What the Heck Is a Missouri Guber Burger?

Naomi Tomky
Naomi Tomky
Seattle-based writer Naomi Tomky uses her unrelenting enthusiasm for eating everything to propel herself around the world as an award-winning food and travel writer.
updated Jan 22, 2020
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Credit: Cookie Rookie

Regional fast-food quirks run deep all over the U.S., and nothing drives Americans to argue more than when called to defend their area’s unique food choices. (Seriously, ask me again about the cream cheese hot dog!) And when it comes to burgers particularly, each part of the country has their thing — Wisconsin’s butter burger, Minnesota’s juicy Lucy, the green chile cheeseburger in New Mexico, the onion burger in Oklahoma, and, it turns out, the guber or goober Burger in Missouri — a burger which is topped with peanut butter.

Oh yeah, that’s right, if you’re from Missouri right now, you’re probably thinking fondly back on your days of stopping into The Wheel Inn and picking up that peanut butter-slathered delight. If you’re almost anyone else, you either automatically yucked Missouri’s yum (don’t do that!) or you’re turning this over in your head trying to figure it out. Thankfully, a bar in Seattle has one on the menu so I can verify: it works. As blogger The Cookie Rookie explains, “When you bite in, it has just a hint of salty sweetness that really makes them amazing,” on top of the creaminess that the spread adds. 

The guber burger was invented in the mid-20th century at The Wheel Inn in Sedalia, Missouri, where it came with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and of course peanut butter. While the original restaurant and an effort to reopen it are long gone, the legacy lives on anywhere that guber burgers are served, especially in the greater Kansas City area. But just because you’re not around there doesn’t mean you can’t give the regional specialty a try. There is absolutely nothing complicated about putting together a guber burger, whether you do it as a full-size burger or follow The Cookie Rookie’s recipe and make them slider-sized. But basically all you do is cook up your burger patty, and as it finishes cooking, glop on a spoonful of creamy peanut butter. Assemble your burger as you normally would, letting the peanut butter melt down into the patty, and then just dig in!

Try a Recipe: Peanut Butter Burgers (Goober Burger Sliders) from The Cookie Rookie