TL/DR – Mushroom Swiss Burgers. A little high maintenance, but totally worth it. These are bomb. Plain burgers topped with mounds of thyme mushrooms and a Swiss/gruyere cheese sauce. Nothing wrong here. –
As with other burger recipes found on this site, these Mushroom Swiss Burgers are delicious with or without a bun. I have a personal desire to get the most flavor points per calorie, which means the bun sometimes isn’t tasty enough to make the cut! If you are a bun-believer, then keep it! Toast it! Love it!
Mushroom Swiss Burgers are best, in my opinion, with a cheesy sauce instead of a slice of Swiss cheese. Sauce adds so much to a burger, especially when combined with thinly sliced sautéed mushrooms. The sauce is a béchamel that follows the same process as you would for home made macaroni and cheese.
Cook the mushrooms with just a tiny bit of salt until all moisture has evaporated. Add a generous amount of fresh thyme and some white wine vinegar to cook off at the end of the cooking process.
I prefer 80% lean ground beef because, well, fat tastes good. I know, grill fire? Nope. Just get them started over full flame, then turn the burners directly under the burger patties off and keep the ones surrounding on medium-high heat. Repeat when flipping them to achieve beautiful grill marks on both sides. To form the patties, just take handfuls of the ground beef and gently form into patties. Use a bit of salt and pepper. That is all that is needed.
These Mushroom Swiss Burgers take a bit of coordination to get all three main components cooked and ready at once, but they’re totally worth the labor. Serve with Buttermilk Packet Potatoes.
Mushroom Swiss Burgers
Ingredients
- For the mushrooms:
- 16 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced very thinly
- 2 T extra virgin olive oil
- 2 T fresh thyme, minced
- 1/4 t kosher salt
- 1/8 t pepper
- 1 t white wine vinegar
- For the burgers:
- 1 lb ground beef, 80% lean
- salt and pepper to taste
- For the Swiss sauce:
- 1 T butter
- 1 T flour
- 1 1/2 c milk
- 1 1/2 c swiss cheese, shredded
- 1/2 c shredded or grated gruyere or Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- dash of pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Slice the mushrooms very thinly, 1/8 in or less.
- Step 2 Mince the thyme.
- Step 3 If necessary, grate the cheeses and set aside.
- Step 4 Pour 2 T olive oil into a large skillet and heat on high until very hot.
- Step 5 Add the mushrooms and allow to cook down for about 5 minutes before adding 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t pepper and fresh thyme.
- Step 6 Turn the heat to medium high and cook the mushrooms until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.
- Step 7 As the mushrooms cook down, heat the grill to 350 degrees F.
- Step 8 Keeping an eye on the mushrooms, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and then add the flour. Cook the flour, whisking constantly, for about a minute.
- Step 9 Slowly add the milk, 1/2 t salt and dash of pepper to the sauce pan and, stirring frequently with a whisk, bring it to a boil.
- Step 10 While watching the sauce, keep an eye on the mushrooms. As soon as most liquid has evaporated, add the white wine vinegar and stir well, allowing it to cook off. Then turn off the burner and set the skillet aside.
- Step 11 While watching the sauce, form four patties with the ground beef and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Step 12 Place the burgers on the middle of the grill and cook for 5 minutes on each side, turning off the middle burners and leaving the side burners on if necessary to avoid flare ups.
- Step 13 As the burgers cook, finish the sauce. Once it boils briefly, lower to a simmer and allow to thicken, stirring frequently with a whisk. Once it coats the back of a spoon, remove it from the heat and whisk in the cheeses.
- Step 14 Serve each burger patty alone or on a bun.
- Step 15 Pour about 1/4 c of the Swiss sauce over the burger, then top with a generous scoop of mushrooms.
