Butcher Shoppe Patty Melts
August 22, 2026
Somewhere between a grilled cheese and a cheeseburger lives the patty melt, and frankly, it deserves more attention.
It’s a diner sandwich with an unusually specific set of requirements. Rye or sourdough, buttered on the outside. Onions cooked slowly until they’re sweet. Cheese on both sides of the patty, which is not a garnish decision (it’s structural). And the whole thing griddled, not toasted, so the bread goes crisp in butter while the cheese gives up.
Get those four things right and it’s one of the best sandwiches there is.
Caramelized Onions Take Longer Than You Think, and That’s the Recipe
This is where almost every patty melt at home falls short.
Caramelizing onions is not “cooking onions.” It’s a slow conversion of the sugars in the onion into something sweet, jammy and brown, and it happens at medium-low heat over ten to twelve minutes at the absolute minimum, really longer if you have it. High heat gives you browned onions that are still sharp underneath. There’s no way to speed this up that doesn’t cost you the thing you’re after.
Slice them thin, put them in butter over medium-low, stir occasionally, and go do something else. A pinch of salt at the start pulls moisture out and helps them along. If they start sticking, a splash of water lifts the browned bits off the pan and back onto the onions, which is exactly where you want them.
Cook the onions first, in the same skillet you’ll cook the patties in. Then the burgers go into a pan that’s already seasoned with onion and butter.
Why Cheese Goes on Both Sides
A patty melt has a structural problem: a burger patty is round, the bread is square, and the sandwich has to survive being flipped in a hot skillet.
Melted cheese is the glue. A slice under the patty and a slice on top locks the patty, the onions and both pieces of bread into one object. Cheese only on top and the sandwich shifts, the patty slides out the side, and the onions end up in the pan.
Which cheese depends on what you’re after. American melts the best and gives you that diner pull. Swiss is the traditional choice and tastes right with the onions. Provolone splits the difference. Any of them works, but use the sliced kind, not shredded, which slides around.
Our burger patties are ground fresh in the shop from chuck, so they’ve got the fat content to stay juicy under a lid of cheese. Ground beef is done at 160°F.
Butcher Shoppe Patty Melts
Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Serves: 4 (adjust as needed for more)
You’ll Need
- 4 Lil Butcher Shoppe Burger Patties
- 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 8 slices sourdough or Texas toast, or even Bunny Bread!
- 8 slices American, Swiss or provolone cheese
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and black pepper
- Mayonnaise, mustard or burger sauce
- 1 bag salad mix
- Your favorite salad dressing
Let’s Cook
- Melt one tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.
- Add the sliced onion and cook slowly for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden. Set aside.
- Season the burger patties with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Cook the burgers until they reach an internal temperature of 160°F, adding the Worcestershire sauce while they cook.
- Remove the burgers from the skillet.
- Butter one side of each slice of bread.
- Build each patty melt with one slice of bread, cheese, a burger patty, caramelized onions, another slice of cheese and the second piece of bread, buttered sides facing out.
- Return the sandwiches to the skillet over medium-low heat and cook until both sides are golden and crisp and the cheese is melted.
- Serve with a simple side salad.
Ground Fresh, Every Day
The patties come from the same ground chuck we grind daily. The rest of the beef case is cut by hand in the same room:
- Fresh Ground Chuck
- Burger Patties
- Fresh Hand-Cut Steaks and Rib Eyes
- USDA Prime Grade Rib Eyes
- Australian Wagyu — Tomahawks and T-Bones
- Filet Mignon
- Fresh Beef Roasts and Stew Meat
If you want to know why a patty melt made with our patties tastes different from one made with a tray from the grocery store, it’s the grind and the fat, and both of them happen here.
Tips from Behind the Counter
Cook the onions first and give them the whole twelve minutes. Everything else in this sandwich takes ten minutes. The onions are the schedule.
Don’t press the patties with a spatula. That’s juice hitting the pan and leaving. It makes a hiss and a drier burger.
Griddle the sandwich over medium-LOW. Higher heat browns the bread before the cheese melts, and then you’ve got a crisp sandwich with a cold seam in the middle.
Cover the skillet for a minute while the second side cooks. The trapped heat finishes the cheese without darkening the bread further.
Mayonnaise on the outside instead of butter is a legitimate move — it browns more evenly and won’t burn. Butter tastes better. Try both and pick a side.
Cut it corner to corner. Diagonal.
Ways to Change It Up
- Use rye bread for the traditional version. Sourdough buns and Texas toast are the local preference, but rye is the original.
- Add sautéed mushrooms with the onions.
- Make a burger sauce — mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pickle relish. Two minutes.
- Add a slice of pepper jack if you want heat, or jalapeños from the case.
- Swap the salad for chips and a pickle spear if you’re committing to the diner theme.
One Stop for Saturday Dinner in Hattiesburg
Patties, bread, cheese, onions, salad. All one trip. Our shop at 1910 Broadway Drive is a butcher counter and a grocery, so a whole Saturday supper is one stop on the way home.
We’ve been family owned and operated in Hattiesburg since 1991. Along with the fresh meat counter, the case is full of homemade cooking that’s already done for you: stuffed potatoes, boudin, gumbo, meatloaf, chicken pot pies, crawfish pies and stuffed bell peppers.
Hours: Monday–Tuesday and Thursday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed Wednesday and Sunday.
Phone: 601-261-2765
Address: 1910 Broadway Drive, Hattiesburg, MS 39401 — get directions or reach out
Outside the area? Our smoked sausage ships nationwide, and you can find us on the shelf at stores across Mississippi and the Gulf South.