Hello burger friends! Once again, it’s BurgerTime.
Smash burgers are awesome, but these days they’re practically the only type of burger I see people making on social media. They’re also all over restaurant menus, even when the patties clearly aren’t smashed (I’ll save this rant for another day).
I very much enjoy smash burgers, but sometimes I crave a burger with a thick, juicy patty. A thin, smashed patty burger and a thick, pub-style burger are two totally different experiences, and I think there’s a time and a place for each.
This week, we’re NOT making smash burgers. We’re crafting a fun, slightly upscale, thicker pub-style beef burger combined with ingredients that kids have been enjoying in sandwiches for over 120 years.
What is this sandwich?
This sandwich is a burger.
Our creation today is inspired by a burger I recently ate at a restaurant called the Thirsty Moose Tap House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Thirsty Moose is a small chain of tap room restaurants in New Hampshire, with a location that happened to be right next to the place we were parking our rental car for the day. Convenience plus a restaurant with a large selection of beers?
Count me in.
I had been eating seafood all week on a vacation in Maine (more on that in a future sandwich blog post, maybe), and my brain told me I needed a cheeseburger, so I ordered what appeared to be one of their less traditional options, the PB&J Burger.
This is not just a burger with peanut butter and jelly smeared on it, though. It’s a little bit more elevated than that.
The Thirsty Moose PB&J Burger contains their “house burger” (which, by my guess, was about 1/3 of a pound of ground beef) that is topped with crumbled goat cheese and peanut butter sauce. Underneath the patty is fig spread and mixed greens. Everything mentioned is tucked inside a Brioche bun and served with fries for 18 American bucks.
Turns out, the Thirsty Moose PB&J Burger was pretty good. It wasn’t the best burger I’ve ever had, but I really got the gist of what they were shooting for with the flavor combinations. Goat cheese and fig jam/spread are a fairly classic pairing that you might find on charcuterie boards, and the peanut butter sauce mixed with goat cheese was able to cut some of the fat from the beef patty. The burger patty was still juicy, and overall, the whole experience left me very satisfied and thinking about how I would adjust the PB&J concept to make my own version.
PB&J history: The first appearance of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich recipe was published in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics in 1901. That recipe called for currant or crab-apple jelly to accompany the peanut butter.
Peanut butter on a burger is not a new concept. There’s a style of burger, created in Missouri, called the Goober Burger, that is focused on the addition of peanut butter in burgers, and it dates back to at least 1940. But the introduction of sweet jelly or jam changes things up, and it really goes a long way in creating a fun burger experience.
I’ve eaten peanut butter burgers before, and I have added peanut butter to a couple of burgers that I have made at home, but I have not yet—until this sandwich blog post—added jam or jelly to accompany that nut butter. This all changes now, though, because the burger I’ve created has both the sweet and the savory flavors coming from the sandwich that American kids have been spreading on white bread for more than 100 years.
My version of the PB&J burger starts with 80/20 ground beef, which I think provides the perfect amount of lean beef to fat in order to create a great burger patty. The cheese component comes in the form of crumbled goat cheese, which brings a bit of tang and creaminess to the finished burger. The peanut butter component is a homemade honey-roasted pistachio butter that pairs very well with store-bought apricot preserves. The burger also has mixed greens, which are tossed in a simple dressing that uses a bit more of the preserves to bring sweetness that balances a bit of red wine vinegar and a small touch of hot sauce.
Now that we know what burger we’re making, it’s time to bake some buns.
Shiny-topped potato buns
The buns that the burgers at the Thirsty Moose are served on are Brioche, but they weren’t super rich-tasting. They seemed more like a standard burger bun that has been darkly baked with a shiny egg wash on top. So for these burgers, I chose to use my favorite potato bun recipe.
It might be surprising, but a potato bun includes potatoes, typically in the form of potato flour or dried potato flakes. The dried potato or flour should contain starch, which helps the bread retain moisture, leading to a softer bun that, in theory, will have a longer shelf life due to the retained moisture helping the bread stay fresher for a longer period.
I typically do not paint the tops of my regular burger buns with an egg wash before baking. An egg wash is typically intended to help brown buns or loaves of bread, and in this case, you can see that it makes the fully baked buns very shiny, like you might see if you are selecting a brioche bun.
