12 Sweet Additions to Enhance Your Savory Burger

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At first glance, sweet toppings might seem incompatible with a savory burger — but, at first bite, there’s no denying that some pairings were just meant to be. While some more sophisticated chefs might turn their noses up at putting unconventional toppings on such a revered and classic sandwich, we think even the most tried-and-true burgers can sometimes use a playful remix.

In this guide, you’ll find 12 eye-widening accoutrements that can add sweetness and style to your next burger. Not only are these some of our favorite toppings, but they’ve been taste-tested, engineered, and corroborated by some of the United States’s leading chefs and hospitality professionals. If these sweet additions can satisfy James Beard award-nominated chefs and Michelin Star honorees, we think they’re worth a shot! Keep reading to learn about some of the weirdest, tastiest, and most unexpectedly successful sweet toppings for savory burgers.

At the South Carolina State Fair, you’ll see it all when it comes to burger toppings — from glazed donuts to poutine. But, according to Dustin Hagy, owner and operator of prominent fair vendor DeAnna’s Diner, there’s one topping that’s consistently popular: peanut butter.

“Peanut butter has always been a favorite topping for us because it has a little sweetness in there,” Hagy says. “People are usually skeptics until they try it — then, they come back year after year to get it.”

So, what about peanut butter that can make a burger sing? As Hagy said, the natural (or unnatural) sweetness of the spread is a playful counterbalance to the savory burger, but it’s also not overly saccharine. In other words, it has savory elements that give it some continuity with the burger, itself.

You can use peanut butter straight from the jar (here’s some intel on which brands to buy and which ones to avoid), in a crunchy or creamy form, or you can whip up a quick peanut sauce — a concoction that Ben Alexander, head of culinary operations for the James Beard award-nominated, Oklahoma-based McNellie’s Restaurant Group, says is a winning combination.

For a topping with a subtle tropical flavor — and, in many cases, a kick of heat — mango chutney is an unexpected star on a burger. This relish-like condiment, which typically consists of chopped mango, vinegar, jaggery, chili pepper, and aromatic spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and anise, originated in India as early as 500 B.C.E. Today, you’ll find it in grocery stores across the United States. We recommend patronizing a local international or South Asian grocery store if you have access to one.

A mango-chutney-topped burger has similarities to a popular South Asian recipe: keema, a dish of minced meat that can include mango in simmered or chutney form. If you want to put a spin on the burger patty itself, run with the keema angle and season your protein with cumin, onion, garlic, curry powder, and garam masala. These extra steps add flavor to your burger that you won’t soon forget.

While pickles are undeniably a classic burger topping, the sweet, bread-and-butter variety is far more polarizing among chefs and burger lovers everywhere. Aside from plenty of sugar, these pickles often feature cinnamon, allspice, mustard seeds, and turmeric for their signature, yellow-tinged hue.

Jeremiah Langhorne, chef, and co-owner of DC restaurants The Dabney and Petite Cerise, swears by his house-made recipe, which includes flour to render the pickles into a “sweet, pasty condiment” on burgers. When compared to other store-bought and housemade pickles, Langhorne says, “Our bread and butter pickle is a lot sweeter.”

But not all chefs see eye-to-eye with Langhorne. Some prefer the classic crunch and herbaceous flavor of kosher dill chips. If you want to weigh in on the heated debate, try some bread and butter pickle slices on a burger for yourself. We think that they lend a balanced sweetness to the sandwich while still offering some acidity and mustard flavor to cut through the unctuous meat. Why not see where you land?

We know hot honey has definitely had its fair share of time in the trendy food spotlight, but trust us — and critically acclaimed chefs — about the power of drizzle of the spicy stuff. At Virginia burger shop Social Burger, founder and owner Denise Lee says that one of the shop’s most successful special to date has been the “Sweet Pea,” a fried chicken burger-style sandwich topped with hot honey.

“It was amazing,” Lee remembers. “A lot of people will try and look forward to our special, but with this particular special, people would come in every week for it.”

The harmonious pairing of burgers and honey makes sense — after all, as DC’s nine-time James Beard award-nominated pastry chef Pichet Ong points out, honey is a key ingredient in the ever-popular brioche burger bun. The infusion of chili into honey is a fail-safe combination for a savory burger. Who doesn’t like protein with a little bit of gentle heat? You can buy this liquid gold from the grocery store, or you can check out this recipe for homemade hot honey.

“I’m a strong believer in adding brown sugar to bacon,” says Mathew Ramsey, author of “cook-and-look” book “Pornburger.” “You’ll get it crispy, sweet, and salty.”

Talk about a burger topping trifecta! Candied bacon shines because it not only adds sweet and smoky flavor, but it lends a crispy, caramelized texture that’s oftentimes missed on a traditional bacon burger. There’s a reason why chefs across the United States gravitate toward it — like Eli Collins, executive chef at a.kitchen+bar, who admits that he’s “a sucker” for the sweet and sticky strips.

If you’re looking for a more spreadable version of this semi-classic topping, many chefs recommend a bacon jam — which you can buy from the store or make yourself. If you add caramelized onions to your jam, “you’re adding even more sugar on top of the sugar that’s already cured in the bacon,” says Ong. His bonus tip? “Adding a lot of black pepper to it will amp up the flavor.”

A well-balanced balsamic glaze is not only sweet, but it is also rich, deep, and complex. This makes it a perfect condiment for a burger with any protein. You can make your own balsamic glaze with a reduced mixture of balsamic vinegar (just be sure to avoid buying a subpar product) and brown sugar, or, if you’d rather buy it by the bottle for an easy weeknight dinner, you can find online or in most grocery stores.

