This Mushroom Swiss Burger is inspired by the most delicious hamburger at one of our favorite restaurants. It was appropriately called the “Gotta Have It Burger”.
Unfortunately, it’s no longer on the menu. But making this at home is every bit as good, and a fraction of the price.
The only real difference is the restaurant version had bacon. We don’t know how we forgot the bacon, but it happened, and this burger still came out awesome. In fact, without the bacon, it really helps bring out the flavors of the other toppings.
Speaking of which, there are a few secret ingredients that really make this burger pop – one being the roasted garlic cayenne aioli. It has LOTS of garlic, which is fantastic for shooing vampires away while tasting amazing!
We aren’t shy about garlic, but contrary to popular belief it’s not going to overpower the rest of the burger. Instead, it blends seamlessly with everything else.
What Goes on a Mushroom Swiss Burger?
Here’s the quick rundown of everything in this awesome burger:
- 80% Lean Ground Chuck
- Melted Swiss Cheese
- Roasted Garlic Cayenne Aioli
- Caramelized Onions
- Sauteed Mushrooms
- Butter Toasted Brioche Bun
How to Make the Mushroom Swiss Burger Toppings
To make these Mushroom Swiss Burgers deluxe, it pays to take a little extra time to prep the toppings before you grill your burgers. We suggest making the aioli the night before you plan to grill your burgers.
Roasted Garlic Cayenne Aioli
What in the world is an aioli? In this case, it’s an emulsion of mayonnaise (made of eggs and oil) and lemon juice, combined with roasted garlic and some spices. Traditionally though, an aioli is only mashed garlic beaten together with oil.
To make this version at home, you will need to roast some garlic, three heads to be exact.
- Take the bulbs of garlic and slice the stem side off, exposing the tops of the cloves. You don’t need to take off the skin before roasting it.
- Drizzle the garlic with oil, and then season with salt and pepper. Wrap up the bulbs in foil, and roast them for 35 to 45 minutes.
- When it’s finished roasting, allow it to cool for a few minutes, and then squeeze the garlic pulp into a bowl. You should end up with about 1/3 cup of garlic pulp.
- Put the garlic and other aioli ingredients (see recipe below) into a food processor and pulse a few times until the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Refrigerate the aioli until you are ready to use it. We found that making the aioli the day before the burger allowed enough time for the aioli to thicken slightly and for the flavors to combine.
Caramelized Onions
Next, you’re going to want to prepare the caramelized onions for the burgers. If you’ve never caramelized onions before or you don’t have time to make them the traditional slow method, try our 10 minute caramelized onion recipe.
Sauteed Mushrooms
Sauteing mushrooms is quite simple. Cooking them in a combination of butter and olive oil will add more flavor and makes it easier to coat the mushrooms.
- Slice 8 oz of baby bella mushrooms, a quarter inch thin.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Place the mushrooms in the pan; stir and toss to coat in the oil.
- Season with a bit of salt. This will help it release moisture.
- Continue stirring and cooking the mushrooms until they’ve released most of their moisture and are golden brown, 10-15 minutes.
Toasted Brioche Buns
Next to the beef, this is the next determinant of your burger’s overall texture and flavor. Many restaurants are opting for brioche buns for their slightly sweet and buttery flavor.
On top of that, they make your burger look picture perfect. (We use these brioche buns that we found at Kroger, and they work really well.) Check your grocery store’s bakery section.
Our preferred method for toasting the buns is to heat a 1/2 tablespoon of clarified butter, aka ghee, in a skillet over medium heat, buns sliced side down.
Use a spatula or burger flipper to lift and check the buns, removing them from the pan when they are golden brown. This really brings out the sweet notes in the bread.
Swiss Cheese
This part is easy; there’s no prep involved with this ingredient. But to clarify, we’re talking about sliced American Swiss cheese, which is a lot more economical than cheese from Switzerland. But depending on your budget, you could make a luxury variation on this with cheeses such as Gruyere or Emmental.
Some Hamburger Making Basics
Hamburgers in general are one of those foods that seem simple to make but are just as easy to mess up. How? Sometimes homemade burgers can turn out dry, shrink into a thick, tough puck of meat, and are not nearly as flavorful as the artisan masterpieces you get at a restaurant. Until now!
Here are some tips that have made a huge difference for us in creating burgers at home.
Transform your burgers instantly with these easy tweaks
- Use ground chuck or 80/20 ground beef. Why? Having some fat adds a lot of flavor and helps the burger’s moistness and juiciness. We like ground chuck. You can use leaner meat if you want to reduce calories but just know this will impact the end result (i.e. it’s easier to overcook).
