Double-Double Style Burger, Animal Style, Inspired by In-N-Out
Inspired by, not official: two thin mustard-seared patties with American cheese, deeply caramelized onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce and a pink Thousand Island-style spread on a toasted bun.
Inspired by, not official. In-N-Out Burger was founded in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California, by Harry and Esther Snyder, as the state's first drive-thru hamburger stand, where drivers ordered through a two-way speaker (Wikipedia:). It still doesn't franchise. A Double-Double is two patties and two slices of cheese. Ordering it "Animal Style", from what Serious Eats calls the chain's "not-so-secret" menu, adds mustard griddled onto the patties, darkly caramelized onions instead of a raw slice, extra pickles and extra spread.
The spread is not published. In 2010, J. Kenji López-Alt worked backward from In-N-Out's own nutrition guide (swapping spread for ketchup cut 80 calories a burger) to estimate a ratio of mayonnaise, ketchup and sweet relish. The recipe below is that estimate, not the chain's formula.
🇺🇸 This one is American
Inspired by, not official: two thin mustard-seared patties with American cheese, deeply caramelized onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce and a pink Thousand Island-style spread on a toasted bun.
🇩🇪 The original
Germany's Frikadellen are pan-fried patties of beef and pork with a soaked roll, onion and parsley, eaten with mustard and potato salad, with no bun. The burger's name points to Hamburg, though how it got there is disputed. See the German Frikadellen (Hamburg-Style Meat Patties) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Mustard on the griddle
The raw side gets mustard just before the flip, so it fries into a tangy, browned crust right on the beef.
Patience with the onions
Low heat and splashes of water let the onions brown deeply without burning, until they're soft and sweet like jam.
Step by step
- Step 1
Stir the spread ingredients together, cover and refrigerate (it keeps 5 days).
- Step 2
Heat 2 tsp oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onions and salt, lower to medium-low and cook, stirring now and then, about 15 minutes, until well browned. When they look dry and sizzle hard, add 1 tbsp water and scrape up the browned bits; repeat about three times, until the onions are soft and dark brown, about 6 minutes more. Set aside.
- Step 3
Heat the oven to 400°F. Warm the closed buns in the oven about 2 minutes, until slightly crisp. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, toast the cut sides face down about 1 minute, until dark brown at the edges. Spread the bottoms with spread and top each with 4 pickles, a tomato slice and lettuce. Wipe out the skillet.
- Step 4
With damp hands, press each ball of beef into a patty 4 inches wide and 3/16 inch thick. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Step 5
Heat 1/2 tsp oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until lightly smoking. Add 4 patties and cook without moving 2 1/2 minutes, until crusty underneath. Spread 1 tbsp mustard over the raw top of each.
- Step 6
Flip so the mustard side is down and cook 1 minute (thin patties like these pass 160°F quickly; check the first batch with a thermometer slid in sideways). Lay a slice of cheese on each, spoon onions onto two of them and stack the other two on top.
- Step 7
Set each stack on a prepared bun, close and serve. Repeat with the remaining oil, patties, mustard, cheese and onions.
Double-Double Style Burger, Animal Style, Inspired by In-N-Out
Serves 4 · 4 double cheeseburgers plus about 1/2 cup spread · 55 min total
Spread
- 6 tbsp mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 4 tsp sweet pickle relish
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp distilled white vinegar
Onions
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 2 large onions, finely chopped (about 3 cups)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- About 6 tbsp water, a tablespoon at a time
Burgers
- 4 soft hamburger buns
- 2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 lb ground beef chuck (about 80% lean), in 8 balls of 2 oz
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1/2 cup yellow mustard
- 8 slices deli American cheese
- 16 dill pickle chips
- 4 slices ripe tomato
- 4 leaves iceberg lettuce, torn to bun size
Method
- Stir the spread ingredients together, cover and refrigerate (it keeps 5 days).
- Heat 2 tsp oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onions and salt, lower to medium-low and cook, stirring now and then, about 15 minutes, until well browned. When they look dry and sizzle hard, add 1 tbsp water and scrape up the browned bits; repeat about three times, until the onions are soft and dark brown, about 6 minutes more. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Warm the closed buns in the oven about 2 minutes, until slightly crisp. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, toast the cut sides face down about 1 minute, until dark brown at the edges. Spread the bottoms with spread and top each with 4 pickles, a tomato slice and lettuce. Wipe out the skillet.
- With damp hands, press each ball of beef into a patty 4 inches wide and 3/16 inch thick. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1/2 tsp oil in the skillet over medium-high heat until lightly smoking. Add 4 patties and cook without moving 2 1/2 minutes, until crusty underneath. Spread 1 tbsp mustard over the raw top of each.
- Flip so the mustard side is down and cook 1 minute (thin patties like these pass 160°F quickly; check the first batch with a thermometer slid in sideways). Lay a slice of cheese on each, spoon onions onto two of them and stack the other two on top.
