The Oklahoma Onion Smashburger

The small, greasy diner, no-frills hamburger. The guilty pleasure meal instilled in me at a young-age – but the appreciation of such a burger grew with time. There’s a number of these long-standing small buildings offering up the “grease burgers” in my Mid-west area of the country, but none were better than the shop that.. was. I say was because I’m pretty sure the covid forced the sale – and thus – the quality.

Well, it’s time to fix that. I wanted to re-create the grease-bomb-diner-burger of old, and I went on the search. This introduced me to the “Oklahoma Onion Burger”. Did my research like any good grillmaster does, and this was the result. It wasn’t the best – yet – but I know what’s needed for next time. Want that thin burger that’s overpowered by the onion – let’s go!

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

This one is simple – Bun, Burger, and Onion. Isn’t anything else you need. Like I said, I researched it and it’s beginnings started like unfortunately a lot of them do – with the Great Depression. Can’t afford to spend a lot on beef when the onions are cheap – so load up the onion, but still have enough beef to call it a burger.

I never was a big onion guy until about 18 years old. Since then, I’m making up for lost time. My Oklahoma Onion Burger – OOB from here-on-out – will have cheese and pickle. But that’s it. The beef will have a sprinkle of some that Meat Church Holy Cow, but the soul of this sandwich is truly the onion.

So we went unhealthy with this blend. I went with the fattiest blend – the 73/27 – and for the next one, I’ll say don’t go as unhealthy. It accomplished what I wanted, but on the extreme. I remember going to the burger joint and getting the wax paper wrapped burger, in the brown paper bag and the grease soaking through both. This burger absolutely accomplishes that goal. Unnecessary though. Grab a bit more lean – you don’t need the fatty overload.

Also, the pickle slices need to be the cheapest ass pickles you can find. My local Kroger pretty much branded them as such, and I bought a couple jars because I was happy see them. Sure, your Vlasics, Mt. Olive, or even McClures are quality and look pretty – we want dirty. Thin and unappealing is what I wanted – thin and unappealing is what I got.

Seriously try to thin slice your onion as best you can. For the pound of meat, I sliced up the whole white onion. Halved it and shaved it. We gave away our mandolin, but it would’ve worked perfectly for this (I’m still trying to learn the chef-esque way of slicing.. not going well (But better than I did with the mandolin. (Sliced my finger) ) ).

Sent this teaser on Instagram awhile back, saying I was pulling out an old friend. SisterBBQ bought me this for Christmas, and I really haven’t done it justice. It’s such an essential item, for me at least, but I haven’t gotten crazy in its utilization. The OOB was meant for this, so I was ready to use it. Embarrassing note – the drip catch in the back was uncleaned for an unknown amount of time. It was gnarly to say the least. To fix it, I was going to use the grease from this cook to heat up whatever cultures were grown in it to make for an easy clean.

So I got that Blackstone heated up, opened up the meat tube and rolled out a decently portioned burger. You know which one took the 4oz ball, it was way bigger. Everything I remember from Blackstone cooking was preparation. Fast and furious. You’ll see this in my future Blackstone Taco post (Spoiler alert!). Laid everything out, and we’re ready go. How’d I do it? Read on, my friends.

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The Process

You saw that Tbsp-ish of butter. That was my base. Throw it on there and spread it around your cooking surface. Did I need this with a 73/27 meat? Probably not. I have a two-burner Blackstone – smaller than a lot of my BBQ buds – so I went heavy on the left with no heat on the right. Cook side and prep side.

I see a lot of people have burger presses, custom tools and their Blackstone specialties. I love you all for it – but I don’t have it. I was gifted a great Cuisinart Griddle set – plus I have some cheapos I bought a long while back – so I had the tools for the job, but nothing specific for the OOB. Anyway, once your butter coats your surface, throw one of those meat balls on there – count to 5 – and give it a good press. My spatula had about a 4inch surface so I pressed it with my right hand with the weight of a mason jar on top of it with my left. *TIP: Don’t press and release – SLIDE the spatula away from the burger or else you’re coming back with some beef. Don’t believe me, try it – then remember what I told you.

Once your burger is flat – toss your seasoning on there. I did a sprinkle of that Holy Cow and then threw a handful of onion on top. Let it cook for about 2 minutes or so. I took that spatula and cleared it from sticking – but I didn’t flip yet. Do your best to try to feel when it’s done – when it’s crisp – before making that decision to make the flip. You’ll see the browning rise up the sides. Your first one might not be great – but you’ll get it.

