The Best Butter Burgers
Have you ever wondered why the double cheeseburger at Culver’s is called a Butter Burger? Obviously, there’s butter in it somewhere. But where? I mean, this cheeseburger seems to have pretty much everything on it already.
Two big, juicy beef patties…melty, oozy American cheese…sliced red onion, tomato, lettuce, and pickles…and your choice of mayo, mustard, ketchup, or all three. So where is there room for butter?
Well, it turns out, all Culver’s actually does is butter the top of the bun. Which actually seems like a bit of a letdown to me. I mean, if you’re going to call it a Butter Burger, why not use butter everywhere?
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So that’s what I did with my new Butter Burgers. First, I coated the whole inside of that big brioche bun with butter and toasted it on the pan like grilled cheese, making it crisp and golden. Then, I added even more butter to the skillet and cooked the burgers in it, too.
When you bite into one of these Butter Burgers, you can really taste the butter, all the way through. It’s the perfect finishing touch for all that other stuff that made this a great cheeseburger to start with.
The Best Butter Burgers
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over ground beef.
- Divide ground beef into 8 equal sections (1⁄4 pound each). Form a patty out of each section. Patties should be slightly larger around than the hamburger buns (they will shrink a bit while cooking). Cover patties with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
- Spread the inside of each hamburger bun liberally with butter.
- Heat a skillet or griddle to medium high heat. Place buns, butter side down, on pan and toast lightly. Remove toasted buns and set aside. (You can brush the tops of the buns with some of the butter on the skillet if you’d like).
- Add additional pats of butter to the skillet/griddle. Place beef patties onto the skillet, pressing each down with a spatula. Brown on one side and then flip to brown on the other side. (Each side takes about 2
minutes to cook). - When you flip each patty, place a slice of cheese over it so that it can melt while the second side cooks. Prepare each hamburger bun with condiments, a slice of tomato, slice of onion, pickles, and lettuce.
- Stack two cooked patties and place on top of prepared bun. Place bun top onto patties and serve.
Can I freeze the butter burgers?
- Yep! Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
Recipes Tips
- American cheese melts easily, but you can use any type of cheese – cheddar, pepper jack, swiss, blue… Bacon, mushrooms, barbecue sauce would also be yummy additions to these burgers.
- We used a fattier ground beef (80%lean 20%fat) for these burgers. Culver’s uses a combination of cuts to make a fresh, specialty ground beef. We get more flavor with a fattier beef and it’s readily available in the grocery store. You can use a leaner ground beef if you prefer.
- Culver’s says they “lightly” butter their buns – we buttered them a little more liberally. Toasting them adds to the deliciousness.
- You can pan fry the burgers. They have plenty of fat in the meat, but we added some extra butter to the pan for good measure. Extra butter is optional. If you have a stovetop grill pan or griddle, they work nicely.
- We made these with double patties; single patty burgers are also delicious. Estimate a quarter pound of meat per patty – adjust buns and toppings for however many burgers you’d like to make.
The Best Butter Burgers
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef we used 80% lean
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 4 brioche hamburger buns
- 1 ⁄2 cup salted butter softened
- 8 slices American cheese
- 4 slices red onion
- Tomato slices lettuce (optional)
- Mayonnaise ketchup, and/or mustard (optional)
- Sliced pickles we used bread and butter pickles, but dill are great, too
Instructions
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over ground beef. Divide ground beef into 8 equal sections (1⁄4 pound each). Form a patty out of each section. Patties should be slightly larger around than the hamburger buns (they will shrink a bit while cooking).
- Cover patties with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
- Spread the inside of each hamburger bun liberally with butter.
- Heat a skillet or griddle to medium high heat. Place buns, butter side down, on pan and toast lightly.
- Remove toasted buns and set aside. (You can brush the tops of the buns with some of the butter on the
- skillet if you’d like).
- Add additional pats of butter to the skillet/griddle. Place beef patties onto the skillet, pressing each down
- with a spatula. Brown on one side and then flip to brown on the other side. (Each side takes about 2
- minutes to cook).
- When you flip each patty, place a slice of cheese over it so that it can melt while the second side cooks.
- Prepare each hamburger bun with condiments, a slice of tomato, slice of onion, pickles, and lettuce.
- Stack two cooked patties and place on top of prepared bun.
- Place bun top onto patties and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: Family Fresh Meals is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
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