Beef and Onion Buns
Juicy seasoned beef patties browned hard for a dark crust, then simmered with sweet onions in a quick pan sauce built from the browned bits. Piled into toasted buns, this is a savory, high-protein dinner with no dairy in sight.
- Total
- 35 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 25
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Deglazing
- Savory
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Peel the 2 onions and slice them thinly, about 3 mm thick. Divide the 500 g minced beef into 4 equal portions and shape each into a flat patty about 1.5 cm thick. Season both sides of the patties with the 1 tsp salt and 0.5 tsp black pepper.
~10 min
Even thickness and equal portions ensure the patties cook at the same rate, and salting ahead seasons the meat throughout.
-
Heat the 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large skillet over high heat until it shimmers. Lay in the patties and cook without moving them for 3 minutes, until a dark brown crust forms. Flip and cook the second side for 2 minutes, then move the patties to a plate. They will finish cooking later.
~5 min
High heat without moving the meat drives Maillard browning, building the dark crust and fond that flavor the sauce.
Searing Pat the meat dry, get the pan shimmering hot, and don't move the patties until a dark crust releases on its own. Crowding or fiddling steams the meat and kills the crust.
-
Lower the heat to medium and add the sliced onions to the same skillet with the browned bits. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring often and scraping up the fond, until the onions are soft and golden.
~8 min
Scraping the fond into the onions dissolves those browned bits, and gentle heat coaxes out the onions' sweetness instead of bitterness.
If the onions brown too fast after the patties come out, splash in a spoonful of the measured water and keep scraping; the moisture keeps them sweet instead of bitter.
-
Pour the 120 ml water into the skillet and scrape the bottom firmly to lift every browned bit into the liquid. Simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce reduces slightly and coats the onions.
~2 min
Water deglazes the pan, lifting stuck browned bits into the liquid so their flavor dissolves into the sauce.
Deglazing Pour in the liquid and scrape the pan firmly while it simmers, loosening every browned bit. Skip the scraping and you leave the best flavor stuck to the pan.
-
Nestle the browned patties back into the onions and sauce. Simmer gently for 4 minutes, turning once, until the beef is cooked through and reaches 71°C in the center.
~4 min
Returning the patties lets them finish gently in the sauce, and 71°C ensures the ground beef is safely cooked.
-
Split the 4 buns and press them cut side down into the hot skillet for 1 minute, until lightly toasted. Set a patty on each bun base, spoon over the onions and pan sauce, and close with the tops.
~1 min