Smashburgers

When it's too hot to fire up the grill, these smashburgers are here to the rescue. If you’ve never made a smashburger, they’re almost as fun to cook as they are to eat. Instead of forming patties, you make meatballs, which you then smash onto a hot skillet using a spatula. The result is crispy burgers that cook fast.

To make these even better, we made a secret sauce that we use two times—we baste the patties with it during cook, and we spread some on the finished smashburgers. Trust us, these beat any burger joint you can find.

Learn how to make smashburgers, and bring flavorful restaurant-worthy burgers to your dinner table tonight.

Ingredients for Smashburgers

The burger itself is very simple. In fact, it's just meat, salt, and pepper. The flavor comes from the secret sauce and your toppings. Here's what you need to make this recipe for smashburgers:

• Hot sauce: Use your favorite variety of hot sauce. This lends the secret sauce a hint of heat and a lot of bite.
• Spicy brown mustard: The kick of this mustard is a welcome contrast to the vinegary yellow mustard you may be accustomed to eating on burgers. If you don't have spicy brown mustard, you can substitute with whole-grain mustard or Dijon mustard.
• Worcestershire sauce: This incredibly versatile ingredient gives the secret sauce a great hit of umami. Coconut aminos or soy sauce will work if you don't like Worcestershire.
• Garlic: Fresh garlic is important here for the most potent flavor.
• Thousand Island dressing: Use your favorite variety of bottled dressing, or try homemade Thousand Island dressing.
• Black pepper: Seasons the ground beef and the sauce.
• Ground chuck: We like the juicy, meaty way this type of ground beef cooks up in the skillet, but you can swap for another cut if you like. You could even use this technique with ground turkey or ground chicken.
• Kosher salt: For seasoning the meat before it's cooked.
• American cheese: This is the iconic hamburger cheese for most folks, beloved for its melty qualities, but feel free to use another type if you prefer. A sharp or mild Cheddar would be great.
• Hamburger buns: Necessary for hamburgers, but if you don't like buns with seeds, get a different kind.
• Toppings: We suggest shredded lettuce, thinly sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, and dill pickle chips, but you can pick anything you like.

How To Make Smashburgers

This smashburgers recipe can be broken down into three simple steps. Here's the process; the full recipe is further below:

• Step 1. Make the secret sauce: Give the ingredients in this sauce a little time to meld, and make it first while you cook the burger patties. In fact, you can make this several days in advance if you want. Just be sure to store it in an airtight container.
• Step 2. Make and cook the burgers: Divide the ground beef into eight equal meatball-sized pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Working in batches, flatten each meatball into a hot skillet, and cook until both sides are brown and crispy. Brush the tops of the patties with some of the secret sauce, then add a slice of cheese on one of the patties. Cook to melt the cheese, and finish by topping the plain patty on top of the cheese. Remove the burger from the skillet, and keep it warm while you repeat these steps with the remaining meatballs and cheese.
• Step 3. Assemble the burgers: Once all the burgers are cooked, spread some of the secret sauce on both sides of the hamburger buns. Add the patties and any toppings, and put the top bun in place. Serve the burgers with any extra secret sauce.

How To Make Smashburgers Ahead of Time

While the patties are best when served just after they're cooked, there are a few things you can do if you need to get ahead of the work at dinner.

• Mix it up: The sauce can be made three days in advance. Store in an airtight container.
• Round it out: The patties can be divided and formed one day in advance. Just be sure to cover them with storage wrap to prevent air from discoloring the meat.

Our Tips for the Best Smashburgers

In the Southern Living Test Kitchen, we made several of these smashburgers to get the technique just right. Here are a few tricks were learned:

• Brush on flavor: Brushing the secret sauce on the burger makes the flavor more intense.
• Season well: Salt the meat directly to be sure it is seasoned well. To make seasoning the meat a little easier, mix the salt and pepper together before you add it to the meatballs.
• Do yourself a solid: Use a solid spatula for smashing, not one with lines or holes in it. The meat can get stuck in the holes when pressing, which makes it difficult to get the patty off and out of those holes.

What To Serve With Smashburgers

These smashburgers are ready for the dinner table in about 35 minutes, so you'll want a few quick and easy sides to accompany them. We're always fans of kettle-cooked potato chips and a dill pickle spear, but you could change things up with Fried Potatoes and Onions, Spiced-Up Shoestring Fries, or Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries.

If you want a few more vegetables on the plate, don't overlook one of these fresh cucumber salads.