Now THIS is a burger! This isn’t some dainty, fit-in-the-palm-of-your-hand two-bite burger. This is an elbows-out, juice-running-down-your-forearms, do-the-burger-hunch burger. Two all beef patties. Very special sauce. Lettuce. Cheese. Onions. Pickle. Sesame seed buns. These Cowboy Big Mac Smash Burgers (based on a recipe from Kent Rollins) are the kind of burger I find in my dreams.
Nine times out of ten, when I make burgers, I make Smash Burgers. I love the crispy edges, the thin patties, the fresh toppings… Cowboy Big Mac Smash Burgers aren’t messing around. Now, that being said, if you want to make these as single burgers you can and they’re just as delicious! Trust me! Sometimes I just can’t handle those monster-sized patties. So I do single patties instead, and I’ll even use 4.5 ounce patties instead of 8. I used to use 4 ounces, but I’ve found that 4.5 ounces ‘smash’ out to a size that covers the burger buns perfectly.
Also try my classic smash burgers and my delicious Thousand Island BBQ smash burgers.
Cowboy Big Mac Smash Burgers
Ingredients
For the burgers
- 2 pounds ground beef formed into four 8-ounce patties
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 4 sesame seed hamburger buns
- 4 slices cheddar cheese or American cheese
- 1 cup iceberg lettuce chopped fine
- 6 dill pickle slices
For the special sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 ½ tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon chipotles in adobo sauce just the sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 small white onion diced
Instructions
For the special sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, pickle relish, mustard, adobo sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika.
- Fold in the onion. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours before you're ready to make the burgers.
For the burgers
- Fire up your grill for direct medium-high heat cooking.
- Season the burger patties with salt and pepper on both sides. Don't be shy with the seasoning.
- Place the patties on grill. Smash down with a spatula or grill press.
- Grill the burgers for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Top the patties with cheese and grill until they've reached your desired doneness and the cheese is melted. Remove from the grill.
- Take 2 of the bun tops and cut off the tops. These will be the two middle buns for the Big Macs. Discard the bun bottoms or use them for something else (like making bread crumbs, feeding the birds, etc).
- Toast the buns and two bun slices on the grill as desired.
- Make the burgers by first spreading some of the sauce on the bun bottoms.
- Add some of the lettuce and a burger patty. Top with the sliced bun.
- Slather the top of the sliced bun with more of the sauce. Add lettuce, the remaining patties, pickles and top bun.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
