Ultimate Independence Day Indulgence From The US

When it comes to crazy food inventions, indulgent meals and unusual combinations, you know you can trust the US to come up with some interesting ideas. Across the pond, food can come in extremes that have helped to inspire some unusual and mouth-watering trends.

From staple meals to the most expensive comfort food, travelling across America is sure to introduce you to some weird and wonderful dishes. However, you don’t need to buy a plane ticket to give some of them a try as you can whip them up at home.

To celebrate July 4th with our American cousins, we’ve found some of the biggest meals and mouth-watering combinations for you to try – maybe skip the supersized portions though!

It’s been hard to miss the freak shake trend, with gigantic milkshakes featuring lashings of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, doughnuts and even slices of cakes popping up all over the place. A cross between a milkshake and the most indulgent dessert ever, one of these bad boys definitely isn’t for the faint-hearted.

While freak shakes are starting to appear in restaurants across Britain, you can also make your own at home and Ms Marmite Lover has two fab recipes to try. Those who love chocolate as much as life itself will need to try the Crunchie honeycomb caramel freak shake. If you want something fruity, give the Strawberry pavlova a try – although you may want to share!

Is there a combination that is more American than chicken and waffles. You may not be convinced by the combination of sweet and savoury, but this combo is a bit of a staple in the US-of-A. Whether you’re cooking for breakfast, lunch or dinner this July 4th, it seems that chicken and waffles is a bit of a winner.

This recipe from Grandbaby Bakes makes chicken and waffles easy, especially if you have our Snack Collection to hand. All you need to decide is whether you’re going to finish the dish off with syrup, butter or good old tomato ketchup.

What could be more American than a gooey and super chocolatey brownie? Perhaps one that also comes with peanut butter cookie dough. Not content with just one dessert, the US seems to love combining two or more to create puddings that are perfect if you have a super sweet tooth.

This recipe from Life, Love and Sugar is about as decadent as it gets, featuring three layers of brownies, two thick layers of peanut butter cookie dough before being topped off with chocolate frosting, more cookie dough and chocolate chips. We don’t recommend doing any strenuous activities after eating!

The humble cheeseburger is pretty much a staple of US cuisine and we have to hand it to America, it knows its burgers. While any great cheeseburger would be a nod to the country, to really embrace the burger mania, you need to kick it up a notch. Enter the glazed doughnut burger.

Another combination of sweet and savoury, this burger uses classic glazed doughnuts instead of burger buns and it actually really works! This recipe from Jo and Sue includes instructions on how to make your own patties – which you can cook in an OptiGrill to make it ‘slightly’ healthier – and some great recommendations for topping. Of course, you can pop anything you like on your burger – the bigger the better!

A dessert that the US can’t seem to get enough of is pie. Sweet pies come in all shapes and sizes with all manner of fillings, but pecan and pumpkin pies seem to be two of the most American options. With this in mind, what could be a bigger celebration of the country than combining the two?

Lemon Tree Dwelling has done just that, resulting in a pie that we seriously want to eat. While both pies may be Thanksgiving staples, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy this delicious option in July – and August, September and October. It even comes with a cheesecake topping because why not?!