How to Make Oklahoma Fried Onion Burgers

Burgers are my favorite food. What’s not to like about them? They’re tasty, filling, and — if you load them up with toppings like tomato, lettuce, and onion — offer a fairly nutritious mix of protein, carbs, and veggies.

What I also like about the humble hamburger is exploring its many regional variations. New Mexico’s green chili burger? Fantastico. Minnesota’s Juicy Lucy? Amazing. Utah’s pastrami burger? Brother, I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a pastrami hamburger today.

But my absolute favorite regional burger hails from my own home state: the Oklahoma fried onion burger.

Boy, I love this burger. Its beauty is its simplicity. It’s basically a smash burger with onions in it. Just two thin patties, with fried, caramelized onion, cheese, and a bun. Hot diggity burger, it’s tasty.

The History of the Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger

There’s some debate about how the fried onion burger was born, but the general story is that it originated back in the 1920s, in a small town west of OKC on Route 66 called El Reno.

A father and son duo named Homer and Ross Davis had a place there called the Hamburger Inn. As beef was expensive, the Davises kept the price of their burgers down by reducing the meat portion of the patty and smashing thin-sliced onions into it. The result was a cheaper burger that still gave diners a meal that felt like it had some substance.

When the Great Depression hit, this cost-saving measure became even more appreciated, and what was dubbed the “Depression burger” really took off.

The name may have been a little unappetizing, but the concoction was decidedly tasty.

While the original purpose of smashing onions into the burger was to stretch the meat out, the unintended consequence was that it added layers of deliciousness. When you smash those onions into a screaming-hot flattop grill, the edges caramelize and crisp, and the patty drinks up all that sweetness from the onion.

The Oklahoma fried onion burger was a hit with patrons, and soon other places in El Reno started making them. Many of these establishments are still in business. Robert’s Grill has been flipping onion burgers in El Reno since 1926, Johnnie’s joined in the ’40s, and Sid’s Diner opened in 1989 and was featured on that spiky-haired culinary madman Guy Fieri’s show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Last summer, our family made a road trip to eat an onion burger at Sid’s (and see the town where Twisters was filmed). The burger was okay. Solid. I enjoyed it. I always enjoy a burger. But I wouldn’t make the 2-hour drive to El Reno from Tulsa to eat it again.

You can find other onion burger joints around Oklahoma. Tucker’s is one of them. This OKC-based chain has a location in Tulsa, and puts out a legitimately tasty onion burger. They’ve got this big ol’ boy of a burger called the “Mother Tucker,” which has three patties. It weighs over a pound, and it’s an experience, my friend.

Recently, though, instead of outsourcing my fried onion burger consumption to dining establishments, I decided to try making them at home.

Friday night had long been Burger Night in the McKay household, and I’d make your standard backyard grilled burgers on my pellet smoker. Always enjoyable.

But a couple of months ago, I had the hankering for an onion burger, but didn’t want to eat out. So I slapped a griddle we had into the smoker and got it scorching hot. While the griddle heated up, I sliced some sweet onions really thin and created some balls of 80/20 ground beef. Once the griddle was hot, I got to work. As quick as you can say “Jack Robinson,” I had fried onion burgers plated for my family.

Reader, the family’s review of them was unanimous: amazing. Better than our usual burgers. Better than famous Sid’s in El Reno. Still not as good as Tucker’s — game respects game — but a worthy at-home substitute.

The Oklahoma fried onion burger has become the McKay household’s go-to burger.

Today, I’m going to explain how you, too, can make them this Friday. Even if you’ve never visited the Panhandle State, you’ll probably never go back to another way of making homemade burgers again.

How to Make an Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger

What You Need

A griddle or cast-iron skillet. To make these onion burgers, you need a flat-top surface that can get really, really hot in order to give those burgers a nice crispy brown crust and those onions that delicious caramelization. If you’ve got a Blackstone griddle like many American suburban men do these days, you’re locked and loaded to easily make grilled onion burgers. If you don’t have one, you can buy a cast-iron griddle for your grill. If you don’t have a grill, you can cook them up in a cast-iron skillet on your stove — but realize that it’s going to get really smoky in your house; these burgers are best cooked outside.

Heavy-duty spatula. You’re going to be smashing your burgers flat, and to do so, you need a heavy-duty spatula — something thick, wide, and made with stainless steel. A nice metal spatula will also help you flip the burgers while retaining the delicious brown crust that will form underneath.

Mandoline slicer. You’ll use this to slice your onions super thin. You need your onions as thin as possible so they cook quickly.

Ingredients

80/20 or 85/15 ground beef. 80/20 has the ideal meat/fat ratio for hamburgers. But grocery stores sometimes only have 85/15. We’ve done that before, and it still works.
Two large sweet onions. You want sweet onions for your grilled onion burger. And get two large onions. We’re going to be generous with our onion portions.
Oil
Salt
Sliced cheese. American cheese is classic — extra salty and melty.
Buns. You can never go wrong with a plain ol’ white bun. But if you want to kick your onion burger up a notch, opt for a potato bun.

Directions

Get Your Griddle Hot

You want your griddle scorching hot so you can get that nice crust on your meat, and so that the onions cook quickly. Shoot for a temp between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice Onions — Thin!

Use your mandoline to slice your onions as thin as you can.

Make 3-Ounce Burger Balls

Each hamburger has two 3-ounce patties. Each assembled burger takes two patties, so if you’re serving 4 people, you’ll need eight 3-ounce balls.

Get All Your Supplies Locked and Loaded

Make sure you have all your supplies ready and at hand before you begin cooking; things will move quickly once the process begins.

Hit the Griddle With Some Oil

Place Burger Balls on the Griddle and Salt

Throw a Fistful of Onions on the Burger Balls

Err on the side of more. You want lots of onions because the onions are going to shrivel and render while they cook.

Smash Down the Meat and Onion With Your Spatula

Press very firmly, until the burger is about as thin as it’ll go.

Let Burgers Cook for 90 Seconds to 2 Minutes

You’re going to get a nice browning of the meat that’s griddle side, while the onions render down into the meat from above. Once you see liquid form on top of the patties and the onions look like they’re starting caramelize, they’re ready to flip. Usually happens in about 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

Flip Burgers

Place a Slice of Cheese on Each of the Burgers Immediately After Flipping

These are the makings of 4 burgers, which will take two patties each. Put cheese on all the patties.

Place Buns on Top of Cheese

Stack the buns on top of your burger, putting the bottoms on one patty and the tops on the other. Let the buns sit there while the other side of the burger cooks. This will steam the buns and make them nice and soft, as well as give them a savory flavor. Let the other side of the meat cook for about another minute or so.

Sandwich the Meat, Onions, and Cheese Between the Buns

Gather as many of the fried onions as you can and place them on the patties. Stack the top bun+patty+onions+cheese layer on top of the bottom bun+patty+onions+cheese layer, sandwiching all that gooey goodness between your two bun halves.

If you’re making burgers for a larger crowd, put the already cooked and assembled burgers in an oven set to warm, and get the next batch of burgers going on the griddle.