Onion Soup Burger Patties
Beef, dry onion soup mix, and a butter finish. A car-camping burger that needs no bun to make sense.
- calories
- 480
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 80
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 2 lb | 80/20 or 85/15; leaner meat cooks out dry |
|---|---|---|
| Dry onion soup mix | 1/4 cup | homemade: dried minced onion, onion powder, beef bouillon, parsley, pepper |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Worcestershire sauce or liquid smoke | 1 tbsp | either one; do not use both |
| Butter | 2 tbsp | for the patties off the heat |
Method
- Pull the beef out of the cooler about 20 minutes ahead. Cold meat grills unevenly.
- Dump the beef, soup mix, oil, and Worcestershire into a large freezer bag. Work it with your hands through the bag until the mix is spread through, then stop. Overworking makes the patties tight.
- Form eight patties, each a little wider than you want them and dented in the middle with your thumb. They pull inward and dome as they cook.
- Get the grate hot over coals. Lay the patties down and leave them alone for four minutes.
- Flip once. Another three to four minutes gets you medium; press the center and go by feel, not by cutting.
- Move them to a foil sheet, drop a shaving of butter on each, and let them sit two minutes before eating.
The onion soup mix is doing two jobs. It seasons the meat all the way through instead of only on the crust, and the dried onion pulls a little moisture out of the beef and holds it there while the patty cooks. Salt and bouillon in the mix mean no separate salting step, which matters when you are working next to a fire in the dark.
Fat percentage is the whole ballgame. 80/20 renders enough to keep the middle moist over the dry, uneven heat of coals; 90/10 will be gray and tight no matter what you add. The butter at the end is not seasoning, it is insurance — it melts into the surface while the patties rest and covers for anything you overcooked. This one needs a cooler and stays a car-camping meal; there is no shelf-stable version of raw ground beef.
Packing
Mix the soup mix at home and carry it in a small jar. The beef rides frozen at the bottom of the cooler and thaws over the drive. Form patties at home between squares of parchment if you would rather not handle raw meat in camp.
Variations
- Skip the grate and cook them in a cast iron pan on the fire ring. The fond is worth the extra dish.
- No cooler? Same seasoning works on rehydrated textured vegetable protein bound with a spoonful of potato flakes.
- Wrap each patty in foil with sliced onion and cook them directly in the coals, ten minutes a side.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/best-burger-recipe