼ head iceberg lettuce, finely sliced
• 2 ounces Super Melty Cheese (‘SMC’) Sauce (recipe follows)
• Donkey Sauce (recipe follows)

Super Melty Cheese (SMC) Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk, warmed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch grated nutmeg
• 3 ounces grated yellow American cheese

Donkey Sauce recipe:

• ¼ cup minced roasted garlic (use a little less if not using pre-prepared roasted garlic as it is stronger in flavor and less subtle than fresh)
• 1 cup prepared mayonnaise
• 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon regular hot dog mustard
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 pinches ground black pepper

Roast Garlic: Cut off the top third of the garlic head to expose cloves. Place onto a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold foil to cover then place into oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, discard husks and mash.

Make Garlic Butter: Mix 1 teaspoon of the roasted garlic with room temperature butter. Season with salt. Set aside in the fridge to slightly firm up.

Make Pig Patties: Set a large pot of cold water over high heat and add the bacon. Bring to a boil and cook until the bacon is very tender and almost falling apart, 1 ½ to 2 hours. Drain and set aside to cool. Set a cast-iron pan over high heat. Divide the bacon into 4 even portions and form into a patty. Place each on the grill. Press down with a foil-covered brick to squash the bacon flat. Cook until golden and very crispy – about 4 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

Make SMC Sauce: In a medium saucepan, add the butter and set over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt, then sprinkle with the flour and stir with a whisk. Cook over low heat until the butter and flour combine into a mixture, like wet sand. Once combined, stir for 1 to 2 minutes to cook the flour (but without adding color). Pour in the milk slowly, whisking to combine. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens up, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the salt, nutmeg and cheese and stir until the cheese has melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside and keep warm until ready to use. Yield: 1 cup.

Make Donkey Sauce: Mix mayonnaise, roasted garlic, mustard, Worcestershire, salt and pepper together until smooth. Yield: about 1 cup.

Make Burgers: Divide the ground beef into 4 equal portions (8 ounces each) and form into 4 tight balls. Season all over with salt. Place in pan (which still has some of the bacon fat on it) and allow to brown for 1 minute. Then flatten with a strong, flat metal spatula – press down with a foil-covered brick on top of it, as well. Flatten to approximately ⅓-inch thickness and continue to press down with the spatula as it cooks. Cook until the burgers develop a crust on the first side, 1 ½ minutes. Flip over and cook on the second side to develop a crust on that side, 1 minute. Add 2 ounces SMC Sauce and top with a slice of cheese. Add a splash of the chicken stock and water mixture to the pan and immediately place a dome lid over the top of the burger to trap the steam. Allow to cook for 1 minute and allow the cheese to melt then remove the dome and set burger aside. Brush the cut sides of the buns lightly with the garlic butter. Toast the buns in the pan until golden, about 30 seconds on each side.

To assemble: Smear the Donkey Sauce on the cut side of both bun halves. Layer the base with pickle slices and onions. Top with the hamburger patty. Top with a bacon "pig patty" and SMC Sauce. Top with tomato slices and lettuce. Place the top half of the bun on top.

Imagine serving over 1,000 burgers a day while floating in the Caribbean Sea….That is exactly what happens at Guy’s Burger Joint on Carnival Cruise Lines.

Guys Burger Joint is one of the most popular dining options available on Carnival ships.

It is not unusual to see people lining up to get their hands on a fresh-made Guy’s Burger Joint burger for lunch or dinner.

Over a million burgers have been served since the start of Guy’s Burgers on Carnival Cruise Line.

Picture being on a cruise and looking up to see Guy Fieri flipping burgers. That is exactly how Guy’s Burger Joint was created. Guy Fieri was on the Carnival Splendor 3 years ago and pirated the ship's burger joint.

For a couple of hours, Guy took over the burger joint and made burgers his way.

Guy sat down on the Carnival Splendor and wrote up what is now the Guy’s Burger Joint menu. You can choose from a plain Jane, Chilius Maximus, a Pig Patty, and more. If you want additional toppings there are ample options at the topping bar.

Add more bacon, more onion, more this or that. There is also a wide variety of sauces available to make your burger just right!

Everything from the decorations to the staff's uniforms was overseen by Guy Fieri. Notice the Chevy signs and car parts. Guy Fieri is a huge fan of Chevys and loves cars. Each of the decorations is part of his life.

Even the surfboards were created specifically for Guy’s Burger Joint. Take a close look at one and you will notice they are all signed by world-famous surfer Slater.

Check out the tables at Guy’s Burger Joint and they have all been drawn on and personalized by none other than Guy Fieri. This is truly Guy Fieri’s heart and soul in this restaurant. He made sure that each piece of the restaurant was exactly how he envisioned it to be.

Keep an eye out on your next Carnival Cruise you might just see Guy behind the counter flipping burgers. He has been known to hop on a ship to make sure the burgers are just how he likes them.

One of our favorite restaurants on the Carnival Breeze was Guy's Burger Joint. John had his first burger at Guy's Burger Joint before the Breeze even pulled out of the dock. We dropped our stuff off in our room and headed straight up to Guy's Burger Joint for a Ringer Burger. The Ringer Burger is cheese topped with an onion ring and Guy's Bourbon Brown Sugar Sauce. We had heard from a couple of pretty reliable sources that this was the best burger on the menu.

As you can imagine John was not sad to have to taste test this burger. He told me on day 1 that he was going to have to visit Guy's Burger Joint many times just to make sure each burger tasted as good as the last. I think it was his mission to try every type of Guy's Burgers he could while we were on the cruise.

He kept telling me how amazed he was that they could produce enough burgers to keep everyone happy and maintain such amazing flavor and quality of burgers. Even with thousands of people on the Carnival Breeze, there was never really a long line for Guy's Burgers. The crew knows how to manage a crowd and get everyone their fantastic burger as fast as they can. The crew at Guy's Burgers was a lot of fun and had us laughing each time we were in line for a burger.

What do you think of the Ringer Burger? Are you ready to take a bite out of it?

Guy's Burger Joint has a great menu of burgers and a killer toppings bar. You can customize your burger with multiple types of sauces and extras. The Toppings Bar has some suggestions from Guy Fieri on ways to spice up and make your burger even better. You can make a She-Devil, The Swine-N-Dine, Crunchilicious and so many more.

Guy's Burger Joint has quite the menu. Before we left on the cruise we were talking with my parents and my Dad asked if we were going to have some S.M.C or L.T.O.R. on our Guy's Burgers. I was a bit confused and thought he had lost his mind. Come to find out he had been reading about Guy's Burger Joint and the menu. It was quite fun listening to John order his burger and throw out a few S.M.C's and ask for Donkey Sauce. oh and don't forget the Rojo Ring to top it off...

There is a great shaded seating area right near Guy's Burger Joint. You can see what is happening on the pool deck without being in the sun. Plus you can watch the water go by at the same time. The seating area is decorated with surfboards, maps, and a ton of decorations that are perfect for Guy's Burger Joint. This area has a great chill California vibe and is the perfect spot for a wonderful lunch.

If you visit Guy's Burger Joint make sure you get the hand-cut fries with your burger! HELLO YUM! I am not sure what they do to make these fries so amazing but dang I enjoyed them.

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Check out all of the Carnival Cruise drink recipes we have shared.