Sourdough Burger Melts
These Sourdough Burger Melts are a mix between a traditional burger and a patty melt. We use sourdough sandwich bread for some nice sour notes and add a lot of cheese and some thousand island dressing. It is the perfect combination!
We love a sandwich here in the Midwest. At every restaurant, you will find a whole menu section of burgers and sandwiches. Sometimes, you even have a separate burger section and sandwich section because there are just too many for one section alone.
We love sandwiches at home because they are really easy to make. Every so often, I like to elevate our normal burger and that is where this recipe was born. It is sometimes nice to go that extra step for the traditional weeknight meal.
These Sourdough Burger Melts bring all of our Midwest favorites together. It is a sandwich, with a beef patty, full of cheese, and loaded with a condiment which in this case is thousand island dressing. It feels like a big Midwest high five!
Details and Tips!
These sandwiches are really so easy to throw together. I think the star of the show here is the sourdough sandwich bread. It is tangy and crunchy and it fries up so nicely. It adds a really great flavor to the sandwich. Now, obviously, if you do not have sourdough on hand, you can use any bread you want. But please give the sourdough sandwich bread a try! It is the only sandwich bread that lives in our house these days!
For the burgers, you will want a 80/20 beef for the best flavor. The fat content is going to give you a juicy, flavorful burger. When making the patties, make them slightly bigger around as they will shrink. We like these patties to be big and thick, about 1/3 pound for each patty.
Fry the burgers in a hot skillet in butter! The butter is going to add such good flavor and lots of juiciness. It is fat on fat, you cannot go wrong!
Once you flip the burger to fry on the second side, add the cheese so it has some time to melt. After all, this is a melt! So, by definition, you need a lot of cheese and it has to be melted. The toppings never stop with the cheese, though. You can really do whatever you want here. We love pickles, lettuce, tomato, and onion.
Lastly, you have to have a condiment, or 4! For this sandwich, I like to keep it simple with thousand island dressing. My thousand island dressing has pickles, ketchup, mayo, and some spices making it the ideal burger sauce!
Now, frying the bread is really up to you. I find it easiest to assemble everything on the fried and then fry the whole sandwich. It allows the dressing to mingle with everything and keeps the cheese melty. You could also fry the bread separately and then assemble the sandwiches on the toasty bread. Whatever is easiest for you!
What you need!
- sourdough sandwich bread - our your favorite sliced bread
- ground beef - 80/20 will give you the best flavor but 90/10 will work too
- sliced cheddar cheese
- lettuce
- tomato
- onion
- thousand
- Thousand island dressing
Customize!
You can truly take these burgers any direction you want. From the toppings to the sauces to the bread, it is really your own preference. For instance, Kollin will only eat a tomato fresh from the garden. It has to be a certain kind of red and juicy or he is out. Fo him, I only add tomatoes in the summer.
If I have more time, I love to caramelize the onions for an extra sweet, jammy hit. And then there are those times where I have no veggies and we just have a burger with cheese, bread, and ketchup. Just do what you can!
Explore more!
Let us know if you give these a try! We love to see your creations in the comments!
Sourdough Burger Melts
Crunchy, meaty, and oh so good! These Sourdough Burger Melts are a mash up of a few of our favorite sandwiches.
- 2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
- 12 slices sourdough sandwich bread
- 12 slices cheddar cheese
- 1 onion (sliced)
- 1 cup pickles
- 2 tomatoes (sliced)
- 1 head of lettuce (chopped)
- 1 cup thousand island dressing (plus more for dipping)
- salt
- pepper
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Using a knife or your hands, divide the ground beef into 6 equal size pieces, about 1/3 pound each.
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Working with one piece at a time, massage the ground beef in your hands for just a few seconds, and then form it into a patty. Working with it a little before forming it will allow it to stick together better.
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Once all of the patties are formed, sprinkle each side with a little salt and pepper, to taste.
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Heat a pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is nice and hot, add in 1 tablespoon of butter. Gently put the burgers in the pan and fry on the first side for about 4 minutes or until nice and crispy. Flip over to fry on the other side. Fry in batches if necessary. Do not overcrowd the pan.
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Once you have flipped the burger over to fry on the second side, top with two slices of cheese and allow that to melt while the burger cooks on the second side. Only flip once and do not push down on the burgers. Just let them do their thing!
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Once the burgers are cooked and the cheese is somewhat melted, assemble the sandwiches. Start by lowering the temperature of the pan medium heat. Butter one side of the sourdough bread and lay the buttered side in the pan you cooked the burgers in. Quickly but carefully slather on some 1000 island dressing. Then lay on the burger and cheese. Then add the veggies, and more 1000 island dressing. Butter one side of the second piece of sourdough sandwich bread and top the sandwich with the buttered side up.
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Cook until the bottom side of the bread is golden and crispy. Then carefully flip over to allow the other piece of bread to get golden brown and crispy.
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Serve immediately! Enjoy!