These chophouse smash burgers hit the spot and then some. I’m a big smash burger fan, and although I usually make them more traditional with lettuce, tomato and onion, the sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and steak sauce on these burgers was fantastic. Good and messy, these burgers are destined to show up on our menu often.
Making Chophouse smash burgers isn’t difficult. You don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment or a lot of time. Just a hot griddle and a burger press. Any griddle will do, whether it’s on a grill (I use and love my Weber grills!), cooktop, stove or even a standalone outdoor flattop. Just get those patties nice and thin and top them with a little cheese and sautéed mushrooms and onions . And steak sauce.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
Add the onion slices and cook until just turning soft, about 5 minutes or so.
Add the mushrooms. Stir and cook until the mushrooms and onions are caramelized and get some brown color. This can take up to 10 minutes. If too much liquid accumulates in the pan it will boil the vegetables not brown them, so drain some off if needed.
Season with salt and pepper. Stir and remove from heat.
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.
Form the beef into 4-equally sized balls or patties. Season well with salt and pepper.
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.
Toast the buns as desired.
Make the burgers by placing the patties on the bun bottoms.
Add the mushroom and onion mix followed by a good drizzle of the steak sauce.
My wife and I had lunch at a burger pub the other day. She ordered their patty melt. It looked (and was) delicious. She said it was the best patty melt she’d ever had. “A challenge!” I thought. Time get make something even better. At home. And I did. These smash burger patty melts are now the best patty melts she’s ever had. They’re tastier. Juicer. And less messy. And made with our favorite, smash burgers instead of overly-thick patties.
To make smash burger patty melts, you’ll need some sort of griddle or grill pan or even cast iron skillet for your grill. I use a big ole cast iron griddle. Yes, I have one for most of my grills because they’re great for more than just burgers. I find myself using them all of the time. They don’t take up the entire grill surface so I can still cook on the grates too if I need.
I don’t go crazy nuts obsessing about it, but I like to keep my griddle pretty clean. Specially if I’m toasting bread. No one wants yesterdays chicken on today’s Texas toast. I use these scrubby pads attached to a long handle holder that prevents me from burning myself.
Last, I gotta get my patties thin and spread out. I use a burger press. I wrap the bottom in foil for easy clean up. This press makes for fantastic smash burgers with the right thickness so I get that little crunch around the edges. Perfect!
Fire up your grill with a griddle or grill pan over direct medium-high heat.
Clean your griddle well. I use a brush and water, it works better than a scraper. Just be careful adding water to a hot griddle. DO NOT have any body parts nears the griddle when you add the water as it will instantly create a cloud of very hot steam. Then scrub, scrub, scrub. Repeat as necessary. You want the griddle clean to toast the bread.
Lightly spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on one side of each slice of bread. Working in batches if necessary, lay the bread mayo-side down on the hot griddle and toast for 2-3 minutes or until lightly brown and crunchy.
Flip and lightly brown the non-mayo sides too. Remove to a plate for the final assembly step.
Once the griddle is hot add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once melted add the onion and cook for 20 minutes or longer, until they are golden brown and caramelized. Stir and flip often with a spatula or tongs. If they start to burn reduce the heat. If they get too dry add a bit more butter.
Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and cook for 1 more minute. Remove to a bowl and cover with foil or a plate to keep warm.
Form burger into 4 5-ounce patties. Don't pack them tightly, just get them lightly shaped.
Season beef on both sides. Don't be shy with it.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the griddle. Add the burgers. Let them cook for 3 minutes then smash out as thinly as possible using a burger press.
Continue cooking burgers until you see a bit of a crunchy edge. Flip.
Cook burgers another 3 minutes. Add 1 slice of Swiss and 1 slice of pepper jack to each patty.
Divide the onion between the patties. Grill another minute or two to melt the cheese.
Divide sauce between the non-mayonnaise sides of the bread. Use a little or a lot, it's up to you.
Add the cooked patties and top bread slices and serve!
Notes
This recipe is best made using a griddle on a gas or charcoal grill. You can also use a griddle grill. If you don’t have a griddle you can use a large cast iron skillet, but you’ll have to cook the burgers in batches.
Oh man did these Pub Sauce smash burgers ever hit the spot. Juicy patties. Crisp fresh toppings. All with a wonderful sauce that is a combination of just about every good burger sauce you can think of. It’s reminiscent of a creamy steak sauce but it’s not too thick. It’s got a hint of sweetness. A bit saltiness. A little Asian-inspired flavor. And my favorite, garlic. Every bite is an unami-festival. These burgers are proof that even the simplest sauce can make a ‘plain’ burger something special. Sure, there are a few ingredients, but nothing fancy and nothing complicated.
Making Pub Sauce smash burgers isn’t difficult. You don’t need a bunch of fancy equipment or a lot of time. Just a hot griddle and a burger press. Any griddle will do, whether it’s on a grill, cooktop, stove or even a standalone outdoor flattop. Just get those patties nice and thin and use quality fresh toppings. And a great sauce.
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.
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.
Smash burgers are a popular meal in our house. They’re easy to make, cook up in no time, and most important, they remind me of the classic diner burgers of my youth. I will go out of my way for a good griddled burger no matter where I am. Fortunately, I can make them quite easily on my backyard grill with just a few tools. Thin patties, seasoned simply with just salt and pepper, cooked over onion until the perfect lightly crunchy edges are obtained. Served on toasted buns with traditional toppings, such as pickles, tomato, lettuce. A little ketchup, sure. Maybe a little mustard. And even a little mayonnaise. Whatever you prefer, no matter what you add, you’ll enjoy a great burger.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Smash burgers are a popular meal in our house. They're easy to make, cook up in no time, and most important, they remind me of the classic diner burgers of my youth.
Fire up your grill for high heat. Place a griddle or a large cast iron pan over the highest heat.
Season the ground beef and form into four 4 ounce balls (not patties!).
Place on the onion slices on the griddle and divide into four equal piles. You want the piles to be about the size of your buns.
Place the balls of beef on top of the onion piles and let cook for one minute. Just let them cook, don't mess with them.
Take your press and flatten out the patties. I like to use the point of the press and work my way around the ball first, doing a little section at a time and then finally I press down on the entire patty to flatten it out. You can also just flatten out the ball all at once. At this point I also like to season the patties some more.
Let the patties cook until you start to notice a little char along the edges. Flip, season again if desired, and continue cooking another minute or so until the other side is charred. The burgers are thin so they will cook very quickly so watch out.
Add the cheese slices. If desired, cover in a dome to help the cheese melt.
Toast the buns. Remove, add the patties and serve with desired toppings. Devour immediately.
