Last updated January 17th, 2025
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Kick back in the comfort of your own home with a cold beer and your very own restaurant style pretzel pub burger.
If the restaurant shut down during the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s how to make a restaurant-style burger at home. As huge fans of juicy, savory, delicious burgers, we’re determined to recreate all of our favorite recipes in our own kitchen. Which includes this pretzel pub burger with bacon and caramelized onions.
The pretzel pub burger features a BBQ patty on a toasted salted pretzel bun, topped with sharp cheddar pub cheese, caramelized onions cooked in beer, and crispy bacon. It’s got everything you love about a decadent burger from your favorite local pub! Gooey cheese, super savory over-the-top toppings, and a juicy patty that’ll get your hands messy with every bite.
Our love for restaurant burgers is also why we’re kicking off a new series: Burger of the Month. Each month of 2021, we’ll be sharing a new unique burger recipe. We can’t wait to see which fun or crazy burger you guys love the most!
What This Recipe Entails
Because this recipe requires beer caramelized onions and crispy bacon, the prep time takes a little while. However you can always make both ingredients ahead of time for a quick and simple burger dinner.
- Prep time: 1 hour
- Cook time: 10 minutes
The beer caramelized onions, sharp cheddar pub cheese, and salted pretzel buns really give that extra pub feel to this burger. Regular caramelized onions and pretzel buns right from the package will do the trick, but we think that a little extra work here makes a world of a difference!
Toppings and Ingredients
Each ingredient is purposely added to create an all around restaurant style burger. We have the extra decadent cheese, beer in the onions, and extra butter and salt on the pretzel buns. Here’s what you’ll need to make this pretzel pub cheese bacon burger recipe:
- BBQ burger patties – We use a mixture of ground beef, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, onion, garlic, salt, and liquid smoke.
- Pretzel buns – Brushed with butter and sprinkled with salt for extra deliciousness.
- Sharp cheddar pub cheese – We love this brand from Whole Foods but there are many other options out there. Président makes a great pub cheese, too!
- Toppings – Crispy bacon and beer caramelized onions
How to Make A Pretzel Bacon Pub Burger
As each ingredient can be prepared on its own, assembling this pub cheese burger is quick and easy. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make each component, and put it all together for a delicious restaurant-style pretzel pub burger:
- Beer-caramelized onions – Slice an onion into strips, then cook in a mixture of butter and vegetable oil over medium-low heat until they begin to turn translucent. Then, add salt, sugar, and beer and cook for about 40 to 50 minutes, adding more beer as the onions dry out, until they’re soft and brown. Check out our post on how to make caramelized onions for more details.
- Pretzel buns – Brush the top of each bun with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt, then bake in the oven at a low temperature (around 200 degrees F) until slightly toasted, about 10 minutes.
- BBQ burger patties – Grill them to your liking. Once they’re almost done, top each burger with a scoop of sharp white cheddar pub cheese and let it melt as the patties finish cooking.
- Assemble – Transfer patties to the toasted buns, then top each burger with 2 strips of bacon and a helping of caramelized onions.
Equipment Spotlight: Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan
If you don’t have a grill, we highly recommend buying yourself a cast iron grill pan for grilling indoors! It works just as well as a traditional grill and makes it so easy to grill small batches of food without all the hassle.
Serving Suggestions
- Our favorite way to serve this savory, smokey burger is with a side of sweet potato fries and a cold Sam Adams Cold Snap during those cold winter months.
- Since you’ll likely have extra pub cheese, heat it up and serve it on some loaded fries, or as a dip for your favorite burger sides.
- This is one of our favorite meals when we want to go out to a local pub but don’t actually want to leave the house. Whether it’s a snow day or we’re just feeling lazy, this burger will make you feel like you’re at the local pub.
- Make a batch of these burgers for your game day party and let your guests assemble their own burgers buffet style.
We’d definitely take this home-cooked meal over dining out any day of the week. If you love burgers just as much as we do, try our pretzel pub burger recipe and let us know what you think in the comments! Don’t forget to rate and share if you love this recipe, and check out our other unique burger ideas here.
Expert Tips
- If you love grilling but don’t want to go outside during the cold and dark winter months, get yourself a cast iron grill pan that can be used for indoor grilling. We use ours all the time and it really does get a true grill on whatever you’re making.
- Create loaded fries with your leftover toppings. Cook up some fries then top them with pub cheese, crumbled bacon, and beer caramelized onions.
- To make this recipe for a large crowd, simply create a buffet station with pretzel buns, cooked burger patties, warmed up pub cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions. This way your guests can assemble their own burgers.
- Make the bacon and beer caramelized onions ahead of time. That way when you want to make dinner you can easily heat things up while the burgers cook. This saves so much time while making dinner.
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these other burger recipes, too:
- BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders
- Guinness Burger
- Bacon Cheeseburger with Garlic Aioli
- Maple Bourbon Burger
To browse more of our latest recipes and seasonal dishes, visit our homepage here.
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Pretzel Pub Burger
Equipment
- Burger press optional
- Cast iron grill pan optional
Ingredients
The Patties
The Toppings
- 4 strips bacon cooked
- 2 tablespoons sharp cheddar pub cheese
Beer Caramelized Onions
- 1 medium white onion
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup beer
Salted Pretzel Buns
- 2 pretzel buns
- ½ tablespoon butter melted. optional
- 2 pinches sea salt optional
Instructions
How To Make Pub Burgers
- Begin by preparing the Beer Caramelized Onions (see directions below).
- Once the onions are close to done, prepare the BBQ Burger Patties and Salted Pretzel Buns (see below).
- Assemble your pub burgers: transfer patties to salted pretzel buns and top with 2 strips of bacon each and a scoop of beer caramelized onions.
- Serve with your favorite side, a cold beer, and enjoy!
Beer Caramelized Onions
- First, slice the onion into strips. Preheat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
- Once the butter and oil are hot, add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until they begin to soften and turn translucent.
- Next, add the sugar and salt, stirring well to coat the onions evenly. Add a splash of the beer if the pan has dried out, and continue cooking for about 40 to 50 minutes. Stir occasionally and add the beer a little at a time, as needed when the onions start to dry out.
Salted Pretzel Buns
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F and line a small baking sheet with foil. Slice the pretzel buns and place them on the baking sheet in a closed position.
- Next, brush the tops of the buns with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until slightly toasted.
BBQ Patties
- Cook the burger patties according to your preferred method, until desired doneness. You can find directions for making our BBQ Burger Patties linked in the notes below.
- During the last two minutes of cooking, top each patty with about 1 tablespoon of pub cheese. Let the cheese melt over the patties as they finish cooking.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
Looking for kitchen inspiration? Head over to our shop to see what we cook with every day, plus recommendations for foodie gifts and eco-friendly products.