Rendering courtesy of White Castle
Growing up in North Texas, White Castle was something of a mythical creature. I’d heard about it in Beastie Boys songs, seen it immortalized in the cult classic film “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” and passed by those little frozen boxes in the grocery store freezer aisle. But I’d never had the real deal — a slider hot off the griddle, onions steaming under the patty, the kind of thing that inspires people to stand in line for hours. To me, White Castle wasn’t just a burger joint. It was an East Coast rite of passage.
So, when the news broke last month that White Castle would finally be expanding to Texas — Dallas, of all places — my initial reaction was one of excitement. Finally, the Lone Star State would get its share of those little square burgers. But then I saw the details. The new location wouldn’t be opening until the summer of 2026, near Grandscape Boulevard and Destination Drive in The Colony. For those of us who grew up with a healthy dose of Fort Worth pride, it felt a little too much like Amon G. Carter rolling over in his grave. This reference is only about spending money in our neighboring city to the east.
Dallas may get the glory, but I wasn’t about to wait until 2026 to see what the fuss was about.
That’s when a coworker slipped me what felt like a golden ticket — a recipe for something called “Almost White Castle Hamburgers.” It’s not the real thing, but — according to him —it’s close enough to make you believe. Ground chuck pressed into a jelly roll pan, baked, then sliced into neat squares. Slip those patties into little dinner rolls, and suddenly you’re holding a passable stand-in for the slider that’s launched a thousand pop-culture references.
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The beauty of the “Almost White Castle Hamburger” is its simplicity. You mix the beef with breadcrumbs, onion soup mix, a little egg, and water, press it flat, and bake it just long enough to brown. The oven does the work of a White Castle griddle, and once you slice the meat into squares, you’ve got yourself a tray of sliders that taste like a field trip to the Midwest without leaving your kitchen.
If you’re questioning the actual flavor of a White Castle burger, know this: the chain has a devoted following. For instance, when a White Castle opened in Orlando, Florida, circa 2021, it sold five million sliders in its first year. And then there’s the Scottsdale, Arizona, debut in 2019, when more than 200 people lined up on day one. But here in Texas — where burgers are practically a religion — pressing out your own batch of sliders at home feels like a small, satisfying act of culinary rebellion.
But White Castle isn’t content to stand still on its famous burgers. Under CEO Lisa Ingram, the company has been slowly expanding beyond its Midwestern roots, dabbling with chicken sliders, shrimp nibblers, and even robotic fry cooks. In-n-Out — its California counterpart — is making similar moves, pushing into Tennessee and New Mexico. Regional fast food is going national, and Texas — with its booming population and bottomless appetite for burgers — is the ultimate prize.
Still, as I bit into a few homemade Almost White Castle burgers, I couldn’t help but feel a little smug. Dallas can keep its future grand opening. By the time White Castle sets up shop in The Colony, I’ll already have had my fill of those oniony little burgers — straight from my own oven, without ever crossing the county line.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ground chuck
- ⅓ cup plain bread crumbs
- 1 large egg
- 1 (1-ounce) package dry onion soup mix
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 24 small square-ish dinner rolls
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Combine ground chuck, breadcrumbs, egg, onion soup mix, water, and black pepper in a bowl; press into a 10x15-inch jelly roll pan. Prick holes through the chuck mixture for ventilation while cooking.
Bake in the preheated oven until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Drain excess grease.
Cut chuck mixture into squares the size of the rolls. Place 1 chuck patty in each roll.
