Nutburger
Quick Bite
A Montana Nutburger is a Butte-born burger topped with chopped salted peanuts mixed with Miracle Whip or a sweet mayo-style sauce. It is crunchy, creamy, salty, oddball, and much better than your first reaction thinks it will be.
History
The Nutburger is strongly tied to Butte, Montana, and especially to Matt’s Place, a historic drive-in that dates back to the 1930s. Butte was a hard-working mining city, and Matt’s became the kind of neighborhood spot where simple burgers, shakes, fries, and local habits turned into tradition.
The Nutburger is not a vegetarian nut patty, despite the name. It is a regular beef burger topped with a mixture of chopped salted peanuts and Miracle Whip. That topping gives the burger crunch, creaminess, sweetness, and salt all at once.
Like many great regional burgers, the Nutburger sounds strange until you think about it for a second. Peanut sauce works with grilled meat all over the world, and peanut butter burgers have their own loyal followings. Butte’s version is more old-school lunch counter than global fusion: chopped peanuts, creamy dressing, hot beef, toasted bun.
Matt’s Place closed for several years, but recent local reporting says it reopened under new ownership, bringing back the Butte burger-joint nostalgia. For Montana food lovers, that matters — the Nutburger is not just a novelty topping; it is a piece of Butte’s food personality.
Fun Facts
- A Nutburger is a beef burger with a peanut topping, not a veggie burger made of nuts.
- The classic topping is chopped salted peanuts mixed with Miracle Whip.
- Butte’s Matt’s Place is the restaurant most closely associated with the Nutburger.
Where to Try
The essential Nutburger stop. Matt’s Place is the historic Butte drive-in most closely tied to the burger, and its menu lists the Nutburger among its sandwiches.
Because the Nutburger is so specifically tied to Matt’s Place, Butte itself is the real destination. If you are building a food-travel page, this is a good one to frame around a single iconic restaurant rather than pretending it is everywhere.
This is one of the easiest regional burgers to recreate: beef patty, toasted bun, chopped salted peanuts, and Miracle Whip-style sauce.
About the Game
This recipe is part of Van Life Challenge, a travel-themed board game from Gray Dog Games where players explore the United States, discover regional foods, and collect memorable experiences along the way.
Each featured food celebrates a real place, a local flavor, and the kind of delicious roadside discovery that makes every trip feel like an adventure.
Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Make the topping: Mix the chopped salted peanuts with Miracle Whip. If you want a milder flavor, add mayonnaise. If you want it sweeter, add a tiny pinch of sugar.
- Shape the patties: Shape the ground beef into 4 patties.
- Season: Season both sides with salt and black pepper.
- Cook the burgers: Cook the patties on a griddle, skillet, or grill for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until done to your liking.
- Toast the buns: Butter and toast the hamburger buns.
- Build: Place each burger patty on a bun.
- Add topping: Spoon the peanut-Miracle Whip topping generously over the patty.
- Serve: Add lettuce if using, close the bun, and serve hot.
