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Short-Order Kitchen

In-N-Out-Style Flying Dutchman, Bunless

By Wes Ellis2 min read
Two grilled beef burger patties on a grill pan, one topped with a slice of melting cheese.
Recipe card
Servings
2
Prep
15 minutes, plus chilling the sauce
Cook
10 to 15 minutes
Method
Skillet
Heat
Medium-high heat
Difficulty
Medium
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 5 of the thread Drive-thru copycats, lightened up

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • The onion rounds are the bun, so cut them thick and keep them intact.
  • Four thin patties, cheese melted on two of them.
  • Stack it: onion, plain patty, cheesy patty, cheesy onion.
  • It's messy. Eat it fresh; it doesn't reheat.
THE RECIPE · IN-N-OUT-STYLE FLYING DUTCHMAN, BUNLESS

Ingredients

Sauce

Burgers

You'll need

  • Small bowl and whisk
  • Large skillet
  • Spatula
  • Knife and cutting board

Directions

Sauce

  1. Whisk the sauce ingredients together and chill while you do everything else.

Burgers

  1. Divide the beef into 4 thin patties and season them well.
  2. Cut the onion into 4 thick rounds, keeping the rings together as best you can.
  3. Brown the onion rounds in a sprayed skillet until soft and golden.
  4. Sear the patties. Near the end, melt cheese on two of them.
  5. Stack each burger: onion round, plain patty, cheesy patty, then an onion round on top.
  6. Serve with the sauce on the side or drizzled over.
Notes Best eaten immediately. You can store the parts separately, but the stacked burger doesn't reheat well. If the onion rounds fall apart, use them as a base and a topping instead of a true bun.

wesellis.com/blog/flying-dutchman-burger-copycat/

The off-menu Flying Dutchman is just two patties and two slices of cheese, no bun, no nothing. It's delicious and a little absurd. This version keeps the idea but adds grilled onion rounds to hold onto, which makes it a lot easier to eat without a fork.

Thick onions or bust

The whole thing lives or dies on the onion. A thin slice turns into loose rings the second you flip it, and then you're eating beef with onion confetti. Cut the rounds properly thick, like you mean it, and handle them gently with a wide spatula. Brown them first, and let them go soft and golden so they're sweet, not sharp.

Tip

Stick a toothpick through each round sideways before it hits the pan. It keeps the rings together, and you pull it out before stacking.

Cheese as glue

Only two of the four patties get cheese, and that's on purpose. The cheesy patty sits against the top onion round and holds the stack together. Cheese on every layer just makes it slide.

For the same burger-shop flavor with a bun, try the Big Mac-Style Sloppy Joes. And if a knife and fork sounds more appealing than a stack of hot onions, the Cheeseburger Salad gets you there too.

Heads up

Thin patties cook in a couple of minutes a side. Pull them before they dry out; they'll keep cooking while you stack.

LINKED FROM4 notes

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