French Onion Burgers

November 15, 2023

Let me explain whats going on here. We have burgers generously seasoned with garlic and onions chargrilled to juicy perfection topped with caramelized sweet onions and melted gruyere… yep, we are making french onion burgers and you may never think about burgers in the same way ever again…

It’s tough to think about a burger really needing something in order to be great. They are already pretty fabulous, but once you have a burger topped with caramelized onions and melted gruyere, all of a sudden a regular burger seems to be lacking something.

If you are looking for ways to amp up burger night then I would love for you to give these a try.

Let’s get started…

This recipe makes 4 quarter pound burgers, but it is easily expanded to feed a bigger crowd.

Begin by gathering your ingredients. For the caramelized onions, you will need 2 large sweet onion, some olive oil and granulated sugar, salt and black pepper and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.

For the burgers, you will need 16 ounces of beef, 2 cloves of garlic, some dried onion flakes, onion powder and garlic powder, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper.

To assemble these beauties, you will need 4 ounces of Gruyère, 4 brioche burger buns, some mayonnaise, leafy green lettuce and fresh thyme, if you really want to lean into those french onion soup vibes.

Start by caramelizing the onions. This should take about 30 minutes, so if you start with this first, you will have plenty of time to prepare, cook and rest the burgers.

Add a tablespoon of olive oil and 2 large thinly sliced onions into a large skillet over medium heat. Season the onions with a tablespoon of granulated sugar and a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Cook the onions, stirring whenever they start sounding loud, until they begin to soften and become golden brown. Reduce the heat if they start to develop dark edges and add a splash of stock if the skillet gets too dry.

Check out my full caramelized onion recipe here.

While the onions are caramelizing, season 16 ounces of ground beef with 2 cloves of finely minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of dried onion flakes, a teaspoon of both onion powder and garlic powder, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and some salt and black pepper.

Mix until all of the seasoning is evenly distributed and divide the beef into 4 equal portions.

Form each portion into patties and use your thumb to press down a bit in the center of each one. Season the outside of the burgers with additional salt or maybe some flaky garlic salt.

Place a large skillet over medium high heat and let it get warm for a minute or so. Burgers can technically be cooked in any skillet, but if you have the option, cast iron is definitely the best way to go for indoor burger grilling.

As soon as the skillet feels warm when you hover your hand over the surface, place your burgers down leaving space in between each one. Let them grill on the first side undisturbed until the underside develops a nice deeply golden crust. Flip the burgers and then cook them to a little less than your usual desired level of doneness.

Although we are transferring the burgers off of the heat, I like leaving them in the skillet until the onions are ready to go, so we can melt the gruyere using the skillets residual heat.

Once the onions are soft, sweet and golden brown, top each burger with a generous amount and then add some shredded gruyere on top of the onions.

The heat from the freshly caramelized onions and the skillet should be enough to melt the gruyere, but if things aren’t moving along, you have a few options.

- - - You can add a lid to the skillet and turn the heat back on for a few seconds to get things moving.
    - You can turn on your ovens high broiler and slide the skillet under there until the cheese is nice and melted.
    - Or you could use a chefs torch to get things melting.

My skillet was still quite hot when I added the onions and cheese, so my cheese melted down nicely and I was left with some of the best cheese crisps on earth. Seriously… I need to start recreating this burger grease crispy cheese action on purpose at some point in the future, because this skillet was picked clean by the time my husband and I started scraping it up.

Now all you need to do it is transfer the burgers onto brioche buns, add a little mayo (or not, if mayo is not your thing), some fresh greens, a little thyme and get ready to enjoy a burger than will put all other burgers on notice…

I need to start by saying that the burgers on their own are really good. The garlic, onions and Worcestershire sauce seasoning the beef makes for a very flavorful burger and then when you piles on those golden brown, naturally sweet onions and a generous helping of shredded gruyere cheese things start to become extra special…

These french onion burgers are incredibly delicious and a pretty simple way to add those extra vibes to a classic barbecue or weeknight burger night.

Cheers!!

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