Our juicy and tender Smash Burger is one of the best burger recipes! It is a tried-and-true burger that your whole family is going to love enjoying all summer long. Create a burger bar to get creative and top them any way you want!
The Best Smash Burger Recipe
During those warm, summer months, perfectly grilled burgers are a staple for our weeknight dinners, backyard cookouts, and 4th of July celebrations! And these easy smash burgers are definitely one of our new favorite recipes. There is just something about that combination of a juicy burger patty on a toasted bun with the best burger toppings and that delicious special sauce! Our family loves to cook them up on our Blackstone flat top, but feel free to use any type of cast iron griddle or a cast iron pan.
Looking for another recipe to make on your flat cooktop? You have to try our Blackstone Fried Rice!
What You Will Need
- burger sauce – it only takes minutes to make this homemade smash burger sauce and it is totally worth it!
- ground beef – we used ground chuck with an 80/20 fat content, but feel free to use your favorite ground meat.
- salt and pepper – simple seasonings that are always a must!
- bacon – nothing better than a few strips of crispy bacon.
- soft bun – pick-up any type of burger buns at your local grocery store – regular white buns, whole wheat buns, gluten-free buns, or brioche buns.
- butter – perfect for spreading on the inside of the buns for toasting them on the cook top.
- cheese slices – we recommend a classic American cheese but any slice of cheese will work. Try pepper jack for a little kick of heat.
- pickle slices – these cool and juicy slices of pickles are perfection on these smashburgers!
How To Make A Smash Burger
The first steps to making this easy recipe are to gather the ingredients and mix together the burger sauce (it’s the best part!).
Now mix together the beef, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Divide into 4 equal portions that should be about 4 ounces each. Roll these portions into burger balls.
Next, bring all of burger ingredients to your cooking surface and warm the hot griddle to a medium high heat. Start by cooking the strips of bacon on the hot surface to your preferred crispness.
After moving the cooked bacon off to the side to stay warm, place each beef ball on the hot cooking surface. Use a warm burger press to smash the meat into a 1/4 inch thin patty. Let it cook for about 40 seconds, flip, and place the cheese on top of each patty.
Immediately after placing the cheese on top, place the buttered buns on to toast, and close the lid. Let it all cook for about 2 minutes and then take everything off the grill.
Top the burger any way you want and enjoy!
Recipe FAQ
A typical smash burger is made using a flat surface to create a burger patty while the burger cooks. Usually burger patties are made before cooking, but when using this cooking process they are pressed directly on the cook top.
Technically you can use any type of ground meat but we highly recommend using 80/20 ground beef. Having a higher fat ratio in the burger will keep it juicy.
In the recipe card below we used a smash sauce, bacon, burger pickles, and listed onion slices as an option. They would also be great with some tomato slices, lettuce, red onion, or any other favorite toppings.
Made this delicious recipe and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU!
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Other Burger Recipes You Might Like
Smash Burger Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 4 burgers 1x
- Category: Dinner/Entree
- Method: Blackstone
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST Smash Burger recipe with bacon, pickles + the most amazing burger sauce! Works on a Blackstone, other flat top, or cast iron skillet!
Ingredients
Burger Sauce:
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon dill pickles, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon pickle juice
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (sub coconut aminos)
- 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar
Smash Burgers + Toppings:
- 1 pound ground beef, 80/20
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, cut in half
- 4 hamburger buns
- 2–3 tablespoons butter
- 4 slices American cheese
- 2–3 burger pickles
- (optional) white onion, very thinly sliced
Tools (optional):
Instructions
- Make Burger Sauce: Add the classic Burger Sauce ingredients to a small bowl, stir to combine. Set aside.
- Prep Burger Balls: Add ground beef, salt, and pepper to bowl. Mix to combine. Use a scale to create 1/4 pound balls with your hands and set aside.
- Prep Other Ingredients: Make sure your bacon is halved an ready to go. Butter both sides of the buns. Have cheese ready to go, some salt + pepper for seasoning, as well as an extra plate to put your cooked burgers on. Having everything prepped and ready to go is essential, because the cook time goes real quick.
- Cook Bacon: Bring Blackstone or flat top to medium-high heat. Add bacon and let cook to your liking, 3-4 minutes (more if you like them extra crispy). Warm up your burger press a bit so the bottom isn’t cold (especially if you store it outside). Move bacon off to the side, but make sure the bacon grease is nice and distributed.
- Cook Burgers + Toast Buns: Place burger balls on flat top. Slowly press down on each ball to flatten until the patties are approx. 1/4 inch thick. This will take 15-20 seconds per burger. Let sit and cook for the next 40 seconds (feel free to season patties at this point if you want). Flip and immediately add a slice of cheese to each – this is also when you will put the burger buns down (buttered side down). Close lid and let burgers cook approx. 2 minutes. Open lid and remove burgers and buns to clean plate.
- Build + Serve Burger: Take a toasted bun and place the cooked burger on top (or stack two). Top with two slices bacon, burger pickles, and burger sauce – also add onion if you want. Enjoy!
Notes
- Bacon + Buns: the bacon grease on the flat top and toasted buns seriously elevate this burger! Do not skip!
- Double vs. Single: totally up to you if you want to stack for a double smash burger or keep it at a single – personal preference!
- Cast Iron Skillet: you can definitely make these in a large cast iron skillet, but it might work best if you use two skillets, one for the burger and one for the buns so they can be done at the same time.
- Cook Time: we did the dirty work here and tested all the different time frames – the 3 minutes total time had the most consistent results for a not undercooked, not overcooked burger. If you are concerned you can shoot for closer to 2 minutes 50 seconds, if you want!
- Burger Press + Paper Squares: you can definitely get away with using a sturdy metal spatula and pressing down on it with a full can of beer or something, but the burger press really is nice here! You can also place a paper square between the ball of ground beef and burger press when you press it down, to keep it from sticking. We didn’t and obviously it worked just fine, but feel free to use these as well.
- Nutrition info is for the smash burgers + toppings. Does not include the burger sauce because amounts added can vary.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 burger
- Calories: 418
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 953 mg
- Fat: 15.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 29.8 g
- Protein: 32.8 g
- Cholesterol: 99.9 mg
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