When making burger buns like this, I will usually just bake them without anything painted on the exterior until they are fully baked, and then I will paint on some melted butter, which helps to soften and flavor the exterior of the bun. When you are going to the trouble of painting on egg wash, you probably do not also want to paint on butter because it will dull that shine that you worked to achieve.
If you want to see a suggestion for MANY other sandwiches that I have written about that use this bun recipe, check out the “related sandwich blog posts” section that appears under the full recipe for these buns.
Super soft potato buns v2
Here's my updated, soft and squishy bun recipe that's perfect for your next burger night. This updated version that uses potato flour and dry milk powder for a lighter bun with longer shelf life.
Get RecipeBurger patties
For these NON-smash burgers, I went with storebought 80/20 beef that I shaped into roughly 6-ounce patties. Because there’s a lot of flavor going into this burger, I simply seasoned both sides of the patty with salt and ground black pepper.
Because it’s summer, I grilled at least one patty from this particular burger on my charcoal grill, but all the rest of the PB&J burgers I created were seared on a griddle in my kitchen. I think a flat top produces the best burger, but you can cook yours however you prefer to make burgers. Keep things simple in the burger category for this sandwich because the nut butter and preserves will drive the experience.
Note: You do not have to use a beef patty for this burger. I made my wife the same exact burger that I ate, but hers was ground turkey. You could use a vegetarian patty, too, if you want.
I like to use 80/20 ground beef in my burgers, smash or otherwise, and that’s what these are too. If you’re reading this, you probably know what 80/20 means, but if not, it’s a rough guess of the proportion of lean meat to fat in the ground beef. I can typically find proportions for ground beef ranging anywhere from 70/30 to something like 95/5, but 80/20 just seems to provide the right flavor and texture that I enjoy. But feel free to try a leaner proportion if you like. This PB&J burger has enough going on in it with the other components that you might be able to cook a slightly healthier patty work here.
Peanut butter Pistachio butter
Ok, we have to get something out of the way first. This pistachio butter IS NOT pretty. It’s brown, but it sort of has a weird green tint due to the pistachios. But it’s very tasty, and unlike some other nut butters that I have made, it’s very obvious upon first taste that this spread is made with pistachios.
If you don’t want to make your own pistachio butter, this burger will work just fine with regular store-bought peanut butter, but you do notice the slight bit of sweetness that honey-roasted pistachios were contributing to the burger, so if you can find a fancier peanut butter that might have some honey, I think it works well.
Here’s my honey-roasted pistachio butter recipe. If you have a food processor, it’s pretty easy to make, but if you want to make this same burger with your favorite store-bought peanut butter, that’ll work great too.
Honey roasted pistachio butter
This pistachio butter is a smooth, tasty spread that will elevate your next PB&J experience. Make some for your nextrn burger night if you're fancy.
Get RecipeJelly Apricot Preserves
I made fancy PB&J burgers with fig preserves and apricot preserves. The burger I had at Thirsty Moose used fig spread, but I think the flavors of the apricot preserves worked just as well. Sweetness like jam or preserves in a burger isn’t typical, but if you like the combination of sweet and savory, you’ll love this idea.
Basically, you could pull this off with whatever jam, jelly, or preserves that you have available. As long as you enjoy it and you think it’ll work well with pistachio or peanut butter, go for it.
I have a recipe for a peach refrigerator jam that I think would work great in this PB&J burger if you want to make all the components yourself.
Goat Cheese
The menu listing for the Thirsty Moose PB&J burger just said “goat cheese,” and it was sprinkled on top of the beef patty with some peanut butter sauce added on top of that. The goat cheese was present, but it wasn’t a huge component in that burger for me.
You probably already know, but goat cheese comes in a ton of different varieties, and there really is no default “goat cheese,” but you should be able to find something like chevre or something similar to what I purchased, which is pre-crumbled goat cheese. This will add some creaminess and a bit of a dry, tangy flavor to the finished burger. On its own, I wouldn’t consider goat cheese to be a great cheese to use on a burger, but with this combination of flavors, it really works for me.
