Oh me. Make me drool. These juicy smash burgers were packed with flavor. And oh, so juicy good! Smashed to perfection and cooked on a hot griddle, the patties get that nice little char around the edges. That crunch. That’s the sign of a good smash burger right there!
Keep It Simple
I tend to keep the toppings on my juicy smash burgers (and all my smash burgers for that matter) pretty simple. The patties are the real star of the show here. So for me, it’s a not-too-strong-of-a-cheese (Swiss), chopped iceberg, a little onion and some ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard. There’s nothing fancy going on here. The patties have a great texture to them thanks to the bread crumbs. The flavor comes from beef-flavored onion soup mix. And the juiciness comes from adding mayonnaise into the patties. This recipe makes 8 patties, which is a good thing because I could easily eat two!
The equipment
Here’s the equipment I use. You can get by using two cast iron skillets. Use a larger skillet for cooking the burgers, and a smaller one to smash the burgers and keep them flat. Since I’m a cooking gadget collector, I prefer to use a few more tools.
The griddle
First, a griddle. You can buy griddles that sit on top of your grill grates or ones that replace them. Just about every grill I have has a griddle on it. I use them for a lot of things, not just smash burgers. You want one that can be placed over the hottest part of your grill so it gets screaming hot.
A burger press
Next, you need a burger press. You can use a heavy cast iron skillet, like I mentioned. Or get a burger press. For easy cleanup I wrap mine in foil first. When I’m done, just peel off the foil and toss. Super easy. Get a press that’s at least big enough to cover two burgers. You only smash one at a time, but if you want to keep them flat, you want to rest the press on top so bigger (and heavier) is better. Plus I’ve found that a bigger, heavier press tends to stay on the burgers whereas a smaller, lighter one is hard to keep centered on the burgers, specially if you have a bunch of them cooking at once.
A dome
Next up, a dome. While not 100% required, it does speed the time it takes to melt the cheese and it does it in a nice even fashion. In my opinion you don’t really need one if you’re using a super melty cheese, such as American, but for thicker slices like say a deli pepper jack, you want the cheese to melt before you over-cook the burger and that’s where a dome comes in handy.
Cleaning time!
Lastly, you need something to clean your griddle. I like to clean mine when I’m done cooking, but you can do it at the start instead. I use one of these pad holders with a griddle cleaning pad. Then I add a bit of water to my griddle then use the pad (connected to the holder) to scrub off any big chunks and get up some of the grease. I don’t go crazy with it, I always heat the heck out of my griddle before cooking, but I get the worst. The long arm on the pad holder makes it perfect for scrubbing a hot griddle, too.
Also try my Ultimate Smash Burger with Secret Spicy Sauce!
Juicy Smash Burgers
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise not light
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- 1 packet onion soup mix
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 8 hamburger buns
- your favorite burger toppings lettuce, onion, ketchup, etc
Instructions
- Place mayonnaise, bread crumbs, onion soup mix and ground beef into a large bowl.
- Using your hands, combine all the ingredients. Form into 8 equally-sized patties (they'll be just over 5 ounces each).
- Fire up your grill for direct medium-high heat cooking. You can also use an outdoor or indoor griddle or a large skillet on a stove.
- Place the patties on grill. Smash down with a spatula or grill press.
- Grill the burgers for 3-5 minutes per side or until done as desired.
- Toast the buns as desired.
- Serve burgers on buns with desired toppings.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
