Best Patty Melt EVER

I just recently got into the grand world of artisan sandwiches. Now is this an artisan sandwich? No this is not an artisan sandwich, but it is delicious! It’s simple and while caramelizing onions can take a while (the majority of time for this recipe), it’s entirely worth it for the amazing flavor!

Another plus to this dish, is how many servings you can make! While there are only four servings for this recipe, scaling up is easy and won’t require much more time.

What’s in a Patty Melt?

A patty melt consists of a beef patty with Swiss cheese and caramelized onions on rye bread. This recipe takes a slightly different approach and uses sourdough panini bread as I find it provides a slightly sweeter flavor.

A patty melt is common for a dinner sandwich, but it works just as well for a filling lunchtime treat.

How to Caramelize Onions

Something you should know beforehand is that there are plenty of “cooking tips” out there that say they can speed up the process of caramelizing onions. Be wary of any tip that says it can make the process faster, as good caramelized onions will always take time and patience!

First off, what are caramelized onions? Ironically, they are called that because they go through a caramelization process where the sugars in the onion break down and become something far sweeter and make the onion a soft brown.

This process is achieved by frying the onions in an oil/butter mixture on medium heat for roughly 45 minutes to 1 hour. Occasionally, the onions may heat up too much and brown too fast. If the onions are beginning to burn, simply add water to deglaze and continue the caramelization process while lowering the heat slightly.

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Patty Melt with Caramelized Onions

Servings 4

Calories 710

A delicious lunch with creamy swiss cheese.

Ingredients

Caramelized Onion

1 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Vidalia Onion
1 pinch Brown Sugar

Beef Patty

1 pound Ground Beef
1/4 tbsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tbsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Pepper
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Sourdough Bread

4 tbsp Butter
3 tbsp Mayonnaise
8 slices Swiss Cheese

Instructions

Caramelized Onions

Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat in a non-stick cooking pan or skillet.
Add sliced onions to the pan and saute until golden brown. This process can take between 50 minutes to and 1 hour if done correctly. If the onions are browning to quickly, simply add water to deglaze them and lower the heat a little. Add brown sugar to sweeten and salt to taste.

Patty Melt

In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix ground beef, garlic powder, onion powder, worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
Form beef into patties slightly larger than the bread slice you'll be using, they'll shrink when cooked.
Using any pan, cook the patties on medium heat on both sides until there's no pink in the middle.
In a small bowl, mix the butter and mayonnaise until combined.
Spread the mayo/butter mixture on each piece of sourdough on one side.
Using a pan, place a slice of buttered sourdough into the pan, butter side down. Place 1 slice of swiss cheese on the dry side. Add caramelized onions over the cheese. Place the beef patty over the onions and another slice of swiss cheese. Finally, place another piece of sourdough with the buttered side up.
Cook until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.