Recipe: Bison Cheeseburger Crescent Roll Ups

Today was one of those days where an idea just hit me. I've been spending the last couple of days really thinking and reflecting about new ideas for my job and how to finish out the year strong. Part of that includes coming up with new content and ideas to share with my followers and customers to keep them engaged and interested. But having been doing this for 4 years, sometimes I feel like I get into a rut, or the ideas are all dried up. So that led to a lot of bison meat reflecting the past two days. :) 

Which luckily... inspired this creation that I'm sharing with you today: Bison Cheeseburger Crescent Rolls.

Making these was so insanely simple. Possibly even easier than making an actual cheeseburger. They made a perfect lunch, but would also work great for after-school snacks or appetizers for a not so fancy party. I took lots of pictures while making these, both for this blog post here and for my NebraskaBison.com Instagram account. Shortly after posting on Instagram, I got a text from my younger sister: 

"OMG I want those bison burger crescents you made"

So, obviously, at least through the pics, they can definitely be considered a hit! Although, I will say they taste pretty awesome too!

So, the steps for these really aren't too complicated -- and they are totally customizable to whatever you're preference is. I made a few different varieties just using cheeses and ingredients I had in my fridge already. The only thing I had to go out and buy was the crescent roll dough. Aside from ground bison, the only other ingredients I used were: chopped onion, diced jalapeños, cheese, seasoning and crescent roll dough.

I had some leftover havarti and pepper jack cheese that I had bought on sale a few days back. I thought these would be perfect cheeses to try for this recipe. You can use ANY cheese that you want though - just think about what kind of cheese you would want on a cheeseburger – cheddar, american, swiss.... you name it! My only recommendation would be that thinly sliced is better. Being more thinly sliced just helps facilitate rolling up the crescent rolls.

So, obviously you'll want to start with cooking the ground bison. I added my chopped onion to my frying pan, along with 1 lb. of ground bison – way more than I needed for the 1 tube of crescent roll dough I bought, but I just put the rest in the fridge. Keep in mind, you won't put a whole lot of burger on each crescent dough. I would say I used between a quarter and a half pound of burger for my 1 tube of 8 crescent rolls.

Season the burger however you prefer. I used the NebraskaBison.com Steak & Burger Seasoning for mine.

The next point is important. You don't want to cook your bison all the way done. Remember, you will be baking your crescent rolls in the oven as well, so the burger will continue to cook. You want to leave plenty of pink during the pan cooking portion. 

I used refrigerated crescent roll dough for these – part of the super simple aspect of this recipe! If you are particularly adventurous, I'm sure this would work great with homemade crescent rolls as well!

I made a special roll up with jalapeños in them. But I wanted to keep it separate from the others. You could do this with any other add-in ingredients you like: think mushrooms, etc... anything you would put on a burger. I took a small bowl and mixed a spoonful of bison with the diced jalapeño.

Once you've separated your crescent rolls, spread them out and place your cheese slices on them.

Then go ahead and add your bison burger filling. A small spoonful will do. Keep the filling towards the larger end of the crescent roll to facilitate rolling.

Carefully roll up your crescent rolls, making sure you are keeping as much of the bison meat inside as you can. Place on a cookie sheet. Follow the package directions for cooking, however, you may want to cut down on the recommended time. My package suggested cooking for 11-13 minutes and I only ended up leaving them in the oven for about 8.

When they have finished cooking, you will have delicious little roll-ups ready to eat!

Mmmm... Cheesy, bison deliciousness! :)

Here's a closeup of the jalapeño and pepperjack roll up I posted on Instagram. 

Remember, you can always buy all the bison meat you need online from my bison meat store!

Bison Cheeseburger Crescent Roll Ups

Ingredients:

ground bison
chopped onion
cheese (any kind you like to put on cheeseburgers, sliced thinly)
refrigerated crescent roll dough
any other burger toppings you'd like to add
NebraskaBison.com Steak & Burger Seasoning (or any other burger seasoning)

Directions:

Season your ground bison and brown it with your chopped onion. Cook only to rare doneness. Bison will cook further later in the process.

Separate your crescent roll dough and place a slice of cheese on each crescent.

If using additional toppings, mix them into your bison mixture. Place a spoonful of bison mixture on top of cheese.

Roll up your crescent rolls and place on cookie sheet. Cook according to package directions, but keep an eye on them. They may be completed earlier than the suggested cook time.