Epic Smash Burger Bacon Patty Melts
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy
If you’re reading this, you need to make a patty melt right now!
In my opinion, it’s always a good time to have burgers. Not only are they fast to make, but they are always so satisfying. Who doesn’t love a juicy beef patty, molten cheese, and the burger sauce to bring everything together?
Now, a Patty Melt has similarities to burgers, which we’ll discuss soon. Perhaps to your surprise, I’ve never had a Patty Melt until very recently! Patty Melts are a famous American recipe that are typically served at diners. You could think of a Patty Melt as a meaty grilled cheese sandwich. We cook our patties and add cheese directly on the patties, then assemble the melts, and then pan-fry the melts to keep everything warm and have amazing golden brown bread!
Also in the world of melts, I recently made a cheesy Tuna Melt Sandwich! Since I totally love burgers, I just had to check the Patty Melt off of my bucket list! If you’ve wanted to make the most epic Patty Melts that feature crispy bacon and layered thin and crispy patties, all paired with caramelized onions and a homemade burger sauce, then be sure to prepare these Smash Burger Bacon Patty Melts as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Not only will you get more comfortable with using canned tuna, but you’ll have a delicious and super as a result of conquering that obstacle! Get started on your cooking journey for free today by signing up to my email newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be sent directly to your inbox!
To follow along with the step by step recipe from start to finish, be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! If you’re not already, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
What makes a patty melt different than a burger?
Fundamentally, they are indeed very similar! Both patty melts and burgers have the same essential components consisting of ground beef, onions, cheese, and sauce, which are layered together in between bread. However, burgers are made with round burger buns being the top and base, whereas the fillings in patty melts are enveloped by slices of bread. Essentially, a burger is a burger and a patty melt is a sandwich. Examples of burgers include Bacon Wrapped Jucy Lucy Burger or a Classic American Cheeseburger, and for a fun-sized option, you’ll love my Fired Up Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders on a Cast Iron Pan!
The idea behind this Patty Melt recipe was to combine the method of making smash burgers with a melt. I took inspiration from my Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner Roll Smash Burger Sliders recipe. We’re going to prepare the beef patties the same way here by cooking the onions on top of the thin patties, and layer our patties onto the bread!
Why You’ll Love This Smash burger Patty Melt Recipe!
Juicy beef patties layered
Burger goodness in a sandwich
Flavourful caramelized onions
Ooey gooey cheddar cheese
Crispy and smokey bacon!
What Bread Should I use to Make The Smash Burger Patty Melt?
Any sort of large bread will be excellent to make Smash Burger Patty Melts. I love Texas toast because it’s an extremely soft and delicious white bread that will hold lots of fillings well! You may observe that lots of Patty Melt recipes use rye bread. This is an excellent option, but I just really wanted that extra airiness and bounciness of Texas toast! Plus, Texas toast is so good with butter!
Rye bread and sourdough bread will work, but the experience will be different since these breads are a bit denser and chewier. Another reason I chose Texas toast was because I wanted to replicate the experience of having a burger with a soft and fluffy potato bun, and Texas toast really did the job here!
Furthermore, the thickness of the loaf that you’re using will determine how many patties can fit into one sandwich. For smaller loaves, you may only be able to fit one patty. However, bread sliced from a larger loaf will allow you to fill your Patty Melt mo
What Kind of Cheese is on a Patty Melt?
For this Smash Burger Bacon Patty Melt recipe, I used just old yellow cheddar cheese. However, there are plenty of options! Alternatively, you could do smoked applewood cheddar or Red Fox cheddar. If you really wanted to, you could use white cheddar!
If you have access to it, feel free to use American cheese. I just can’t find it near me, so cheddar is my alternative choice! Patty Melts combining Swiss cheese with American cheese will give you lots of flavour and that gooeyness we’re looking for!
Other delicious cheese options to give you a whole new flavour profile each time you make Smash Burger Patty Melts include havarti, Monterey Jack, Colby jack, or pepper jack.
As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, prioritizing what’s already in your fridge as opposed to running to the store to get an ingredient is key to prevent food waste, plus you’re saving yourself some time and money! There are lots of options and combinations of cheeses you could try out, so I’m sure if you’ve already got a semi-hard cheese in your fridge that it will work just fine in your patty melt!
Tools Needed to Make The Best Patty Melts with bacon
Ingredients for Epic Smashburger Bacon Patty Melts
The FULL PRINTABLE recipe card has all ingredient quantities listed, which you can find by scrolling to the bottom of this post or by pressing the “Jump to Recipe” button. The recipe card can also be used to scale the recipe based on how many Bacon Patty Melts you want to make. By default, you’ll get one sandwich with the quantities listed below.
Ground beef: I chose to use lean ground beef, which is about 20% fat content. The fattier beef will give a juicier sandwich overall.
Bacon: You can use any kind of bacon you want, but the one I had on hand was smoked applewood cheddar. Cook them nice and crispy to add that amazing crunch and smokiness in the burger!
Onions: Slice them thinly. I like the sweetness of red onions, so this was what I chose here. Yellow onions will be amazing caramelized, too!
