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.
A butter burger is a hamburger topped with butter, on the patty or on the bun, and it belongs to Wisconsin (Wikipedia:). Wikipedia calls Charlie Nagreen's butter-fried hamburgers at the 1885 Seymour fair the precursor, and says the style was popularized by two restaurants starting in 1936: Solly's in Milwaukee and Kroll's in Green Bay. Hamburger historian George Motz called Solly's one of the last "real" butter burgers in 2018, with up to three tablespoons of butter on each one. Culver's, founded in Sauk City in 1984, took the idea nationwide, but it butters the top bun rather than the meat.
Serious Eats' Jed Portman describes the Solly's burger he wanted to copy: a four-ounce sirloin patty with stewed onions and "a tablespoon or two" of soft butter on top, the butter pooling on the plate. Lean sirloin is the point; it is tender but bland on its own, and the butter supplies the fat.
🇺🇸 This one is American
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 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
Butter inside lean beef
Sirloin has little fat of its own, so cold butter worked into it melts as the patty cooks and keeps it tender and juicy, with the sweet taste of butter coming through.
Butter on top
The cold slice melts over the hot patty and the onions and soaks into the bun, which is what makes it a butter burger and not just a burger.
Step by step
- Step 1
Mash the butter and soy sauce together with a fork until evenly blended. Roll into a 5-inch log in plastic wrap and freeze 15 minutes, until firm. Cut the log in half; return one half to the fridge and coarsely grate the other half (about 4 tbsp) onto a plate and freeze it 15 minutes more.
- Step 2
Melt 1 tbsp of the refrigerated soy butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, water and a pinch of salt, cover and cook 4 to 6 minutes, until soft and translucent. Uncover and cook, stirring, 2 to 6 minutes more, until just starting to brown. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
- Step 3
In a cold bowl, toss the ground sirloin with the frozen grated butter quickly and gently with your fingertips until the butter is evenly spread. Shape 4 patties about 4 1/2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick, cover and refrigerate 15 minutes. Cut the remaining soy butter into 4 slices.
- Step 4
Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Season the patties on both sides and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until well browned and the center reads 160°F.
- Step 5
Move the burgers to a plate. Lower the heat to medium-low and toast the rolls cut side down, in batches, about 1 minute.
- Step 6
Set each patty on a bottom roll, top with a slice of soy butter and a generous spoonful of onions, close the bun and press gently so the butter starts to melt. Serve right away.
The Wisconsin Butter Burger
Serves 4 · 4 burgers · 45 min total
Soy butter
- 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
Burgers and onions
- 1 lb ground sirloin (about 90% lean), very cold
- 1 medium yellow onion (8 oz), diced
- 1 tbsp water
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp neutral oil
- 4 potato rolls
Method
- Mash the butter and soy sauce together with a fork until evenly blended. Roll into a 5-inch log in plastic wrap and freeze 15 minutes, until firm. Cut the log in half; return one half to the fridge and coarsely grate the other half (about 4 tbsp) onto a plate and freeze it 15 minutes more.
- Melt 1 tbsp of the refrigerated soy butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, water and a pinch of salt, cover and cook 4 to 6 minutes, until soft and translucent. Uncover and cook, stirring, 2 to 6 minutes more, until just starting to brown. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside.
- In a cold bowl, toss the ground sirloin with the frozen grated butter quickly and gently with your fingertips until the butter is evenly spread. Shape 4 patties about 4 1/2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick, cover and refrigerate 15 minutes. Cut the remaining soy butter into 4 slices.
- Heat the oil in a 12-inch cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Season the patties on both sides and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until well browned and the center reads 160°F.
- Move the burgers to a plate. Lower the heat to medium-low and toast the rolls cut side down, in batches, about 1 minute.
- Set each patty on a bottom roll, top with a slice of soy butter and a generous spoonful of onions, close the bun and press gently so the butter starts to melt. Serve right away.
Adapted from Jed Portman, "Wisconsin Butter Burgers", Serious Eats (August 6, 2024; updated October 25, 2024), serves 4. Serious Eats grinds trimmed sirloin cubes with half of a stick of soy butter; we use the shortcut its own notes allow, store-bought ground sirloin with frozen grated butter, kept ice-cold. The soy butter, the stewed onions with lemon, the 4 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch patties and the medium-high skillet are Serious Eats'. Serious Eats cooks to 135°F (medium-rare) in 2 to 3 minutes a side; our 3 to 4 minutes a side reach 160°F. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Keep everything cold. Warm butter smears into the meat and turns greasy; Serious Eats says the mixture must stay refrigerator-cold until it hits the pan.
- For a plainer Solly's-style burger, skip the soy sauce and the butter in the meat and just top each patty with a tablespoon or two of soft butter and stewed onions.
- Culver's style: butter the toasted top bun instead of the patty.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Solly's invented the butter burger. Disputed: Wikipedia credits Solly's and Kroll's with popularizing it from 1936 and calls Nagreen's 1885 butter-fried burger the precursor.
- The butter goes on the meat, not the bun. Disputed: Solly's tops the patty (Serious Eats; George Motz via Wikipedia); Culver's butters the top bun.
- Use sirloin. Documented as Solly's choice (Serious Eats).
- A real butter burger uses up to three tablespoons of butter. Documented as George Motz's 2018 description of Solly's (Wikipedia).
- Medium-rare is best. Disputed: Serious Eats cooks to 135°F; USDA says 160°F. We use 160°F.
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
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The Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger
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The Juicy Lucy (Minneapolis Cheese-Stuffed Burger)
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The New Mexico Green Chile Cheeseburger
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The Australian Burger with the Lot
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Vada Pav (Mumbai's Potato Fritter "Burger")
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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.
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