Oklahoma-Style Onion Smash Burger
Thinly sliced onions are smashed into beef patties on a hot griddle for crispy, caramelized edges and melted American cheese.
- Prep
- 15min
- Cook
- 8min
- Total
- 23min
- Serves
- 4
- Calories
- 660per serving, est.
By Time for Burgers, updated
Onions go down first, beef goes on top, and one hard press fuses them. The onions cook in the rendering beef fat underneath and come out half crisp, half soft and sweet. Slice them paper-thin, on a mandoline if you have one, so they cook through in the 3 to 4 minutes the patty needs.
Everything else is spare: two slices of American cheese melted over the onion side after the flip, yellow mustard, dill pickles and a soft potato bun. Use 80/20 beef and a very hot cast-iron surface, and leave the patties alone until the edges turn deep brown.
Oklahoma-Style Onion Smash Burger
Prep 15 min, cook 8 min, total 23 min. About 660 calories per serving.
timeforburgers.com/recipes/oklahoma-style-onion-smash-burger
Serves 4.
Ingredients
Instructions
Tap a step to keep your place.
Divide ground beef into 4 equal portions and gently form into loose balls. Do not overwork the meat. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over high heat. Brush with 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
Place a generous handful of sliced onions on the hot griddle for each patty. Immediately place a beef ball on top of the onions and press down hard with a sturdy spatula for 30 seconds until very thin (about ¼ inch thick). The onions will press into the meat.
Cook without moving for 3-4 minutes until the edges are deeply browned and crispy. Flip carefully, top each patty with 2 slices of American cheese, and cook for another 2 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer in the center of a patty reads 160°F (71°C).
Spread 2 tbsp yellow mustard on the bottom buns. Place the onion-crusted patties on the buns, add pickle chips, crown with top buns.
Tips
- Pile about half an onion under each patty. It looks like far too much, but it shrinks to a thin, lacy layer.
- Lean your weight on the spatula for the full 30 seconds; pressing a second spatula on top of the first gives better leverage.
- Flip by scraping, not lifting. The onion crust sticks to the pan, and a sharp-edged spatula keeps it attached to the beef.
- Set the top buns on the cheese for the last minute. Steam from the onions softens them while you check that the patties have reached 160°F (71°C).
Substitutions
- Sweet onions such as Vidalia instead of yellow: they brown faster, so watch for scorching.
- Cheddar for American: it melts more slowly, so cover the pan for the last minute.
- Plain hamburger buns instead of potato buns: leave them on the cheese a little longer so the steam softens them.
Make ahead & storage
These are best straight off the griddle, since the onion crust softens within minutes. Slice the onions up to a day ahead and refrigerate them in a sealed container. Cooked patties keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge; reheat in a hot skillet to 165°F (74°C).
