Prep Time 10

Cook Time 10

Total Time 20

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These grilled onion burgers are juicy beef patties topped with sweet grilled onions, tangy blue cheese, and a yogurt-mustard sauce. The blue cheese brings the sharpness, the onions bring the sweetness, and the yogurt sauce ties it together with just enough tang.

a burger in a roll with sauce on a plate

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The onions cook right on the grill grates next to the burgers, so you get smoky char flavor without pulling out a skillet or standing over a pan of slowly caramelizing onions for half an hour. That makes this the burger for a weeknight grill night or a backyard cookout when you want something that tastes like more effort than it actually took.

Recipe Fast Facts

Quick: Burgers and onions cook side by side in about 10 minutes; 20 minutes start to finish.
Onions: Sweet onions char best, but red, white, or yellow work fine if that’s what’s on hand.
Flexible: Swap the cheese or the protein and it’s a different burger, this one bends to whatever’s in your fridge.
Doneness: A meat thermometer is the easiest way to check , 160°F for well-done.
Leftovers: Keep up to three days in the fridge, reheat on the grill or break up into a salad.

Note: This isn’t the El Reno-style Oklahoma onion burger, where thin onions get smashed into the raw patty on a griddle. In this one, the onions grill separately alongside the burger.

Ingredients for onion burgers on a cutting board with ground beef, arugula, balsamic vinegar, onions, blue cheese and Greek yogurt sauce

Ingredient Notes

Ground Beef: Use lean 80/20 ground beef or higher.
Onion: Any onion works on the grill. We like sweet onions best, but red, white, or yellow are all fine.
Blue Cheese: Not a fan? Swap in sharp cheddar, feta, or whatever cheese you reach for most.
Greek Yogurt: Sour cream works in the sauce if that’s what you have.
Honey or Maple Syrup: Either one works here, use whichever’s in your pantry.
Hot Sauce: Optional. Leave it out if you’d rather skip the kick, or swap in your favorite brand.
Hamburger Buns: A soft bun like a potato roll holds up best against the juices and sauce. Skip heartier rolls like brioche buns or pretzel buns; they compete with the toppings instead of supporting them.

How to Make Grilled Onion Burgers

Prep everything first. Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Slice the onion into 1/2 to 3/4-inch rounds, form the beef into four 4-ounce patties, and measure the blue cheese. If you use thinly sliced onions, they will be difficult to cook on the grill.
Make the sauce. Whisk together the yogurt, mustard, hot sauce, and honey. Set aside.
Grill the burgers and onions. Drop the grill to medium. Season the burgers with salt and pepper, brush the onion slices with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and put both on the grill. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, flip, and cook another 5 minutes or until the burgers hit your desired doneness.
Melt the cheese. Top each burger with blue cheese right before pulling it off the grill, then close the lid until it melts.
Build the burger. Bun, burger, grilled onion, a few spoonfuls of sauce. Top with lettuce, spinach, field greens or arugula.

a picture of the process steps needed to make grilled onion burgers grill the meat and onions, and assemble the burger

Make it Your Way

A burger is easier to riff on than most dinners because the formula is already simple: pick the meat, choose a sauce, finish with toppings. Change any one of those, and you’ve got a different burger without a new recipe.

Switch the protein: Ground turkey, chicken, bison, or pork all work, just watch the cook time since leaner meats cook faster.

Change the flavor: Swap the balsamic-yogurt combo for BBQ sauce and smoked gouda for something sweeter, or chipotle mayo and pepper jack if you want heat instead of tang.

Finish it your way: Blue cheese is what we like, but cheddar, feta, Havarti cheese or whatever’s in your fridge will work. Top with arugula and dill pickles, or tomatoes. If you want the onions deeper and sweeter instead of grilled, you can use caramelized onions instead.

I usually make a double batch of patties when the grill’s already going and use the extras for burger bowls later in the week, no bun, just the toppings over greens.

If you like building dinner this way, swapping the meat or the flavor instead of hunting for a new recipe, my Grilling Builder works the same way, just with more proteins and flavor combos to mix and match all summer.

Serving Suggestions

These burgers are rich enough (blue cheese, beef, a creamy sauce) that I like a lighter, acidic side next to them rather than something else heavy. A cucumber salad or sweet and spicy pickles cuts through the richness. If you want something more filling, potato salad or sauteed mushrooms on the side rounds it out for a full backyard BBQ spread.

overhead of burger cut in half on a plate

Storing and Using Leftovers

Store cooked patties and grilled onions together in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. Keep the yogurt sauce in a separate container; it’ll keep just as long but tastes best added fresh rather than sitting on a reheated burger.

To reheat, a few minutes back on the grill or in a hot skillet keeps the patty from drying out better than the microwave does. If you’re meal-prepping ahead, the raw patties freeze well for up to three months; just thaw overnight in the fridge before grilling.

Tips

If the burger sticks to the grill grates, give it another minute before trying to flip, it will release on its own once it’s ready to flip.
Slice the onions to an even thickness so they grill at the same rate as the burgers, too thin, and they’ll burn before the patties are done.