I probably added a little bit more of the goat cheese component to my PB&J burgers, and it helped cut some of the fat of the burger and sweetness from the preserves and honey-roasted pistachio to balance things out. It worked really well as a component, and I think it would even be a great addition to spruce up your next boring PB&J.
Mixed greens dressed with apricot preserves
You can just add the greens directly to the burger and eat, but I’ve always felt that lettuce or greens on a sandwich are a WHOLE lot better if they are dressed first. With just some olive oil, vinegar, salt, and black pepper, you can make the leaves pop with additional flavor.
And since we’re already spreading apricot preserves on the bottom bun, I figured I could add just a bit more of that flavor into the salad dressing. This dressing brings a hit of acid to the burger that helps to balance out all of the sweetness from the honey-roasted pistachios and jam.
I make this salad and the dressing right in a small bowl as I’m about to build the burger. You could make a larger version of this dressing, but in my experience, it works just fine to dress a small handful of greens with splashes of olive oil, red wine vinegar, apricot preserves, and salt and pepper. Toss and then directly add to the bottom burger bun.
My upscaled PB&J Burger photos and recipe
Below are a few photos I took of the different PB&J burgers I made throughout the week. It’s a super fun take on an elevated pub-style burger that brings a lot of different sweet and savory flavors crashing together into a harmonious package.
Scroll through to see the photos, and then you can get the full recipe right down below.
Remember: you don’t have to make your own pistachio or peanut butter; you can just buy the brand you like, and this burger turns into a pretty easy-to-compose, slightly fancy, extra tasty meal.
Peanut Butter Jelly BurgerTime burger
Enjoy a new twist on a thick pub-style burger. The addition of pistachio butter and apricot preserves brings sweetness and savory nutty flavors to create a fantastically tasty burger adventure.
Ingredients:
Honey roasted pistachio (or peanut) butter- 3 cups honey roasted pistachios (or peanuts)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon salt (you may need more)
- 1 teaspoon neutral cooking oil (optional)
- 6 ounces ground beef (80/20)
- salt and black pepper
- small handful of mixed greens
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon apricot preserves (or fig jam)
- salt and black pepper
- 1 hamburger bun (or brioche bun)
- 1 tablespoon apricot preserves
- 1 beef patty (from above)
- goat cheese
- honey roasted pistachio/peanut butter (from above)
Directions:
Honey roasted nut butter: add all honey roasted pistachio (or peanut) butter ingredients to a food processor.
Process for 5 to 10 minutes on low. The amount of time will be determined by the power of your food processor and the consistency you want in your nut butter.
The pistachios/peanuts will go from a sandy texture to a playdough consistency before the spread starts to get smooth. If you've never done this before, for a few minutes it will seem like there's no way your pistachio/peanut spread will become smooth, but just keep running the food processor and it will eventually smooth out and become creamy.
When you get the consistency you want, make sure to taste to see if you need to add more salt or honey.
Burger patty: pre-heat a large skillet or griddle over high heat for 5 minutes. Measure out about a 6-ounce portion of ground beef and form it into a patty that's between 3/4 and 1 inch thick. Season both sides of your burger patties with salt and black pepper.
Place your ground beef patty on the hot skillet or griddle. Cook for 3 minutes and flip the burger.
Once flipped, cook 4 more minutes for a medium-rare patty. Add additional time if you prefer a more well-done burger.
Remove the patty to a plate to rest for a couple of minutes. While the burger is resting, toast your buns in the hot pan for one to two minutes (spread butter on each bun if desired).
Sandwich assembly: in a small bowl, we'll quickly assemble a salad with the mixed greens. Add a handful of greens, and then add olive oil, red wine vinegar, apricot preserves, and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the greens with the dressing to combine.
Spread an additional tablespoon of apricot preserves on the bottom bun and then top with some of the salad greens.
Add the burger patty on top of the greens and then top with a dollop of pistachio/peanut butter and a sprinkling of goat cheese. Complete the burger with the top bun and serve.
Check back soon
Next week, we’re headed to Detroit to make a very simple sandwich that is kind of similar to a not-so-great “sandwich” that had McDonald’s fans begging the chain to resurrect. I am making my own version of this handheld from scratch with multiple different versions. Come back soon to figure out what the heck this sandwich actually is.
