What Is a Smash Burger?
And how to make one at home.
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The thin, scrappy smash burger has almost single-handedly challenged the definition of the perfect burger. Crushed and compressed, with cracked edges and bits so crisp and browned they verge on charred may sound like a culinary train wreck, but to devotees it’s pure burger heaven. Here’s what a smash burger is, how it differs from a conventional burger, plus everything you need to know to make an excellent one at home — in minutes.
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What Is a Smash Burger?
A smash burger is a thin beef patty cooked on a super-hot griddle. The burger is smashed down, usually with a spatula, to increase browning and craggy bits on the surface for extra flavor.
The smashing technique has been around for a while but was further popularized by the Smashburger chain founded in Denver in 2007. Today numerous restaurants advertise this style of burger and home cooks can choose from hundreds of recipes for making them. Fans praise the flavor the burgers get from maximum surface area and being cooked literally smashed into a screaming-hot griddle or skillet. And while generations of burger cookers once believed that pressing on a burger would force out juices and leave it dry, the science of smash burgers seems to belie this: Quickly forming a crust may actually help hold juices in.
What’s in a smash burger? As with hamburgers generally, ground beef rules the smash burger universe, although smashed turkey burgers, smashed plant-based burgers and more do make appearances and can hold their own. Salt is usually the only seasoning used in or on the patty itself, although recipes can vary. Almost all smash burgers are cheeseburgers, although this too isn’t an absolute requirement. And when it comes to toppings they can run the gamut but often feature butter-toasted buns and a slathering of a mayo-based burger sauce. Finally, these patties are so thin that it’s not uncommon to have two sandwiched together; a double-decker smash burger offers twice as much deep, dark, caramelized surface in each bun.
Smash Burgers vs. Regular Burgers
Way You Cook the Burger: What’s the difference between smash burgers and regular burgers? First off, whereas regular burgers hit the grill or griddle already formed into patties, smash burgers start as just loose balls of ground beef plopped on the grill first, then smashed down with a spatula or burger press until they’re ultra-thin.
Shape of the Patty: And while a plump, evenly shaped patty is the goal with a traditional burger, smash burgers develop uneven edges and lots of nooks and crannies, all of which get extra dark by being crushed into the cooking surface.
How Long You Cook the Burger: With a regular burger, the length of cooking usually revolves around having the interior of the patty reach a particular doneness, like medium-rare or medium. But with a smash burger the determining doneness factor is the exterior: The burger is ready when the outside is deeply browned and caramelized for maximum flavor.
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How to Make Smash Burgers
Smash burgers are about as easy as cooking can be. You’ll find no end of great recipes for them (see some of ours below), but you can also wing it and have the patties cooked and ready in about 10 minutes. The cooking process is superfast, so have any buns/toppings/condiments ready to go before you start. And finally keep in mind that the smash technique is based on extremely high heat, and that means smoke. If your kitchen doesn’t have a hood or good ventilation then you might want to take the cooking outside: A cast-iron griddle placed over the rack of an outside grill works excellently.
Step 1: Check Your Ventilation
The burgers and cooking surface itself may create quite a bit of smoke, so turn on your exhaust fan if you’re indoors to prevent your smoke alarm from going off.
Step 2: Make Big Meatballs
Use 80% lean ground beef (sometimes called 80/20) and gently form it into 4-ounce balls being careful not to compact the meat. Place the balls in the freezer while you heat your pan, or refrigerate them for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Get the Pan Super Hot
Heat a griddle or cast-iron skillet over high heat until it’s screaming hot. To test the heat, carefully sprinkle a few drops of water on it; if the water forms balls that skitter around for a second or two before evaporating the pan is ready.
Step 4: Smash and Cook
Place a beef ball on the pan and use a metal spatula or burger press to flatten it to about 1/4-inch thick. Keep pressing and count to 10 to ensure the patty makes total contact with the pan. Lift the spatula and continue making burgers. Sprinkle with salt. Once the bottoms are deeply browned and crispy, about 2 minutes, flip, sprinkle with salt again, and place a slice of cheese on each. Cook until the bottoms are browned and crisped, about 2 minutes more.
That’s it! Place your patties in buns with your favorite fixings and condiments and serve immediately. And remember, putting two smash patties in the same bun isn’t frowned on — they’re thin enough that you should still be able to get your mouth around them. Below are some of our favorite full-on recipes for smash burgers in case you’re looking for more inspiration.
Smash Burger Recipes
Looking for a few bells and whistles for your next burger night? Try one of these delicious recipes to wow your crowd; each has some nice next-level extras. Do remember that high heat can lead to smoke in your kitchen, so turn your stove hood on before you start to cook even if the recipe doesn't specifically mention this.
Matt
One of the appeals of super-thin patties is that you can easily (not awkwardly) fit two into a bun for a double cheeseburger. A classic burger sauce and griddled onions add to the flavor fun. The Blackstone here is a gas griddle surface that’s excellent for smashing, but you could also use a large flat griddle on your stovetop or work in batches in a cast-iron skillet.
Caitlin Ochs
Move aside, grilled burgers: The smash burger just might be the iconic burger for all seasons. Bacon, Cheddar, garden fixings and secret sauce round these out. A full 8 ounces of beef for each patty make these a bit heftier than your average smash burger, but we bet on one will complain with his or her mouth full.
Two special sauces, brioche buns, melty American cheese, bacon and more make Kardea Brown’s double-decker smash burgers tall and delicious. Add your own homemade oven fries or onion rings and we bet you’ll outdo your favorite burger joint.
Chef JJ Johnson proves that even plant burgers can benefit from the flavorful smash technique. An avocado spread is his creative alternative to a mayo-based sauce, and caramelized onions are an irresistible addition.
Our Favorite Smash Burger Press
Don’t get us wrong, a sturdy metal spatula works fine for pressing burgers. But if you’re ready to make smashed burgers a habit you might want to get a dedicated burger press. They have a convenient handle that makes the pressing direct and easy, and their generous size and weight means you don’t have to use a lot of additional pressure: Just press to the desired thickness and leave it to sit for 10 seconds on top.
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