Green Chili Whiskey Onion Burgers

Green chili whiskey onion burgers are rich, smoky, sweet, and a little spicy – with no grill needed! Tons of southwestern flavor in every bite.

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Green Chili Whiskey Onion Burgers

In Colorado, there is one ingredient that we seem to love more than anything.

It's in eggs, burritos, tacos, on hot dogs and burgers… pretty much anywhere you look, it is there.

This magical stuff? Green chilis.

There is nothing like good smoky and slightly spicy green chili in all sorts of recipes – it's a quintessentially Denver ingredient (never mind the fact we use green chilis from New Mexico… it is still much a part of Colorado cuisine.)

While we love having burgers often, they are kind of a pain in the butt on days it's raining or we don't want to turn on the grill – so pan fried hamburgers are a huge staple in our house. They are juicy, caramelized, rich, and full of meaty flavor like burgers off the grill – no charcoal or propane needed!

How To Pan Fry Hamburgers

These hamburgers are solid in a pan – we're using our best pan grilled burger method to make pan fried hamburgers great.

• Don't crowd the pan with too many burgers.
  • Adding too many burgers to a pan will cause your burgers to steam, instead of brown. This will make your burgers tougher, and they won't have a lovely browned appearance – they will look a bit grey.
  • Prevent this by giving burgers enough room in the pan to keep the pan at high heat – cook in batches instead of adding all in at once if needed.
• Use butter.
  • We love the rich salty flavor pan frying burgers with a little butter in the pan gives this dish.
• Use high heat.
  • Burgers should be fried – not steamed or slowly pan-roasted for the best juicy never-dry flavor.
  • Use high heat to cook your burgers fast for the best flavor.
• Steam the cheese.
  • If you're pan frying burgers and adding cheese, try placing the cheese on the burger, adding 1 tbsp water to the pan, and adding a lid over the pan to steam the cheese, making it perfectly melted.

Honey Whiskey Caramelized Onions

These burgers use our whiskey honey onions recipe – they are smoky, sweet, and SO good – they will become your favorite caramelized onion recipe, ever!

To get our hands-down absolute favorite recipe for caramelized onions, click here.

Serve it with

These good side dishes are guaranteed to wow your family – they are simple, easy, and bursting with flavor!

Try our favorite sides with these burgers Crunchy Baked FriesPaleo Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Fries Baked Carrot FriesEasy Baked Zucchini ChipsEasy Baked Sweet Potato ChipsThe Best Easy Air Fryer French Fries.

If you aren't feeling fries you can always make Bacon Ranch Potato SaladItalian Potato SaladEasy Sautéed Squash and Zucchiniand wash it down with one of our 4 good Beer Cocktails.

You can find our complete side dish recipe index here.

What Green Chilis to Use

For the green chilis, we find the frozen kind in our grocery store and sauté them with garlic powder, butter, and a sprinkle of cumin. It makes them extra smoky and good!

We have several local grocery stores in Northern Colorado that fire roast green chilis every year and then sell them – or freeze the smoked chilis and then sell them throughout the year – we always try to stock up when they come out with the next years batch!

But you can also use chopped green chili, or even green chili sauce!

Green Chili Whiskey Onion Burgers Recipe Share Pin It Follow

Ingredients

• 1 batch whiskey honey onions
• 1 lb beef, shaped into 4 patties
• 1 tbsp ghee
• salt and pepper, to taste
• sharp cheddar cheese, optional
• 4 brioche hamburger buns
• For the green chili:
• 1 cup diced green chilis
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp butter
• OR 1/2 cup green chili sauce per burger

Method

1. In pan you used to make whiskey honey onions (DONT CLEAN PAN AFTER MAKING, it will give more flavor to the burgers), melt ghee over medium high heat.
2. Shape burgers into patties (we like to use a burger press).
3. Generously season burgers with salt and pepper.
4. Add burgers to pan when ghee is melted, and cook 5 minutes on each side.
5. When burgers are done to your liking, add a slice of cheese (if desired), and add lid to pan to melt cheese.
6. When cheese is melted, remove from pan.
7. Add green chilis to burger bun and place burger on top.
8. Garnish with onions, place bun on top, and serve immediately!
9. For the green chilis: sauté in pan with butter, garlic powder, and cumin until hot. Use as burger garnish; OR add sauce to burger bun.