One of my kids likes to watch youTube food videos and give me new cooking ideas, and one those lately was these smashburger patty melts. These were definitely not health food, but they were so delicious!
We often eat homemade hamburgers, and my husband grinds the beef for those from chuck, sirloin and short ribs. We used the same mix here but ground some of the meat a bit more finely to help make the edges crisp up more. One tip this recipe from Serious Eats suggested was to fry the burger patties first, and then caramelize the onions in the pan drippings to give more meaty flavor, which it definitely did. I added some garlic to the onions as well for extra goodness.
These sandwiches use light rye, which added another nice flavor component, and have both Swiss and American cheese, for flavor as well as creaminess. These were pretty much everything we hoped they would be. 🙂
Patty Melts
Ingredients
- 12 tbsp butter
- 8 slices deli rye bread
- 8 slices american cheese
- 8 slices swiss cheese
- salt and pepper, season salt, onion powder, garlic powder to taste
- 1 lb freshly ground beef formed into 4 oz patty in the shape of the bread we used a mix of chuck, sirloin and short ribs
- 2 onions sliced
- 4 garlic cloves sliced
- 1/2 cup water or more if needed
Instructions
- Melt 1 tbsp butter in a skillet (I used 2 skillets so I could cook the sandwiches more quickly) over medium until foaming. Add 2 bread slices and cook, moving the bread around a little to absorb the butter. Cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet, cooked side up and tear up the American cheese into pieces and cover the bread. Repeat as needed until you've used half the bread.
- Repeat this with more butter, the rest of the bread and using the swiss cheese, so you have half the slices covered in american and half in swiss.
- Season the burger patties on both sides with season salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Heat skillet to high and add 1 tbsp butter. Swirl until light brown then add the burger patties. Cook without moving until a dark brown crust forms on them, about 1.5 minutes. Reduce the heat if the butter begins to smoke excessively.
- Flip the burgers and cook on the other side until a crust forms, another 1 1/2 minutes or so. Transfer burgers to a tray and reduce heat to medium.
- Add the onions, 1 tbsp butter, and 2 tbsp water. Cook, stirring constantly, until the water evaporates and the onions start to brown. Add 2 more tbsp of water and repeat, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom. Do this a few more times until the onions are soft and deep golden brown.
- If there are any meat juices collected from the patties on the tray, add them in. Cook until the liquid evaporates and the onions are still moist but not too wet.
- Divide the onions onto the bread and top with patties. Place the other piece of bread on and close the sandwiches.
- Heat another tbsp of butter in the skillet over medium and allow the butter to melt. Add the sandwiches and cook until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and repeat. Get the cheese good and melted. Sprinkle with a little salt, cut into halves and serve.