For Burgers With 10x The Flavor, Try This Old-School Lipton Onion Soup Mix Trick

For anyone who has ever wondered why restaurant burgers taste better than the ones you make at home, there may be a few answers, but it often comes down to seasoning. While some recipes might rely on expensive cuts of meat or a long list of ingredients to create those crave-able flavors, there is a more old-school trick that was popular with home cooks throughout the '70s and '80s. If you were ever in charge of the grill back then, or if you were just doing the eating, you may remember the Lipton Onion Soup Mix hack.

And if you're unfamiliar, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like — you mix some dry Lipton Onion Soup Mix directly into the ground beef to season it before you turn it into patties. Containing dried onions, onion powder, and salt, the mix is an undeniable flavor booster — and because the dried onion flakes slightly soften and rehydrate as they cook, you're also getting a little added texture, too. Beyond the onions, the mix contains ingredients such as soy sauce, yeast extract, disodium guanylate, and disodium inosinate, which are all umami boosting ingredients that give the burgers a richer taste than plain ground beef alone. Many recipes also call for the soup mix to be combined with Worcestershire sauce or beef broth to create a surprisingly complex flavor profile. 

In order to utilize this trick, be careful not to over-season. The mix contains quite a lot of salt and other relatively strong flavors, so adding your usual amount of seasoning to the patties could easily push them into unenjoyable territory. Reduce or altogether eliminate adding any extra salt if using the soup mix, and don't go overboard with the mix itself either. Many online recipes use about 1½ tablespoons of the soup mix per burger. This is enough to give it a good onion-y flavor while retaining the flavor of the meat, too. Thoroughly mix it through the beef before forming into patties so that all the flavoring is evenly distributed.

Whether you're looking to make the perfect smashburgers, recreate a classic cheeseburger, or even forming plant-based burger patties, this trick can be adapted to most diets and palates. (Just as long as you like the taste of onion!) This one trick will improve your burger game at every summer cookout — top them with caramelized onions to really embrace the theme. And for anyone over a certain age, it won't just be tasty, it'll also be a trip down memory lane.