These burger dips are packed with a ton of flavor from French onion soup mix, caramelized onions, swiss cheese, creamy garlic aioli, and au jus. We loved these dips and we will be sure to make them again in the future.
Caramelized Onions
The main tricks to perfectly caramelized onions are a hot pan and not stirring them often. This allows the heat to break down and caramelize the naturally occurring sugars in the onion. By stirring the onions too frequently, you end up with sautéed onions without the crispy caramelization. I stirred them every 5 minutes and seasoned them with salt and pepper and a very small amount of balsamic vinegar after 10 minutes. I continued this for 10 more minutes after adding the seasonings and when they crisped up, they looked like this.
French Onion Soup Burgers
While the onions are cooking, you’re going to mix up and cook your burgers. The burgers are extremely flavorful with french onion soup mix, garlic, pepper, worcestershire and dijon mustard. Then, once assembled, you also have the richness of the swiss cheese with the tanginess of the garlic aioli. When you get all of those flavors in one bite? Let’s just say that Guy Fieri would be taking a trip to Flavortown. Also, if you like Guy Fieri or Diners, Drive Ins and Dives as much as I do, you can go here to purchase official merch.
Just like with the caramelized onions, it’s important to have the pan nice and hot and that you wait to flip them until they have a nice sear. Searing the meat like the picture above locks in a lot of flavor. Once you flip the burgers, you’ll add a slice of swiss to each one and cover the pan so that the steam melts the cheese while the meat is cooking.
While all of this is going on, you’re going to want to make your garlic aioli, au jus, and get your buns toasted. All of these steps are optional, of course, but I find that they significantly enhance the taste. For the garlic aioli, we used this quick and easy recipe from allrecipes.com. It’s so simple, tastes delicious and takes about three seconds to whip up.
Once everything is done, spread the garlic aioli on the top half of the toasted bun. Then, place your burger on the bottom half and top with the caramelized onions. Serve with a small bowl of au jus for dipping.
That’s all there is to it! Be aware, these are MESSY, so have napkins handy or a knife and fork, haha! I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.
French Onion Burger Dips
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced into strips
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Burgers
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 1-oz pkg French onion soup mix
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 tsp worcestershire
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 4 slices swiss cheese
- 4 hamburger buns, cut in half and toasted toasting is optional
- garlic aioli (to taste) We used the recipe linked in the blog from allrecipes.com
- au jus for serving We used one packet of McCormick au jus mix prepared according to package instructions.
Instructions
Caramelized Onions
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add the onion in a well-dispersed manner but do not stir them until 5 minutes have passed.
- Stir them and let sit another 5 minutes without stirring.
- Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and add the vinegar, stirring to ensure all onions are well coated. After all onions are coated, let sit 5 minutes without stirring. Stir onions and cook another 5 minutes without stirring. At this point, the onions should be crispy and caramelized. Remove onions from the heat and set aside.
Burgers
- While the onions are caramelizing, make the burgers. Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat.
- While oil is heating, combine beef, garlic, soup mix, water, worcestershire, dijon, and pepper. When all ingredients are well mixed, form the ground beef into 4 equal sized patties.
- Add the patties to the hot pan and cover for 4-5 minutes or until the bottoms of the burgers are nicely seared and a light crust has formed.
- Flip the burgers at this time and top each one with a slice of swiss cheese. Add a very small splash of water to the pan and cover again so that the steam helps to melt the cheese while the burgers finish cooking, approximately 3-4 minutes or until burgers reach desired doneness.
- While burgers cook, prepare the buns. Spread the prepared aioli over the tops of the toasted burger buns. When burgers are finished, place them on the bottom half of the bun and top with caramelized onions. Serve with fresh au jus or other sides of your choice such as fries, salad, etc.
- Serve and enjoy!
Let me know what you think in the comments below. If you like this recipe and want more, you can view all of my recipes here or subscribe to be notified every time I post something new. Thanks!
That looks amazing! I’m going to try this weekend.
Thank you! I hope you like them!