This Goat Cheese Burger with Fig Jam and caramelized onions is a delightful combination of sweet, salty, and tangy and perfect for any occasion from a backyard bash to a wedding cocktail hour. It elevates burgers for when you get a little sick of cheese and ketchup!
If you're looking for more ways to elevate your parties, try our REAL Italian Mac and Cheese or Eggplant Caponatini (Caponata).
Looking for more meals on the grill? Check out our Italian Ring Sausage (Chevalatta) or Big Fat Greek Chicken Burger
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Who Puts Goat Cheese on a Burger
One time, my wife and I started a catering company. A meat and cheese fiasco that taught us two lessons. One: know your market. Two: A Goat Cheese Burger with fig jam will make everyone feel better. We were stuck with an abundance of leftover goat cheese and fig jam when we over-ordered one day. There are only so many things you can do with goat cheese. So, I made these burgers
A Goat Cheese Burger with fig jam and caramelized onions is unbelievably tasty. It is such an odd coupling of food but it turns out the sweet, tangy, and salty go together. It's the same sweet and savory combo as Mascarpone Toast with Lox.
The creamy goat cheese on top of the burger is so delicious when combined with the caramelized onions. If I got to have another wedding, this would be the appetizer. People would eat them by the hundreds.
Substitutions and Ingredient Notes
Goat Cheese. There are lots of different kinds of cheese made from goat milk. You're going to want to pick out a chevre. It's the smooth creamy type of goat cheese.
Fig Jam. You can use fig jam or fig butter. Anything with that sweet and tangy taste.
Lettuce. I like the bitterness of arugula in the mix here but I've also done it with romaine which is delicious Some other options would be frisee or iceberg lettuce.
Ground beef. I always pick 80-85% lean meat for burgers. Also, I like to pick the fresh ground beef in the packages at the market as opposed to the shrink-wrapped ones. The shrink-wrapped ones are always very dense.
*Please see the recipe card below for more information about the ingredients.
How to make Goat Cheese Burgers with Caramelized Onions
Step 1: Break apart 1 lb of ground beef into 3 pieces. Roll 3 smooth balls of the meat and then using two slices of wax paper, press down each one into a patty. The less you can squeeze and play with the meat the better. Add salt and pepper to both sides of the patty right before cooking.
Step 2: Bring a cast iron pan to medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and once it's hot, add the onions.
Step 3: Stir the onions occasionally for about 10-12 minutes until they begin to develop a golden brown color.
Step 3: Add burgers to the grill or a cast iron pan. Sear burgers on both sides until they reach the desired temperature.
Step 4: On a small slider bun, slather on fig jam and add your lettuce of choice. Set your patty on top of the arugula and add 2 slices of goat cheese and charred onions.
Serve hot! I'm never a fan of leftover burgers. So, only make as many as you're going to eat! Then freeze the rest. Fig jam is so delicious but if you need an alternative, try our Chipotle BBQ Sauce for a sweet and tangy sauce to pair with your goat cheese burgers.
Pro-tips
- You want a light and not-so-packed meat. My mom can be quoted saying "don't play with your meat too much." Out of context, we'd have some deep unpacking to do. But when we are talking about burgers, meatloaf, and meatballs, you want to squeeze and press the meat as minimally as possible. The more we press it and squeeze it, the tighter it becomes and the more dense it becomes.
- Don't use shrink-wrapped meat for the same reason listed above. It's always going to be more dense.
- Take your time when caramelizing onions. It can take 10 to 15 minutes when you caramelize half an onion.
How to Make A Larger Quantity of Sliders
I like to turn these goat cheese burgers into sliders because they're the perfect appetizer to hold people over or the snack to indicate I'm feeding you but, you can go home for dinner. If you're making large amounts of sliders, the best bet is to make the patties one day in advance. You can also make our Italian Pasta Salad or Italian Green Bean Salad a day in advance to serve with them!
On the day of the cooking, take your desired amount of onions and place them on a piece of tinfoil with salt, pepper, and oil. Wrap the tinfoil around them (do this in batches if necessary) and place them on the grill. Instead of using a cast iron pan, cook the patties and onions on the grill.
Grilling works best in teams so while the burgers are grilling, someone can slather the bottom layer of the slider buns with fig jam and top them with arugula. Once the patties and onions are done, you can fix the rest of the burgers and serve them!
Recipe FAQs
Goat cheese is my favorite cheese to pair with fig jam, but I also love to pair it with burrata or brie cheese.
When serving sliders, I lie to serve a lot of options or sides. Try serving them with pasta salad, Tortellini Salad, potato salad, a traditional caesar salad, or Italian Green Bean Salad. Some options I would have if I was grilling would be sausage and peppers or ring sausage.
I only season the outside of the burger with salt and pepper. I heard Gordon Ramsay say that once and I pretty much stick to that as a rule unless I'm using something like chicken or turkey ground meat.
More Summer Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Goat Cheese Burger with Fig Jam
Equipment
- 1 cast iron pan or grill
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 small log of goat cheese
- ½ cup fig jam
- 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 handful arugula
- 3 buns
Instructions
- Break apart 1 lb of ground beef into 3 balls. Roll 3 smooth balls of the meat and then using wax paper, press down each one into a patty. Salt and pepper both sides of the patty.
- Bring a cast iron pan to medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and onions. Stir onions until they are translucent with golden brown edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Preheat the grill to high heat. Place the burgers on the grill and sear on both sides until they reach the desired temperature, about 4 minutes per side. Remove from the grill and let them rest for 3 minutes.
- On a small slider bun, slather on fig jam and then add arugula. Set your patty on top of the arugula and then add 2 slices of goat cheese and charred onions.
Notes
- You want a light and not-so-packed meat. My mom can be quoted saying "don't play with your meat too much." Out of context, we'd have some deep unpacking to do. But when we are talking about burgers, meatloaf, and meatballs, you want to squeeze and press the meat as minimally as possible. The more we press it and squeeze it, the tighter it becomes and the more dense it becomes.
- Don't use shrink-wrapped meat for the same reason listed above. It's always going to be more dense.
- Take your time when caramelizing onions. It can take 10 to 15 minutes when you caramelize half an onion.
Vinny
A sweet and savory burger we love to make at cookouts. Hope you enjoy!