How to Make a Smash Burger: Juicy Homemade Recipe Guide

Most people don’t realize that the way they’ve been making burgers their whole life is basically wrong. They take ground beef, make a ball, plop it on a griddle, and squish it down with a spatula while it’s cooking. Then they wonder why it tastes dry.

The thing about smash burgers is they’re actually the opposite of what people think makes a good burger. You start with barely any meat. Like just a small handful. You press it thin on a hot surface. You don’t flip it obsessively. You let it get a crust on the bottom. That crust is where all the flavor comes from.

And the weird part? A thin burger cooked this way actually stays juicier than a thick burger. Because the meat is thinner, it cooks faster and doesn’t have time to dry out. The surface gets this amazing crust while the inside stays tender.

People order smash burgers at restaurants and think they’re some complicated thing that requires special equipment. They don’t. You need a hot griddle, some ground beef, and a spatula. That’s it.

What You Actually Need For Ingredients

The meat is important so let’s start there. You want ground beef. 80/20 is standard but 85/15 works too. The fat content matters because that’s what keeps it juicy and adds flavor.

Don’t buy the super lean stuff like 93/7. It’ll be dry. And don’t buy pre-made burger patties. Just get regular ground beef and form it yourself right before cooking.

Get it from a good butcher if you can. Or from the grocery store regular section. Just make sure it’s not sitting there looking gray and old. Fresh ground beef is bright red. Use it the same day you buy it if possible.

Beyond beef or impossible burger stuff works too but it’s different. Not better or worse, just different. If you’re vegetarian that’s your option.

Then you need buns. Good buns actually matter a lot. Soft buns, toasted buns, buns that don’t fall apart when they get wet from the burger. American cheese slices work, or real cheese if you want. Pickles, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, whatever you like. Ketchup, mustard, mayo, special sauce, doesn’t matter what you like on it.

The key ingredients for the actual burger patty though are just salt and pepper. That’s it. Don’t add eggs or breadcrumbs or minced onions or anything. Just salt, pepper, meat. Handle it as little as possible.

The Griddle Or Pan Is Actually Important

You need something hot and flat. A cast iron griddle is ideal. A regular cast iron skillet works. A flat top griddle if you’ve got one. Even a regular stainless steel pan works if that’s what you have.

The main thing is it needs to get hot. Like really hot. Not medium heat, actual high heat so the meat sears immediately when it hits the surface.

This is where a lot of people mess up. They cook on medium or medium-high heat and the meat just steams instead of getting a nice crust. You want that crusty, caramelized exterior.

If you’re using a regular stovetop, get your pan or griddle on there and let it heat up for like 5 minutes on high heat. It should be smoking a little bit when the meat hits it. That’s how you know it’s hot enough.

The Meat Preparation

Take your ground beef out of the fridge. Don’t let it sit out for ages. Just take it out right before you’re going to cook.

Form balls of meat. These should be small. Like about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little smaller. Don’t compress them too much while you’re forming them. Just kind of gently roll them between your hands.

The amount of meat matters. Most people make the balls too big. A smash burger is thin and wide, not thick and small. So you need less meat than you’d think. Like for a normal burger you might use 4-5 ounces. For a smash burger, use 2-3 ounces. Even smaller is fine.

The reason is you’re about to press this flat on a hot griddle. If you start with too much meat, it’ll be too thick even after smashing.

Timing Is Everything

Have everything ready before you start cooking. Your buns, your cheese, your toppings, your condiments. Everything should be within arm’s reach.

Because once you start cooking, it goes fast. You’re not standing around waiting. You’re actively working the whole time.

If you’re cooking multiple burgers, you might want to do them in batches unless you’ve got a huge griddle. Each burger takes like 5-6 minutes total so it’s not a long wait but still.

Heat The Griddle Way Hotter Than You Think You Need To

Seriously. Get it smoking hot. Put it on high heat and let it sit there for a good 5 minutes.

Touch it carefully with your hand. If you can hold your hand there for more than a second, it’s not hot enough. You want it so hot that if you splash water on it, it evaporates immediately.

This is the most important part because this is what gives you the crust.