When it comes to burger use cases for balsamic, your options are endless. Try spreading it from the pot or bottle directly onto your burger, or get creative by adding balsamic glaze to a more elaborate burger condiment recipe. Balsamic-glazed onions can take your burger to the next level, with the sweet richness and slight nuttiness of caramelized onions and the slight pungency and acidity of high-quality balsamic vinegar. The possibilities are limitless!

There’s a reason you’ll find grilled pineapple at so many Brazilian steakhouses and restaurants — it’s a natural complement to a savory burger. The char and juiciness of the pineapple match that of the patty, while the sweet and acidic flavor of the pineapple adds a new dimension to an otherwise boring burger.

If it’s your first time grilling pineapple slices, Ong has some tips. “After you cook the burger, you hit the pan with a slice of pineapple, while you’re resting the burger,” he says. “You have to cook the pineapple a little bit so it’s just not water, so let it caramelize on each side.”

One of Ong’s most memorable run-ins with a grilled pineapple burger, he says, is when the pineapple was brushed and finished with sweet soy glaze. If you have the time to add this extra accoutrement, do so while your pineapple is finishing in the pan.

This chocolate-hazelnut spread might be one of the more outlandish toppings on this list, but Hagy of DeAnna’s Diner swears by it. For this year’s South Carolina State Fair, his team will bring the “Reese’s Pieces” burger to the DeAnna’s menu, with Nutella as a key ingredient.

“One of my favorite parts about that particular burger is it reminds you of when you have a smore, where the Nutella gets really melty and a little bit runny,” he says. “It takes me back to being a kid around the campfire with a s’more, and when you’re eating it, the chocolate kind of runs down your arm — it’s something that brings back memories, and it’s quite delicious.”

If you want to taste some of this nostalgia for yourself (but don’t know if you’ll make it to Columbia, South Carolina), you can get close to the experience at home with a spread of Nutella on the top bun of your burger.

While mustard is often one of the first condiments spread on a traditional burger, few people consider adding its sweeter sister instead — but what’s not to like about it? This historic condiment, which has origins in ancient Rome, offers the same slight sharp and spicy flavors as classic yellow mustard, while adding in a dash of the tang and syrupy sweetness that you’d find in a high-quality bottle of ketchup. As such, honey mustard can serve as a stand-in for several burger sauces at once, including ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. As far as we’re concerned, less mess and fewer ingredients are always a win!

There are plenty of different types of honey mustard on the market, so don’t be afraid to experiment, mix and match, or create your own perfectly-ratioed blend. Some mustards are heavy on sweetness or mayonnaise, while some are mayo-free and extra spicy. The good news is all of these sauces will work perfectly on a burger with all your basic toppings, like cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. Honey mustard is the perfect sweet upgrade for a burger purist who wants to branch out.

The Cinnaburger is hardly a new phenomenon. Coined in 2012 by Dude Foods blogger Nick Chipman, this sweet-and-savory monstrosity consists of a halved Cinnabon cinnamon bun stuffed with ground hamburger meat and strips of crispy bacon. The result? An internet sensation and an admittedly delicious bite.

“Normally by the time I’m done taking pictures of the stuff that I make for my blog and I start eating it the food doesn’t taste quite as amazing as it should just because it’s been sitting around for ten or fifteen minutes,” writes Chipman in his Cinnaburger blog post. “For every minute my Cinnaburger sat on my counter however the burger patty seemed to soak up more and more frosting, making each bite better than the last.”

While you might not want to go through the effort of assembling your own Cinnaburger, a sprinkle of cinnamon can add a sweet, minimalistic upgrade to your average burger. The warming, spicy quality of cinnamon is an unlikely hero when paired with an umami burger patty — but you’ll have to try this one for yourself to believe it.

Instead of eating these two classic cookout dishes separately, bring them together by topping your classic barbecue burger with sweet corn. Corn on a burger is one of those simple yet unconventional burger toppings you need to try — you can spoon kernels onto the top of your patty straight-up, or you can get creative by dressing your corn up with some toppings.

Looking for some burger topping inspiration? Try turning your plain corn kernels into a sweet, creamy, warm elote corn dip, or tossing it in a honey-spiked herby mustard dressing. When in doubt, you don’t need to make it overly complicated — try channeling the advice of some of television’s most beloved chef personalities. For example, follow Bobby Flay’s simple hacks for perfectly grilled corn on the cob, then use Ina Garten’s trick for cutting corn on the cob without a mess to collect those sweet, smokey kernels.

With a little sweetness from sugar, funk, savoriness from miso, and zing from ginger, miso-ginger sauce is a classic marinade for chicken and fish. So, why not give it a try on a burger?

Many burger chefs already sing the praises of these key ingredients. For example, Collins has previously found success with a miso-roasted tomato burger sauce, while Patrice Cleary, owner of DC’s Joia Burger, now offers a gingery papaya-salad-topped burger due to popular demand. Notably, the salad features golden raisins and a “sweet vinaigrette.”

Miso-ginger sauce comes in a wide variety of different flavors and consistencies, and some are sweeter than others. We recommend you make your own miso-ginger sauce, like the miso-maple marinade for this roasted salmon recipe, and experiment with dashes of apple cider or rice wine vinegar to add a layer of sweet acidity, but, in a pinch, you can find plenty of different bottles of this sauce at your local grocery store.