White Castle Burgers

As he didn’t have birthday parties, growing up, I’ve tried to make each birthday with him special, and started out by giving him all the “standard” parties he missed out on. Things like a roller skating party with crappy rink pizza, a bowling party with my Ice Cream Pizza, even Chuck E Cheese one year - always with goodie bags for our friends.

As I ran out of the standards, I started getting more creative, like doing a Potluck Sushi Party a few times. Lots of fun!

Circumstances have meant no parties for the past few years, but I’ve tried to make things special anyway.

This year I was drawing a blank... until I saw a fellow food blogger post about her “White Castle Casserole”.

... and it got me thinking.

He was always a fan of White Castle Sliders as a quick snack, but we don’t have White Castle Restaurants here, since leaving the United States almost 5 years ago.

At first, I thought I’d see if I could buy a box of frozen White Castle Burgers, but quickly found that they haven’t been sold here in a few years.

As I wanted to give him the nostalgic experience - sans the actual fast-food restaurant - I decided to come up with my own knockoff tasty slider recipe... with an aim for accuracy.

I did a bunch of research, and put together a plan for his birthday meal - homemade White Castle cheese burgers, crinkle fries, and root beer - as he used to order it.

It was a bit of work, but it turned out fantastic!

Says he:

The size, texture, and taste all bring back those memories of White Castle. Before I knew it, I’d snarfed half a dozen... just like the real thing, LOL!

The crinkle fries and soft drink just really ties it all together for a really great birthday surprise. I love that these cheese sliders are now an option again!

... here’s how I did it!

The Research

I’ve never tried to replicate fast-food hamburger chain - or fast food in general, IIRC... so coming up with a copycat recipe was a bit of an undertaking.

After writing off the existing recipes, I did a lot of Googling.

Between several interviews, some Youtube videos, and the ingredient and nutritional info labeling on the frozen burgers, I gleaned a LOT of info that helped.

A few stand out bits of information:

The Burger Patty

While I was not surprised to learn that peanut butter and onion soup mix were NOT involved with the source material, I was surprised to see that the meat patties were EXTREMELY basic.

I was expecting to have to figure out some sort of filler, I learned that it’s just ground beef that’s seasoned with salt and pepper after being formed.

There were a lot of mentions about how the patties were key to the success of White Castle, so I’d just assumed there was more to it.

Nope. The big thing about the patties is the shape - combined with the cooking method.

The 5 hole design was implemented after an employee suggestion, allowing the burgers to cook quicker, more evenly, and to allow the onion flavor to come through via steam. (More on that in a minute!)

The holes are punched into ground beef slabs using a machine called “meat horns” in their manufacturing facility, but you can easily achieve the original slider shape in the comfort of your own home using cookie cutters and a chopstick - I’ll show you how.

The Onions

I had always assumed that they’d used chopped fresh onions, but apparently it’s reconstituted dried onion flakes - at least in part. I had run into a bit of ambiguity on that front.

One video showed the burgers being cooked in the restaurant, with a pile of what looked to be caramelized onions being pulled in from the side of the griddle, and added to a pile of what looked to be fresh onions.

I decided to hedge my bets a bit - using both fresh and dried onions, as well as starting part of the fresh onions off a bit earlier than the rest of them.

This would give a great, complex onion flavour - and apparently it tasted bang on, when all was said and done!

The Cooking Method

Another interesting thing I learned was that the burgers are steamed, not grilled - they never touch a pan!

From everything I could see, the burgers were cooked from frozen, over the bed of onions. The buns are also steamed over the onions, allowing heat AND flavor to permeate the bun itself.

The thing I couldn’t wrap my head around was the video that showed buns being placed directly on the raw meat - Not sure if it was still frozen or not.

I did adapt that idea a bit, not placing the buns on the meat until the top surface of the meat had steamed - via a lid.

That part is not super accurate, from what I can tell, but it might be a matter of equipment.

If I were to cook the patties at home, in the way they’re shown on videos of restaurant procedure, the buns would soak up a TON of juices from the burger itself, and be soggy by the time the burger was cooked through.

As I do it, it still steams long enough to get flavor and warm up, without going soggy.

Ingredients

For all of the work I put into researching white castle hamburgers, this is actually a pretty simple burger recipe - in terms of the ingredients - and you should be able to find everything you need in most grocery stores.

A few notes for you:

Ground Beef

To get the right fat content (and - by extension - flavour!), be sure to use regular ground beef, NOT a lean ground beef.

Btw, White Castle is apparently making Impossible Sliders now - that wasn’t a thing when we were still in the USA.

If you’d like to do this up as an Impossible Slider recipe, swap the beef out for some ground “Beyond Meat”.

You’ll want to add some fat though - I’d use whatever fits your dietary needs, and just mix in maybe a tablespoon or so.