- Set each stack on a prepared bun, close and serve. Repeat with the remaining oil, patties, mustard, cheese and onions.
Adapted from J. Kenji López-Alt, "In-N-Out's Double-Double, Animal Style", Serious Eats (July 23, 2010; updated September 14, 2025), makes 2. We double it to 4. Serious Eats grinds fresh chuck; we use store-bought ground chuck (about 80% lean). The spread, the onions browned with splashes of water, the 400°F bun toasting, the 2-ounce patties pressed 3/16 inch thin and 4 inches wide, the 2 1/2 minutes before the mustard and the 1 minute after are Serious Eats'. This is an "inspired by" recipe; it is not In-N-Out's recipe and is not endorsed by In-N-Out. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Make the spread first so the flavors meld while you cook.
- Thin patties stick less if your hands are damp and the pan is properly hot.
- Serious Eats toasts the buns twice, in the oven and then in the pan, so they hold up to the spread.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- This is In-N-Out's recipe. Disputed, and we never say so: In-N-Out has not published its spread; Serious Eats estimated it from the chain's nutrition figures. Label it "inspired by, not official".
- In-N-Out was California's first drive-thru hamburger stand. Documented as Wikipedia's account.
- "Animal Style" means mustard-fried patties, grilled onions, extra pickles and extra spread. Documented as Serious Eats describes it.
- The spread is just Thousand Island. Folklore: Serious Eats calls it a basic Thousand Island-style dressing, but the exact recipe is secret.
Every other burger
German Frikadellen (Hamburg-Style Meat Patties)
Germany's pan-fried meat patties, made with half beef and half pork, a stale roll soaked in milk, sweated onion and parsley, then fried slowly to a deep brown crust and served with mustard.
Japanese Hambagu (Hamburg Steak with Red Wine Sauce)
Tender oval patties of beef and pork bound with panko, milk and sautéed onion, steamed in red wine and finished with a glossy pan sauce of butter, ketchup and tonkatsu sauce.
The Louis' Lunch Hamburger on Toast (New Haven)
A square patty of ground chuck and sirloin with an onion slice pressed into it, cooked over a hot fire and served the New Haven way: between two slices of white toast with tomato, onion and a sharp cheese sauce, and no ketchup.
The Classic Backyard Grilled Cheeseburger
Thick, juicy patties of 85 percent lean beef with a dent in the center so they grill flat, topped with American cheese and stacked on soft buns with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup and mustard.
The Smash Burger
Two small balls of beef chuck smashed paper-thin onto a screaming-hot pan, scraped up with every bit of brown crust, and stacked with a slice of American cheese melting between them.
The Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger
A small ball of beef smashed thin on a hot skillet with a mound of paper-thin onions pressed into it, flipped so the onions fry and caramelize, then topped with American cheese and a bun steamed right over the onions.
The Juicy Lucy (Minneapolis Cheese-Stuffed Burger)
Two thin beef patties sealed around rounds of American cheese, seared in a cast-iron skillet until the cheese inside turns molten, and served on a potato roll with buttery onions and pickles.
The Wisconsin Butter Burger
Lean ground sirloin enriched with cold butter seasoned with a little soy sauce, seared in a hot skillet and topped with a thick pat of the same butter and a spoonful of soft stewed onions, so the butter melts down into the bun.
The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger
Thick ground-chuck burgers grilled over a two-level fire, topped with melted cheese and a heap of freshly roasted, peeled and chopped New Mexico green chiles, on soft buns with tomato and lettuce.
The Australian Burger with the Lot
A seasoned beef patty with onion, garlic and parsley, piled into a toasted roll with barbecue sauce, lettuce, cheese, canned beetroot, a pineapple ring, tomato, a fried egg, bacon and red onion.
Vada Pav (Mumbai's Potato Fritter "Burger")
A spiced mashed potato patty dipped in chickpea batter and deep-fried, tucked into a soft white roll with green chutney and a crunchy dry garlic, coconut and peanut chutney.
30-Minute Weeknight Skillet Burgers with Onions and Horseradish Sauce
Garlicky burgers seared in one skillet, then onions browned in the drippings, with a quick sour cream and horseradish sauce, on the table in 30 minutes with no grill.
Meatballs of the World
Italian-American Meatballs
Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
Pork meatballs shaped with a spoon and fried slowly in butter, crusty outside and soft in the middle.
Königsberger Klopse
German meatballs that are never fried: poached, then served in a creamy white sauce with capers.
Spanish Albóndigas in Almond Saffron Sauce
The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
Mexican Albóndigas with Chipotle and Mint
Soft meatballs with rice and fresh mint inside, simmered in a smoky tomato and chipotle broth.
Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
Small, flat meatballs kneaded hard, rested cold, and charred on a hot grill pan.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Chicken Tsukune
Japan's chicken meatball: kneaded sticky, grilled on skewers, glazed with sweet soy tare, dipped in egg yolk.