Beer and burgers are what summertime is made of. There is nothing like sipping a cold one while standing in front of a grill full of burgers, shades on, music playing and friends all around.

The IPA Cowboy Burger
These days everyone loves a nice hoppy IPA. My favorite burger is the cowboy burger with BBQ sauce and onion rings, so I decided to infuse that style of burger with IPA flavor. I made the BBQ sauce using a floral IPA, and then mixed some into the beer batter for the onion rings. This has everything you want in a burger, sweet and savory BBQ sauce, crunchy onion rings, and a tender meaty burger patty.

The BBQ sauce starts off with some onions and butter, then fresh tomatoes are cooked down with the onions to form a thick paste. Beer is added along with some worcestershire, molasses, maple syrup, and vinegar.

The onions rings are just soaked in a little buttermilk and then dredged with a beer and flour batter. They fry at 375 for about 3 minutes. Some American cheese on the burger patty finishes off this all American IPA Cowboy Burger.

The onion rings added such a nice crunch that really took this burger over the top! The BBQ sauce is really sweet from the onions and maple syrup and goes great with the floral IPA. Sometimes when you pair beers you want to choose contrasting flavors, but other times you want to match flavors. For the Cowboy IPA burger, I would suggest drinking the same IPA you use in the onion rings and BBQ sauce. The flavors are subtle in the burger but if you are drinking the beer it will bring them out more. Choose a dry hopped IPA for more hop aroma with moderate bitterness.

Print Recipe

IPA Cowboy Burger

Three juicy delicious burgers that have beer in all of the ingredients!

Ingredients

IPA BBQ Sauce

1/2 Stick Butter
1 Large Onion
5 Plum Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Cup Molasses
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Red Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Mustard
1 Cup IPA Beer

Onion Rings

Salt and Pepper
1 Large Onion
2 Cups Buttermilk
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Flour yea, another one
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Salt Pepper, Paprika
IPA Beer
Oil for Frying

Burger

1 pound ground beef split into 3 equal patties
3 burger buns
3 slices munster cheese

Instructions

Dice the onion and cut the tomato into 8ths. Add the butter to a pan and melt. Add your onions and some salt and pepper and cook about 10 minutes until just starting to lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and cook another 10 – 15 minutes until this mixture has formed a thick paste. Add in the rest of the ingredients with some more salt and simmer about 25 minutes. Blend in a blender or with a stick blender until smooth. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Allow to cool before serving and once cooled, add another splash of beer if it is too thick.
Cut the onion into thick rounds, between 1/4 and 1/2 inch and separate the rings. Put the onion into a bowl with the buttermilk and a pinch of salt and toss to coat being gentle not to break all the rings. Allow to sit for an hour while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
Pour about 2 inches of oil into a wide and sturdy frying pan and bring to 350 degrees. Put one cup of flour onto a plate with some salt and pepper. Put the other cup of flour into a bowl with salt, pepper, and paprika. Add some beer to that bowl, starting with about 1 cup. Stir well to combine and add more as needed. You want this to be the texture of a pancake batter that is on the thin side.
Shake off the excess buttermilk from an onion ring and dredge it in the flour mixture first. Once coated, shake off the excess and then dip it into the batter. Next drop it into the hot oil. Fry for about 3 minutes flipping once during frying. Remove from oil and set on a rack to dry and cool. Salt immediately.
Toast your bun. When you cook the burger top it with a slice of cheese so it gets nicely melted. Put the burger onto the bottom bun and top it with a nice slather of BBQ sauce. Then add 3 onion rings on top. Serve immediately!

IPA Cowboy Burgers