Cheese: Grated yellow cheddar cheese of your choice.
Butter: To toast the bread.
Burger sauce: You can use a burger sauce of your choice, however, here I’ll be using my homemade classic burger sauce! It’s simply made with ketchup, mayo, pickles and pickle juice, and a touch of Dijon mustard. You can whip this classic burger sauce up in a matter of minutes, plus it’s much tastier and fresher than any store-bought packaged burger sauce!
Salt & pepper: The only seasoning that we’ll need for our burger patties. We’ll season one side of the burger patties when they are formed onto the parchment paper, then then again when we flip the patties.
Texas toast: Our base for our Smashburger Bacon Patty Melts! It will be coated with sauce, and we’ll add our toppings over one of the slices.
How to Make The Epic Smashburger Bacon Patty Melts
Add bacon to a cold pan and then add 1/4 to 1/3 Cup water. Turn the heat to Medium low and allow bacon fat to slowly render.
Turn the bacon ever so often as the water evaporates and the bacon starts to sizzle.
Cook until crisped to your preference and then pat dry to absorb excess grease.
Lightly ball up 2 1/2 portions of beef on a parchment paper square. Repeat the same with the remaining portions. Season the top side with salt and pepper, and then cover with a piece of parchment. Gently press down.
Heat a stainless steel or cast iron pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, remove the top piece of parchment and, with the help of the bottom parchment piece, place the portions of meat around the pan. Leave at least 1 1/2-inch gap between each portion.
Press using the hamburger press or spatula until flattened. Remove the parchment and season with salt and pepper.
Add a portion of sliced onions on the patties.
In the meantime, apply the burger sauce (or sauce of choice) on two slices of bread. Repeat for any additional melts. Spread shredded cheddar cheese on 1 of the slices of bread. This will be the bottom slice.
Once the meat is mostly brown on the top, use a scraper or thin spatula to scrape the patties and flip them, onion side down. Lower the heat and place the cheese slices on each patty.
Once the cheese is molten and the onions have softened and slightly crispened, remove each patty and place it on the bottom slice of the bread.
Top the patties with crispy bacon strips and then top with cheddar.
Place the top slice, sauce side down, and press gently to secure the sandwich.
To toast the melts, heat a pan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, lower the heat to medium-low. Melt the butter onto the pan. Then, carefully place the melt on the pan, moving it to mop up all the butter. Press down with a spatula.
Cook until the underside of the sandwich is golden brown. Then, lift your sandwich, melt some more butter on the pan, and flip the sandwich to cook the other side. Cook gently until the cheese is completely molten and the sandwich is warmed through.
Serve hot and enjoy!
Tips for The Juiciest Bacon Patty Melts Ever!
Make efforts to handle the portions of beef as little as possible. quickly and gently work through balling up the 2 1/2 oz portions and place them on the parchment squares. The more you work and squeeze the ground beef, the more the fat and muscle fibers in the meat break down. This will result in meat that this tougher and denser after cooking.
Instead of cooking the onions with the burgers, you can consider caramelizing the onions separately and adding them to the sandwich alongside the bacon for a slightly sweeter texture to contrast with the cheese and meat.
Picking a different cheese blend, like Swiss or American cheese can add additional creaminess to the sandwich and get you some cheese pulls. You can even add a thin layer of parmesan cheese to the top of the sandwich while toasting the bread to create a parmesan crispy crust.
Serving Suggestions For Smash Burger Patty Melts
Here are just a couple of ideas to help you have a complete quick meal to go along with your Juicy Bacon Patty Melts. For more serving suggestions, be sure to check out all of my sides & starters recipes!
Recipe Variations for Patty Melts
Burger sauce: You can switch up your experience by using a different burger sauce. Other favourites of mine are Spicy Aioli or Thai Curry Mayonnaise. You could even use Thousand Island Dressing.
Toppings: Feel free to add dill pickles and tomatoes in your patty melts. You could even do Pickled Vegetables.
Cheese: Experiment between adding grated cheese or sliced cheese. The only advantage of using grated cheese is that you can get a more even spread over patties. However, what you can do with slices is to cut them to fit the shape of the patty.
Bacon: Try different flavours of bacon, such as maple bacon, ghost pepper bacon, or smoky bonfire bacon.
Can I make Smash Burger Patty Melts in Advance?
No, you definitely should not! If you do, your sandwich will become soggy and not very pleasant to eat. Smash Burger Patty Melts are truly meant to be enjoyed fresh off the pan for the best experience so that your cheese is nice and molten, your bread is toasty and golden brown, the onions are hot and fresh, and the beef is juicy an tender! This will totally turn into a big mess if you keep it in the fridge and reheat it, so it’s certainly not recommended!
However, there are some steps you can do to prep in advance so that you’re ready to cook as efficiently and seamlessly as possible:
Slice your bread, if buying a whole loaf.
Portion and form your beef patties
Slice the onions
Make the sauce, if making from scratch
Grate the cheese and cover in an airtight container or on a plate covered with plastic wrap.
More Beefy Recipes!
More Irresistible Sandwich Recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE Extremely Juicy Bacon Patty Melts HERE:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!