Give Your Next Burger Some French Flair And Stuff It With Caramelized Onions
Even the most basic burgers are great, but adding bold new ingredients can further elevate their greatness. If you're a fan of French onion soup, caramelized onion-stuffed burgers offer a fun play on those rich and delicious flavors. While most recipes use sliced raw onions as a topping, caramelizing onions and adding them to the center of your patty creates a decadent explosion of flavors that's hard to beat. They make an ideal and surprising filling thanks to their mildly sweet yet savory flavor and because they help to keep the beef moist.
Once the alliums are properly caramelized, separate your ground beef into equally-sized burger patties prior to stuffing. Keep the individual patties thin so they won't be too unwieldy when you place one on top of the other (with the onions fitting snuggly in the middle). Each bottom patty should have about a tablespoon of onions in the center. After placing the second patty on top, be sure to press them together at the sides to create a durable seal when cooking.
Tips for caramelizing onions
While it's not necessarily difficult, caramelizing onions can be a bit intimidating (they also require patience). But really, all it requires is yellow onions, salt, and olive oil. While you're free to use butter, olive oil has a higher smoke point, which means it's less likely to burn as your onions cook for an extended period of time. Rather than slicing the onions roughly, for the best stuffed burgers, you should peel and chop the onions into ¼-inch pieces, then set your stovetop to medium-high heat.
When it comes to cookware, a pan is perfectly fine. However, using a pot with a thicker bottom is beneficial, as it better controls how much heat reaches the onions as they cook. You can now add olive oil to your cookware, then add the chopped onions and salt. Chef Matt Tebbutt likes to let them sit for the first 10 minutes of cooking. Stir every now and again until the onions get darker, then begin stirring them frequently. You can add a bit of water if you think the onions are cooking too quickly. Also, feel free to reduce the heat on the stovetop. In order to achieve the perfect caramelized flavor, you will likely need to cook the onions for at least 45 minutes, but possibly an hour.
How to keep your decadent stuffed burger intact
Making any stuffed burger requires a little extra care and consideration to maintain its integrity. For instance, adding egg to the ground beef mixture can do wonders. The egg will act as an adhering agent, which means your onion-stuffed burger is less likely to fall apart. In general, you'll want to add one beaten egg per every 1 ¼ pounds of ground beef. This ratio can be adjusted depending on how much ground meat you use.
Cooking time is another important consideration. There's obviously more to stuffed burgers, which means they require a little longer on the grill than a plain hamburger. Usually, the burger is ready to be flipped once the sides begin to brown up. At this point, take a spatula and delicately turn the burger over to the other side. Timing is critical here, as flipping a stuffed burger multiple times dramatically increases the chance of it falling apart. By allowing the sides to get nice and brown, you can avoid repeated flipping and ensure your caramelized onion burger looks as good as it tastes. Top your onion-stuffed patties with melty gruyere cheese for the full French onion effect.