gluten-free | dairy-free
This gluten-free, dairy-free Michigan olive burger tops a juicy grilled patty with a creamy, briny green-olive sauce—a Great Lakes regional classic made GF and DF. The sauce is dairy-free by default using dairy-free cream cheese, and easy to make dairyful with regular cream cheese if dairy agrees with you. Ready in about 25 minutes.
In Michigan, Olive Burgers are a thing. Continuing our quest to experience regional food specialties, we set out for the Olive Burger Festival in Lansing to answer the question: “Do olives belong on a burger?” Rich had the tough job of sampling the burgers (poor guy), and then we can back to Howie and made our own, gluten and dairy-free, so I could have one too. Was this the best burger sauce, ever?
Very close! The brinyness of the olives and the creaminess of the sauce combined with the wonderful beef flavor of the burger made this Michigan delight one of the best burgers we’ve had in a long time.
Recipe notes
In the video, we made three patties instead of four, and you can choose to do that as well.
I tried a version with sweet pickles and lettuce, and loved it!!
Adding tomato and onion made for a wonderful bite as well.
If you are using dairyful cream cheese, you can omit the Worcestershire sauce and Dijon if you like. I cannot try it myself, but imagine those two ingredients would work well with “real” cream cheese.
Try adding some finely diced shallot or onion to the sauce if you feel you are missing onion.
Our gluten-free hamburger bun recipe can be found here.
Now, go eat something amazing!
Gluten-Free Michigan Olive Burger with Creamy Olive Sauce
The Ingredients
For the Burger
- 1 lb ground beef
- Montreal Steak Seasoning, or use salt and pepper
- 4 Gluten Free Hamburger Buns, or conventional if you are not GF
For the Olive Sauce
- 1 1/4 cups green olives, with pimentos, sliced
- 6 oz cream cheese, dairy-free or dairyful
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce, optional if using "real" sour cream
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard, options if using "real" sour cream
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- dash fish sauce
Optional Toppings
- Lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion
The Process
Make the Olive Sauce
- Slice the olives and mince the garlic. Add to a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Add the cream cheese, mayo, Worcestershire, Dijon, paprika, white pepper, black pepper, and fish sauce and mix gently to combine. Let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to allow the flavors to meld together.
Prep the Burgers
- Split the pound of beef into four equal parts. Roll each part in your hand gently to create a ball and then press the ball to create a patty. Gently spread and flatten the patty to just over the size of your bun. Season each side with Montreal steak seasoning (or salt and pepper).
Grill the Burgers
- Heat your grill to high and when ready add the burgers. Cook about 4-5 minutes and flip (for medium-rare) and cook for a couple more minutes.
- Add the burger buns to the grill when you flip the burgers. Toast to your liking.
Build Your Burger
- Spread a bit of the olive sauce on the bottom bun. Add the burger and then a good amount of olive sauce to the top of the burger. Add additional toppings if using. Enjoy!