Bullet Points: The 10 Best Burger Toppings

American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and ketchup are a fine start, but there are so many other ingredients that enhance the already delicious beef and bun combination.  The following list is a tribute to some of the lesser-used burger toppings. 

Tarragon Mayonnaise 

Mayonnaise is already a delicious and pretty standard condiment for burgers, but mixed with tarragon herbs it’s taken to a new level.  You can buy it in stores or you can make it yourself easily enough.  Just chop up some fresh tarragon and blend it with mayonnaise, add a little salt, and maybe some garlic for extra flavor and you’ve got something to put in a squeeze bottle and use on sandwiches all week. 

Avocado 

The avocado is a good substitute for the tomato if you want to feel like you’re eating healthily, though the avocado has a LOT more fat content ("good" fat, though). It’s good in sliced form or as a hearty guacamole sauce. 

Caramelized Onions 

As avocados are a less healthy alternative to tomatoes, caramelized onions are a less healthy alternative to raw onions.  Since they’re fairly sweet, deciding whether or not to use caramelized onions on a burger really depends heavily on what the other condiments are and what kind of flavor they’re collectively going for.  Is there such a thing as a dessert burger yet?  Get on that, Science.

Horseradish 

Something to put hair on your chest and air in your sinuses, horseradish really spices up a sandwich and has a smoother taste than Tabasco sauce.  Creamy versus the grated-style horseradish is completely up to the consumer, though both achieve the same goal.  Moderation is advisable, however, because too much of this spicy root can make a burger borderline inedible. 

Honey Truffle Mustard 

It sounds ritzier than it is, and you can probably buy a jar at your local supermarket for about the same price as your standard spicy mustard.  It tastes like everything it sounds like it should.  It’s sweet, tangy and makes you look like a person of class. 

Bleu Cheese 

It can cost a hell of a lot more than Kraft’s singles, but the flavor difference is phenomenal.  You can break it up and put some on top of the burger like you would regular cheese, or you can mash the crumbles into the ground beef itself.  

Garlic Fries 

This is where we get into more controversial territory.  Most people prefer their burgers and fries separately, but sometimes adding a few garlic-laden French fries to your sandwich will give it that extra flavor and texture it needs to push it over the edge. 

McDonald’s Special Sauce 

McDonald’s Big Mac should be an incredible burger.  If McDonald’s only bought better beef, better buns, better cheese, and better lettuce, the Big Mac would be unstoppable.  As it is, the only thing holding the bun-burger-bun-burger-bun stack together is the Special Sauce (essentially Thousand Island dressing).  The fact that the Big Mac has become very nearly the most famous burger in the world (only the Whopper comes close to that kind of status) is due to two facts: A. It’s fairly big for its remarkably cheap price.  B. The delicious secret sauce. 

Pesto 

The only problem with this oily Italian sauce is that you’ll have a drippy burger on your hands (and probably shirt).  But if you’re not worried about losing some along the way, it’s a welcome addition. 

Bacon 

Glorious bacon.  One could argue that bacon is very nearly as mainstream an ingredient as tomato or lettuce at this point, but that does nothing to diminish the incredible flavor power of this former pig part.  There are few savory food products that bacon would not enhance. 

Perhaps the single greatest tragedy in the world (still checking for competitors) is that all of these condiments and toppings when put on the same burger would nullify each other’s uniqueness and make a tall, gooey, mishmash of confusion.  Or not.  I don’t think anyone’s really tried it yet.