The fried onion burger is a classic diner burger; sweet, savoury, and simple.
Mechanic
The onion is smashed into the patty, not cooked beside it. A ball of beef goes on a hot griddle under a pile of paper-thin onion, and a heavy press drives the onion into the meat. The beef browns underneath while the onion steams in its juices on top; after the flip, the onion fries in the beef fat until it’s sweet and browned at the edges. Use about 2 parts beef to 1 part onion by weight: less onion and it’s a smash burger with a garnish, more and the patty won’t hold together. The onion has to be sliced paper thin, or it won’t cook through before the beef is done.
Burgers
- 450 g (1 lb) ground beef, 80/20, cold
- 1 large sweet, white, or yellow onion (about 250 g), sliced paper thin on a mandoline
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 4 slices American cheese
- 4 soft hamburger buns or potato rolls, not toasted
- Yellow mustard and dill pickle slices, to serve
Method
Divide the beef into 4 loose balls, about 110 g each. Keep them cold until the griddle is ready.
Heat a griddle or large cast iron pan over medium-high until a drop of water skitters and vanishes. Put the balls on the dry surface, well apart. Pile a quarter of the onion on each, a loose mound as wide as the patty will be.
Press each ball flat through the onion with a heavy spatula, as thin as it will go, about 6 mm (¼ inch). Lean on it for a few seconds so the onion sticks. Season the tops with salt and pepper.
Cook without moving until the edges are deep brown and crisp and the juices bubble up through the onion, about 3 minutes. Scrape under each patty with the spatula edge to keep the crust, and flip so the onion is on the griddle. Season again.
Lay a slice of cheese on each patty. Set the bottom bun on the cheese and the top bun on the bottom bun, so the buns steam over the patty. Cook until the onion underneath is soft and browned at the edges and the cheese has melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
Slide the spatula under the patty and onion together and flip the whole stack onto a plate, onion side up. Take off the top bun, add mustard and pickles, and close it.
To serve
Straight off the griddle, with fries or nothing.
Variations
Sliders
The same method, smaller. Use 50 g balls, a small pinch of onion each, and slider buns. They cook through in about 2 minutes a side.
Double
Two 75 g patties, one onion pile each, cheese on one, stacked on one bun. More crust and onion per bite.
Notes
- Salting the sliced onion and squeezing it in a towel takes out water, so it browns faster and doesn’t steam the crust off the beef.
- A burger press, a heavy pot, or a second spatula stacked on the first all work. Thin spatulas bend.
- Don’t oil the griddle. The beef renders enough fat for the onion.
- Fried onion burger on Wikipedia