When you flip that burger, get all them thin-sliced onions on the bottom. You can see I that burnt-edge crust I have – indicative of the time to flip. The special part of this burger is the varying stages of cooks the onions go through. Some will be burnt as all hell – some will still have a bite – it’s an OOB.

You flipped your burger – now add a little dash of that burger seasoning. Once you put your dusting on there, put your cheese square on it. Hard for me to do a boring-ass, non-cheese burger when I have the ability – but to each their own. These were Kraft American. America. AMERICA. Cheap cheese, let’s go.

So glad I did the research that I did going into this cook. And every cook to be honest. See what others do and have done. Don’t rely on your first recipe and go with it. If you’re here, this probably isn’t the first Oklahoma Onion Burger post you came across. If it is, go find another – see what someone else has done – find what you like out of each and make it your own.

Put your bottom bun on top, and awkwardly place the top bun on top of that. Weird set-up, but it actually makes sense. You have a sizzling burger, on a bed of onions that’s creating an awesome steam. Flavorful and rich, why let it go to waste? Let the buns soak up what you can. I’ve seen others place it on the griddle, place it in the butter/oil/fat – but let me tell you. Your bottom brioche will have gotten soft from the cheese cooking in there. That transfers up and softens the top. The steam adds to it and it results in what I’m used to – a non-crispy, soft, flavorful bun. It’s the little things – I’m telling you.

This was the fun part. When it’s done – another 2ish minutes – You have a couple choices. If you’re good with how it is: Left hand that top bun, right hand spatula the rest and marry the two. Make that marriage as good, beautiful, and strong as MrsForensicBBQ and I (brownie points).

I wanted the pickle though. I scooped the finished product and flipped it to the un-heated side of my Blackstone (or the cutting board – we’re done with the heat). Add them thin pickles as soon as you can so they can absorb the flavor and heat. Top that bun as soon as you can. If you’re one of those heathens who like ketchup – now’s your chance. Even worse, if you put mustard on it – re-evaluate the choices you make in life (joke).

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The Result

I’ll remind you all – because MrsForensicBBQ is too busy traveling the State to grace us with her presence – I cook basically just for me. I’m not going to shovel a pound of the 73/27 beef in my belly all today. So I was experimenting. What’s better – a single burger or a double burger? How well do they reheat? Let’s find out!

This was the first taste test. Take a look at them onions. You can see the varied points of “cook” they went through – and that was the allure of the sandwich. These buns were killer too – you can see there’s some cook on that bottom bun, even though it never touched the Blackstone – I told you so.

Dude. This was an onion masterpiece. OOB – Oklahoma Onion Burger. Never been to Oklahoma, but I’m a resident of Onion-town after this. The right side showcased the bite of the single, while the left was the double-patty. I’ve only ever gotten the singles from my local joints. I remember one lady asking me why would I get 4 singles instead of two doubles (like she ordered). It never really crossed my mind to double the beef and half the bun – because why mess with what works. That leads me into the result:

Unquestionably, the single burger won. I’ll say the fatty blend didn’t contribute well when you’re double-stacking this – and that’s why I mentioned up top that you might want to peel back on the blend. BUT. If you’re going to single-stack these, this was an absolutely delicious burger. My perfect OOB consisted of the onion pile, 3oz patty, enough pickles to coat the surface, a single Kraft America square, and the slightly steamed bun. I’m sure if you wax paper wrap it, wait 5-10 minutes like the drive-home from the diner used to be – it would be exactly like I remember from childhood.

Hey – not necessarily a BBQ post – but it’s the backyard (driveway) grill (griddle) cook that we all can do and enjoy. I’ll say this is equally as pleasurable when you’ve had a couple cocktails and waiting on another cook to finish (Spoiler alert: Pork End Roast). Portion your goods, get things ready when you Blackstone. Definitely makes things easier. Hope you enjoyed this one like I did!

Send me an e-mail here or follow me on Instagram and send me a message and I’ll ship you out a sticker – my thanks for your support. I promised y’all a pile of freebies and a good number of you collected – I love you. On a final note, I’m going to try to post a new cook on FRIDAYS – Forensic Fridays – to add some structure and reliability.

Also, I know a lot of you are looking/reading this on your phones – I’m slowly working on getting this looking better on mobile. The desktop/computer version is much better.. but I’m working on getting it mobile friendly. Thanks for being patient (I was impatient getting this thing launched) – we’ll see you on the next one!

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The Recipe