- Don’t over handle the meat when forming the patty. Loosely formed patties retain pockets of juiciness in the burger. When you over work the meat, you close these pockets, and the moisture has nowhere to go but out of the burger. You don’t want your burger to fall apart, but you don’t want to press it so hard that all of the moisture escapes. Because of this, we like using a patty press because it gives consistent results and shape.
- Place a thumbprint in the center of each patty. This helps prevent your burger from shrinking into a thick tough puck of meat.
- Season the burger after the patty is formed, immediately before grilling. Salt draws water out of and shrinks the ground meat fibers. This will make the burger’s texture tough. For this reason, you don’t want to pre-mix salt into your burger meat. That’s more ideal for making sausage and getting a tough snap. Seasoning the burger on the outside just before grilling adds flavor without taking away from the texture.
Other considerations
- Use a high heat pan if cooking indoors. To get an evenly browned burger, aka the Maillard reaction, you need to have direct high heat to brown it on the outside. If the temperature is too low, you’re just going to steam your burger and get minimal to no browning. To avoid grey burgers when cooking indoors, use a high heat pan, such as cast iron set on medium-high to high heat.
- Avoid flipping the burger too soon. After placing the burger in the pan, or on the grill, you want to give it a minimum of 3-4 minutes on both sides to avoid sticking to the pan. After that, you can flip as much as you want.
- Use a thermometer to determine doneness. Don’t just eyeball it. The only way to truly know that your burger is cooked all the way through is with a thermometer. An instant read food thermometer like the Thermapen works great for this. It’s recommended you cook your burgers to a food safe 165º F.
Mushroom Swiss Burger Recipe
This Mushroom Swiss burger was inspired by one of our favorite burgers at a local restaurant. It is topped with melted Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and a roasted garlic cayenne aioli.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes*
- Cook Time: 60 minutes*
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 3 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
The Burger
- 1 lb. 80% ground chuck
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 slices Swiss cheese
- 1 medium onion, sliced a quarter inch thin and caramelized
- 8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, quarter inch slices
- 3 brioche hamburger buns, toasted
- 1/2 tbsp ghee or butter
Roasted Garlic Cayenne Aioli
- 3 heads of garlic
- extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan
- 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- Dash Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
Roasted Garlic Cayenne Aioli
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Cut the tops off of the whole heads of garlic to expose the garlic cloves. Place on sheet of aluminum foil, and drizzle garlic bulbs lightly with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and then wrap the foil around the garlic to create a tight pouch. Place in the oven and roast for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Then squeeze the pulp from the skins. You will need about 1/3 cup of garlic.
- Combine roasted garlic, mayo, lemon juice, Parmesan, Dijon mustard, cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and some salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are well combined. Refrigerate to allow for the flavors to combine.
Caramelized Onions
Caramelize the onion slices. You can refer to our post: How to caramelize onions fast – In 10 minutes.
Sauteed Mushrooms
- Slice 8 oz of baby bella mushrooms, a quarter inch thin.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil and tablespoon of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Place the mushrooms in the pan; stir and toss to coat in the oil.
- Season with a bit of salt. This will help it release moisture.
- Continue stirring and cooking the mushrooms until they’ve released most of their moisture and are golden brown, 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
For the Burger
- Before cooking the burger, make sure all the toppings and the aioli are ready and that the brioche buns are toasted.
- Toast the brioche buns. Heat a 1/2 tablespoon of clarified butter, aka ghee, in a skillet over medium heat, buns sliced side down. Use a spatula or turner to lift the buns and remove them from the pan when they are golden brown.
- Form the burger patties by using a patty press if you have one. Otherwise, form the patties loosely with your hands, being careful not to press them too tightly. Put a thumbprint in the center of each patty to allow for more even cooking. Just prior to cooking, season the patties with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large heavy bottom pan such as a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat. Place the patties seasoned side down in the pan, then seasoned the other side of the burger with salt and pepper.
- Cook the burgers on the first side for 3-4 minutes. Flip the burgers when they turn gray halfway up the burger and continue cooking another 3 minutes. You may need to reduce the heat to medium if your pan is getting too hot.
- At this point you’ll want to take the burger’s temperature and keep flipping it. When it gets within 150ºF, add the cheese slices to the burgers. It should only take about a minute before they are done. If you need to rapidly melt the cheese, you can cover the skillet with a lid or round baking sheet. Cook to 165°F. Remove the burgers to a plate and loosely tent with foil for a few minutes.
- Assemble the burgers by smearing some of the aioli on the buns. Place a patty on the bottom bun, then the caramelized onions, mushrooms and top bun. Enjoy!
Notes
*For best flavor, we recommend making the aioli the day before and refrigerating in order to allow time for the flavors to blend.
Keywords: burger, mushroom, Swiss, brioche, onions, caramelized onions
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