Notes

This recipe is for Oklahoma-style onion smash burgers. This is a true regional American classic and one of my favorite ways to make a burger.

The technique is very similar to a classic smash burger with one added element— a big pile of thinly sliced onions are added to each patty. When you flip the patty, the burger finishes cooking on top of the onions, which cook down and absorb the juices from the burger. Because the onions are sliced so thin, they cook down quickly and take on a soft and jammy texture that’s just incredible.

Ingredients

Burgers

  • 1 lb beef (this should be enough for 3 double patty burgers) rolled into ~3oz balls
  • 3 burger buns
  • 6 slices of cheddar or American cheese
  • 1-2 yellow onions, sliced as thin as possible
    • Note: you can cut these using a knife or a mandolin. The goal is to get them as thin as you possibly can— nearly translucent.
  • salt, pepper
  • oil (I recommend tallow or avocado oil) for the griddle

Burger Sauce

  • 1/2 cup mayo (I recommend avocado oil mayo)
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • 1 tbsp ketchup
  • 4 slices of dill pickles, finely diced
  • 1 jalepeño (or several slices of pickled jalepeño), finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • a big squeeze of lemon juice
  • salt to taste

+ pickles, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, and any other condiments and toppings you like.

Process

These burgers come together quick, so I recommend having everything ready to plate before you put them on the griddle. I like to butter my buns and toast those in a pan or a broiler. I layer a big spoonful of the burger sauce on the bottom bun and top that with a few pickles before adding my burger patty.

For the burger sauce, simply combine everything in a bowl and salt to taste.

As you’re toasting your buns, heat up a cast iron pan or griddle over high heat to cook the burgers.

Once the pan is very hot, brush it with some beef tallow or avocado oil.

Place the beef balls on the griddle and allow them to brown slightly on one side.

Once the balls have a bit of browning on one side, flip them over. With this process, you allow a slight crust to form on the top, which makes smashing the burgers more easy.

Using the back of a spatula or a burger press, smash the beef balls until they’re completely flattened. I like to use a folded up piece of parchment paper for this process, but you can do it directly with a spatula (provided there are no holes in the spatula).

Immediately season the flattened patties with salt and pepper.

Then, take a big handful of your onions and place one handful on top of each patty.

Cook the patties for another minute or two until they are well browned on the bottom.

Then, use the spatula to flip each patty (along with the onions, so that the onions are now below the patty). Press down firmly with your spatula to flatten the burger and the onions underneath it.

Allow the burgers to cook for about a minute, then place a slice of cheese on top of each.

Continue cooking until the cheese melts completely and the onions are soft (another two minutes or so).

Stack one patty on top of the other, and then transfer the stack to your burger bun.

Finish with any other toppings you like, and enjoy!