Hamburgers with Onions, Swedish Style

These Swedish-style hamburgers are nothing like the loaded, piled-high American kind. They’re simple butter-sauteed beef patties topped with slow-cooked golden onions and green pepper rings braised in a splash of water. Five ingredients, no buns, no ketchup. Just good beef and sweet onions.

Handle the meat as little as possible when shaping the patties. Overworking ground beef compresses it and squeezes out fat, leaving you with tough, dry burgers instead of loose, juicy ones. Shape them gently and leave them slightly thicker in the center since they’ll puff during cooking.

The onions cook low and slow in butter until they turn golden and sweet, not just soft. That takes real patience. The green pepper rings and a half cup of boiling water get added near the end, softening the peppers while creating a light, buttery sauce that pools around the patties on the plate.

Kitchen Tips

• Use beef with some fat content. Extra-lean ground beef dries out fast in a skillet
• Saute the patties in the same skillet after the onions, so they pick up the butter and onion flavor from the pan
• Don’t press the burgers with a spatula while cooking. That squeezes out all the juice
• Serve with boiled potatoes and sliced cucumbers for the traditional Swedish plate

Variations

• Add a pinch of allspice to the meat mixture for a more traditional Scandinavian flavor
• Top with a fried egg for a heartier meal
• Stir a tablespoon of cream into the onion mixture for a richer sauce