Make your favorite restaurant burger at home with this Copycat In-N-Out Animal Style Burger. Easy, juicy and flavorful double double burger.

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In and Out Animal Burger is a must when we go to our favorite fast food burger restaurant. This beef recipe is loaded with caramelized onions, mustard, grilled cheese, and hand leafed lettuce. We always get one of their chocolate or vanilla shake with a root beer.
Now you can easily make this animal style burger at home. It is easy to make and it will save you money making it at home. Save a trip to your favorite burger place and make this burger at home. You may also love this Blackstone Smash Burger Recipe or Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger.
Table of Contents
What is Animal Style at In and Out Burger?
Animal Style is how the burger is cooked and what is added to the burger. The sauce is similar to Thousand Island Dressing. This spread is added with mustard, grilled patties, and extra pickles.
This animal style is on their secret menu items.
Why Does In-N-Out Call it Animal Style?
The restaurant is known for its clean cut employees. But when you order animal style it jazzes up your burger. After ordering the mustard fried grilled burger with the grilled onions, spread, and pickles you will be hooked.
They even serve animal style fries.
Ingredients

Scroll to the bottom for the full recipe in the recipe card.
How to Make In and Out Burger Animal Style
- Step 1 – Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Form the ground beef into 4 balls approximately ¼ pound each.
- Step 2 – Preheat the Blackstone grill over medium high heat about 400 degrees F.
- Step 3 – Melt the butter in one section of the grill. Then top the melted butter with the chopped onions. Sauté the onions in the butter until they are caramelized (3-5 minutes).

- Step 4 – While the onions are cooking, drizzle the avocado oil over the other side of the grill. You can use any oil with a high smoke point for this recipe. We usually use avocado oil but canola oil, vegetable oil or coconut oil will work great too.
- Step 5 – Place the buns on the grill over the oil for 2 minutes to toast them and then set them aside while you prepare the beef.
- Step 6 – Then place the beef balls on the grill. Then top each one with a piece on parchment paper and firmly press down to smash the beef into a thin patty. Use either a burger press or a large spatula and then discard the parchment paper.
- Step 7 – Season the patties with salt and pepper.
- Step 8 – Cook the patties for 2 minutes until the juices in the beef start to raise to the top and the color starts to change. While the patties are cooking, top each of the patties with 1 tablespoon of mustard on the raw side.

- Step 9 – Then scrape under the beef patty to get under the caramelized parts and flip the patty. Once flipped, do not smash down the patties again. Cook for 1 more minute and place 2 pieces of cheese on each of the patties.
- Step 10 – Cook for 1 more minute to allow the cheese to melt.
- Step 11 – Then it’s time to assemble your burgers. Spread the sauce on the top and bottom of the bun. Top the bottom bun with the lettuce, tomatoes, patty and sauté onions. Then the top bun.
- Step 12 – Then the burgers are ready to enjoy.

How to Make In and Out Sauce
The sauce is made with easy ingredients but is packed with flavor. You simply mix the following ingredients in a bowl and set aside while the burgers cook. This sauce also delicious to dip your fries in.
- Mayonnaise
- Ketchup
- Sweet Pickle Relish
- White Vinegar
Animal Style Burger Toppings
This burger can also be made animal protein style. Which means that it is served with no bun.
- Pickles
- Chopped Grilled Onions
- Extra Sauce
- Slices of Cheese
- Yellow Mustard

Frequently Asked Questions
We recommend using ground beef that is 80/20. But you can use 93/7 ground beef with the same delicious results.
Since this copycat recipe is made with smash burgers, they will take about 2 minutes on each side to cook. Add your favorite toppings for a delicious burger recipe.
These burgers are best served fresh, but you can store the leftover patties in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Blackstone Tools Needed
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If you make this Copycat In-N-Out Animal Style Burger, make sure to let us know how it turns out by leaving us a comment.

In-N-Out Animal Style Burger Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE BURGER:
- 1 pound Ground Beef 80/20
- 2 tsp Avocado Oil
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- 4 tablespoons Mustard
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 White Onion chopped
- 8 slices American Cheese
- 1 Large Tomato sliced
- 8 Iceberg Lettuce Leaves
- 4 Hamburger Buns
FOR THE SAUCE:
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- ¼ cup Ketchup
- 2 Tablespoon Sweet Pickle Relish
- 2 Tablespoon White Vinegar
Instructions
- Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Form the ground beef into 4 balls approximately ¼ pound each.
- Preheat the blackstone grill over medium high heat (approximately 400 degrees F).
- Melt the butter in one section of the grill. Then top the melted butter with the chopped onions. Sauté the onions in the butter until they are caramelized (3-5 minutes).
- While the onions are cooking, drizzle the avocado oil over the other side of the grill.
- Place the buns on the grill over the oil for 2 minutes to toast them and then set them aside while you prepare the beef.
- Then place the beef balls on the grill. Then top each one with a piece on parchment paper and firmly press down to smash the beef into a thin patty with either a burger press or a large spatula and then discard the parchment paper.
- Season the patties with salt and pepper.
- Cook the patties for 2 minutes until the juices in the beef start to raise to the top and the color starts to change. While the patties are cooking, top each of the patties with 1 tablespoon of mustard on the raw side. Then scrape under the patty to get under the caramelized parts and flip the patty.
- Once flipped, do not smash down the patties again. Cook for 1 more minute and place 2 pieces of cheese on each of the patties.
- Cook for 1 more minute to allow the cheese to melt.
- Then it’s time to assemble your burgers.
- Spread the sauce on the top and bottom of the bun. Then top the bottom bun with the lettuce, tomatoes, patty and sauté onions. Then the top bun.
- Then the burgers are ready to enjoy!