Put The Meat Ball On The Griddle

Place your ball of meat on the hot griddle. Don’t put it in the center necessarily. Just get it on there.

It’s going to start sizzling immediately. That’s exactly what you want. That sound means the crust is forming.

Immediately, and I mean immediately, take a metal spatula and press down on the meat. Press hard. You’re trying to squash it into a thin disc. Like a quarter inch thick or even thinner.

Hold the spatula down for like 30 seconds while pressing. The meat will spread out flat underneath the spatula. You’ll probably see fat coming out the sides which is fine. That’s flavor.

Make It Thin And Wide

After you’ve pressed it down the first time, you can lift the spatula and let it cook a bit more. But don’t flip it yet. You want to cook it on this one side for like 2-3 minutes so you get a nice brown crust forming.

You can press it again once or twice if it starts to puff up. Just flatten it back out if needed.

The goal is a thin, wide patty that’s maybe a quarter inch to half inch thick. It should look like a disc, not a ball.

The Bottom Gets A Crust

As it cooks on that first side, the bottom is developing this gorgeous brown, crusty exterior. This is the best part of the smash burger. The crispy, caramelized meat on the outside is where most of the flavor is.

Don’t mess with it too much. Just let it sit there and cook. Don’t keep pressing on it. Let the crust form.

You’ll notice the edges getting brown and crispy. That’s good. That means it’s cooking right.

After like 2-3 minutes, check under the patty with your spatula. If it’s brown and has a good crust, you’re ready to flip.

Flip It Once And Only Once

After that 2-3 minutes of cooking on the first side, flip it. Use your spatula and just flip it in one motion. Don’t be gentle about it.

Now you’re cooking the other side. This will take like 1-2 minutes. The first side already has the crust so you don’t need as long on the second side.

If you’re adding cheese, add it right after you flip it so it has time to melt while the second side cooks.

Cheese Melting

If you’re using American cheese, it’ll melt really fast. It’s designed to melt. Just throw a slice on top of the meat right after you flip it.

If you’re using regular cheese like cheddar or Swiss, you might want to tent a lid over it or add a tiny splash of water to the griddle and cover it to help the cheese melt. Or just let it sit there and it’ll melt eventually.

American cheese is honestly easier though.

How To Tell When It’s Done

You don’t need a meat thermometer for smash burgers because they’re thin and they cook fast. You can just tell by looking at it.

When the second side has been cooking for like a minute or a minute and a half, it should be looking cooked through. If you want medium, flip it back to the first side briefly to see how cooked it is. If you want well done, just keep cooking.

The thing about thin burgers is they cook fast. Like really fast. You can overcook them in 30 seconds if you’re not paying attention.

Medium to medium-well is probably the right range for most people. The meat is cooked through but still tender.

Assembling Your Burger

Take the cooked patty off the griddle immediately when it’s done. Put it on a bun.

If you haven’t toasted your bun yet, now’s a good time. The residual heat from the burger will kind of toast it if you press it against the patty but actual toasting is better. Throw the bun on the griddle for like 10 seconds per side to get it warm and crispy.

Add your cheese if it’s not already on the patty. Add your toppings. Pickles, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, whatever.

Add your condiments. Ketchup, mustard, mayo. Spread them on the bun, not on the meat.

One Patty Or Two

A lot of smash burgers are actually two thin patties stacked together. This is totally fine. You just make two patties instead of one and stack them with cheese in between.

It’s more of a meal that way. One patty is more of a snack or a light lunch. Two patties and you’ve got a real burger.

You can do this two ways. Make two patties, cook them one at a time and stack them. Or put both patties on the griddle at the same time if you’ve got room, cook them together, and stack them when they’re done.

Griddle Space

If you’re cooking multiple burgers, you need to space them out. They shouldn’t be touching each other on the griddle. Give each one its own space.

If your griddle is small and you’ve got limited space, just cook them one at a time. It’s not a race.

The Burger Is Done When The Edges Look Crispy

The real indicator that a smash burger is done is when you see crispy, brown bits around the edges and the patty looks cooked through.

You’re not looking for a certain level of doneness based on time. You’re looking at the actual meat and judging it. If it looks gray and sad, it’s not cooked enough. If it looks brown and crispy, it’s done.

