French Onion Cheeseburger

This French Onion Cheeseburger is a triple decker burger that’s dripping with three layers of cheese and caramelized onions, piled onto Texas Toast!

cheeseburger with caramelized onions and fries

An Epic Cheeseburger Recipe For Tailgating or BBQ’s

You whip up this burger for your friends at your next tailgating party and let me tell you, by the end of the day you’re going to have a LOT of friends.

Here’s the key to my tailgating parties – everything has to be pretty epic, not just a hot dog and a bun, I’m talking knock your socks off food that people go crazy over – and it has to be easy to make while you’re in the middle of a parking lot.

So what’s the secret? Everything has to be done ahead of time. With the exception of grilling the actual burgers, which you’ll be doing in that parking lot, all the toppings and sides get done at home.

Because you can’t just throw a burger on a bun for this tailgate party, we need a football burger here, one that makes you know you’re at the game today.

And this French Onion Cheeseburger does just that. It’s a three layers of burger, for a 3 point field goal. Smothered with three different types of cheese and topped with caramelized onions. Just like all the flavors in a French Onion soup, right here on a burger. And we all know the best part about French onion soup is all that cheese.

How Do You Make A French Onion Cheeseburger?

It’s the same with this burger, it’s the three different types of cheese that make this burger unbelievably tasty, so you definitely don’t want to skimp on the cheese. We’re using three different types of Swiss cheese here but you can use one kind or switch it up with gruyere too!

French Onion Cheeseburger with cheese

The three different kinds of cheese I used for this burger are a baby Swiss, a three year aged Swiss and a nutty Alpine style cheese. The three different cheeses totally bring out the flavor you’re looking to copy in that french onion soup – the thick layer of gooey cheese floating at the top of the soup – we all know that’s why we order the soup in the first place, right?

Now let’s talk for a minute about the bread – we’re not using a plain old hamburger bun, we’ve got to go big or go home. So just like the crouton underneath all that cheese in your French onion soup, the bun here is two buttery, thick slices of Texas Toast.

And then we have the onions…loads and loads of sweet caramelized onions cooked in butter with a splash of marsala wine at the end. We can’t have a French Onion Cheeseburger without the onions!

Caramelized onions for French Onion Cheeseburger

Now that you’ve got the onions cooked and your ingredients ready to go we can light up the grill.

These are thin burger patties so they aren’t going to need to cook for more than a few minutes on each side, perfect for tailgating since no one is going to want to wait long to get their hands on these.

hamburger patties on grill

Layer one type of cheese on each burger patty and close up the grill for a minute so it melts…Then assemble the cheeseburgers.

One burger patty on the bottom, covered with onions and then another cheesy burger patty on top. Repeat with one more layer and press that last piece of Texas toast down on top.

French Onion Cheeseburger dipping in juice

We kept it simple by grabbing a store bought package of Au Jus, you can get them right by the packaged gravy. Since we’re not cooking a roast or anything to actually make an Au Jus, this is the next best thing!

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cheeseburger on Texas toast with onions

French Onion Cheeseburger

  • Author: Dan
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 1 Serving 1x

This French Onion Cheeseburger is dripping with gooey cheese and sweet caramelized onions. Serve on Texas toast for an extra flavor boost!

Scale

Ingredients

  • 3¼ pound hamburger patties
  • 2 thick slices baby Swiss cheese
  • 2 thick slices aged Swiss cheese
  • 2 thick slices Alpine-style cheese
  • 2 slices store bought Texas Toast
  • 1 package Au Jus powdered gravy

For the Caramelized Onions:

  • 5 large onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons marsala wine
  • 1 package store bought au jus (optional, for dipping)

Instructions

  1. Start the caramelized onions by melting the butter and olive oil together in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
  2. Add the sliced onions, salt and pepper to the skillet and toss to coat in the butter and olive oil.
  3. Cook, stirring often, for 20-30 minutes until softened and browned.
  4. Stir in the marsala wine and cook for 2 minutes more, then remove from the heat.
  5. Cook the Texas toast in the oven according to the package directions and let cool.
  6. While the Texas toast is in the oven, make the au jus according to the package directions.
  7. When you’re ready to make the burgers, take out the hamburger patties and place on your grill. Grill for 2 minutes per side, then top each burger with 2 slices of each different type of cheese to melt.
  8. Place a burger on a piece of Texas toast, then top with a large spoonful or the caramelized onions.
  9. Repeat with the other two layers, ending with the onions on top and then the top piece of Texas toast.

Recipe Notes

You can also use our Slow Cooker Caramelized Onions to make these cheeseburgers if you’re making this recipe for a party or BBQ!

  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Grill
  • Cuisine: American

This post has been brought to you by Wisconsin Cheese. All opinions here are mine, alone. Thank you for your help in supporting the brands that support this site!

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4 Responses
  1. Jodi

    The burger portion of the recipe seems to only be enough for one burger. Shouldn’t that be stated in recipe or quantities changed?

    1. Dan

      Yes Jodi – thank you so much! It is for one burger, with extra onions. I’m not sure how that got in there. Thanks again!

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