Slider Buns

I had used King’s Hawaiian rolls for the first time, as it was what was recommended in all of the copycat White Castle Burger recipes, as well as the casserole recipe that kicked off this whole odyssey.

That said, my husband said that they were noticeably more sweet than White Castle uses.

So, next time I make this, I’ll be using regular dinner rolls, rather than that particular brand name - which is known to be pretty sweet.

A bit of a caveat here: It’s been 4 years since he’s been in the USA, and the bread here in Canada tends not to be quite as sweet as what’s sold in the USA.

So, there’s a chance it’s more about his bread taste buds having changed a bit in the last few years. No idea!

American Cheese (Optional)

While I’m all about the use of real cheese when making burgers, you’ll want to use slices of American cheese for this - if you’re going for authenticity.

We used regular Kraft Slices, which were apparently pretty close.

That said, if you’re looking more for that onion flavour than full authenticity, feel free to swap the cheese out for a better sliced cheese.

Dill Pickle Slices (Optional)

I’m saying “optional” because I realize that not everyone orders pickles on the sliders... but when making this for my husband, they were in NO way optional.

Also, they “had to be the wavy cut”.

I don’t know if it’s a Canadian thing, or just the stores we order groceries from, but I was utterly unable to find the wavy cut of pre-sliced pickles.

Because I totally understand that texture is a big part of things, I had to get creative - I used a wavy cutter to slice up some whole pickles. (On a diagonal, as the pickles didn’t have a very big diameter).

The tool was part of a ~15 year old food garnishing set, but there are a lot of options out there, if you find yourself in a similar predicament!

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Yellow Onions
Dehydrated Onions
Salt and ground black pepper
Ketchup and Mustard, optional

... I just really don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go!

Equipment

In addition to the ingredients, there are a few tools and supplies you’ll need, to make really authentic White Castle Cheeseburgers:

Parchment Paper: For rolling the patties out between.

Rolling Pin: I like to use a Rolling pin with adjustable thickness guides.

Square Cookie Cutters: I recommend using a 3" Square Cookie Cutter for the burger patties, and a 2.5" Square Cookie Cutter.

As pictured, I used a 2.75" cutter for both - the burgers were slightly too small, and the cheese was a bit too big, after the burgers had cooked down.

A chopstick: Or a similar tool, to form the holes in the burger patties. If you have any wider straws - like Smoothie Straws - that would work.

How to Make White Castle Sliders at Home

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through, with some additional info and tips.

Make the Patties

Place ground beef in a food processor, blitz a few times to break it down a bit.

Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the meat, and use a rolling pin to roll it thinly and evenly - about ⅜" thick.

Use a square cookie cutter to cut as many patties out as you can. My cutter is 2 ¾", a 3" cutter may have been a little better - the burgers shrink as they cook.

I basically stuck a chopstick in, and made a small circular motion to open and round it out.

Once frozen, you can stack them - I like to separate them with pieces of parchment, to prevent sticking - place them in an airtight freezer bag, and freeze until you’re ready to use them.

Cook the Burgers

Run the chopped onions through a food processor to finely chop them. You want small pieces, but not a puree.

Place half the chopped onions on a large skillet or in a large nonstick baking pan, along with the dehydrated onions and water. Stir well to combine.

Note: If you can’t / don’t want to do all 12 at once, use half the onions / water and do it in 2 batches of 6.>

Cover pan with a lid, let the burgers steam for a few minutes, until the tops appear cooked. (They won’t be cooked through yet)

Note: If at any point the water dries up, add a little more to keep the steam going.

If you have room in the pan, balance the remaining buns over top of the first buns you placed, or set balancing over the onions using the edges of the pan and original bun halves as bases.

Don’t place the buns directly in the onions, or they’ll end up soggy.

Assemble Your Sliders

Once the burgers are fully cooked and the buns are heated through, place them on a plate in one of two ways:

If you put the top buns over the burgers, arrange the bottom buns on a plate. Slide a flat spatula under a burger, and pick it up - onions, bun top, and all - and place it on one of the lower buns. Repeat with the remaining sliders.

If you put the bottom buns on the burgers, slide your spatula under a burger patty and pick it up - onions, bun bottom, and all - and carefully flip the whole thing over on a plate. Repeat with remaining burgers and buns.

Top each with a bun top.

More Burger Recipes

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Dukkah Spiced Lamb Burgers
Fresh Salmon Burgers with Spinach & Feta
Juicy Goosey Burger
Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi Burgers
Mediterranean Chicken Burgers
Moroccan Spiced Beyond Burgers
Moroccan Spiced Lamb Burgers
Paneer Burgers
Tandoori Chicken Burgers
Vegetarian Chorizo Burgers

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