Toppings Matter But Not As Much As The Meat

The burger itself is just meat, bun, and cheese really. Everything else is just extra.

Pickles add acid and crunch which is good. Onions add flavor, especially if they’re raw. Tomatoes should be sliced fresh. Lettuce shouldn’t be there honestly because it doesn’t add much and just gets in the way, but some people like it.

Special sauce is just mayo, ketchup, and relish mixed together. Or mayo and mustard. Or whatever. It doesn’t matter. The important part is the meat. Get that right and everything else is just support.

Temperature Variation

If you want rare, you don’t really make a smash burger. They’re thin so they cook all the way through pretty fast.

Medium rare is probably the closest you can get. You cook the first side until it’s brown, flip it, and take it off after like a minute on the second side. Medium is the sweet spot. Cooked through, still tender, good color.

Medium well and well done are fine too. Just keep it on the griddle longer. But honestly with thin burgers, cooking time is so short that getting exactly the doneness you want is hard. Just cook it till it looks right.

Making Them At Home Versus Restaurant

Restaurant smash burgers have some advantages. They have industrial griddles that get way hotter than home ones. They make them constantly so they’re good at it. They’ve got unlimited griddle space.

At home you’re limited by your equipment. But honestly the difference isn’t huge. You can make great smash burgers at home with just a regular pan or griddle.

It might take a few tries to get the hang of it. Don’t stress about that. Even your first attempt will probably be pretty good.

Batch Cooking For A Crowd

If you’re making burgers for a bunch of people, you have a few options.

Option one is make them one at a time. Takes a while but they’re all fresh.

Option two is make them in batches and keep them warm. Cover them with foil on a plate in a warm oven while you cook the rest.

Option three is prep all the meat balls ahead of time so you’re just cooking them. This makes the actual cooking part faster.

Prep Work Ahead Of Time

You can form the meat balls a few hours before and keep them in the fridge. Just take them out when you’re ready to cook. You can get your toppings ready. Pickles in a bowl, cheese sliced out, onions chopped, whatever.

You can have your buns ready. Even toast them ahead if you want and just refresh them when you cook the burger. The only thing you can’t do ahead is cook the actual burger. That needs to be right before you eat it or the meat gets cold.

Storing Leftover Ground Beef

If you’ve got extra ground beef, store it in the fridge and use it within a day or two. Or freeze it and use it later. Don’t make patties and keep them in the fridge because they’ll stick together. Just keep it as loose meat.

The Griddle Technique Matters Most

The thing that makes smash burgers good is the technique. The hot griddle. The pressing. The one flip. The crust. It’s not complicated but it’s specific.

Get those things right and the burger is automatically better than a regular burger. It’s not about fancy ingredients or special meat or anything like that. It’s about the method.

Why Smash Burgers Hit Different

The crust on the bottom is where all the flavor is. It’s caramelized, crispy, brown. That’s umami city. A regular thick burger cooked in the center doesn’t get that crust. It’s just gray meat through and through.

That’s why smash burgers taste better. The surface area is bigger so you get more crust.

Variations You Can Do

Use a blend of different beef cuts for more flavor. Works fine. Add extra toppings like crispy onions or caramelized onions on top. Make a double smash burger which is two thin patties stacked with cheese between them.

Add crispy onions or fried shallots on top. Use a special sauce instead of regular condiments. None of these are harder. They’re just tweaks to the basic thing.

Why This Actually Works

Hot griddle causes immediate browning and crust formation on the outside. Thin patties cook through fast so the inside doesn’t dry out. The meat stays tender because it’s not sitting on heat for too long.

It’s physics basically. Surface area to volume ratio is higher so you get more crust, less time to lose moisture.

The Bottom Line

Get a hot griddle. Put a small amount of meat on it. Smash it flat. Cook first side 2-3 minutes for crust. Flip once. Cook second side 1-2 minutes. Put it on a bun with toppings. Eat immediately.

That’s the whole thing. It’s not complicated. It’s just about understanding the technique and doing it right.

Smash burgers are genuinely one of the easiest and best things you can make at home. Way better than a regular burger and honestly faster too.

Once you do it once, you’ll probably just make smash burgers forever.