The Best Smash Burgers

Smash Burgers with Sweet & Spicy Pickle Mayo

Serves

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

This is the only way to make burger patties. The burger sauce is an absolute must-do. It’s perfect for dipping French fries too. Make sure not to form patties with the mince at all. It’s the rough portions of meat on the searing hot pan that guarantees loads of delicious caramelized bits – the tell-tale sign of a perfect smash burger. Our recipe makes a double patty burger for extra decadence.

This recipe is courtesy of Cook & Nelson.

Smash Burgers are my favorite of all burger varietals. A loosely packed, thin patty is “smashed” on a hot griddle, until its edges are crispy and delicious. The patty is topped with American cheese and placed in between a soft potato bun, along with lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and pickles. If you’ve never had a smash burger, you are in for a TREAT. I feel like in the past couple years, smash burgers have really had a moment. They’ve become insanely popular in restaurants. The best part about them is that they’re super easy to make at home.

Kelly Gibney

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Ingredients

Smash Burgers

800g Quality Mark beef mincei
kosher salt
2 Tbsp oil
such as vegetable or avocado oil
ground black pepper
8 slices cheese

Burger Sauce

½ cup mayonnaise
10 McClure’s Sweet & Spicy Pickles
sliced
2 tsp American mustard
1 Tbsp tomato sauce
1 Tbsp brine
from McClure’s Sweet & Spicy Pickles
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp kosher salt

Burger Assembly

4 brioche burger buns
halved and toasted
lettuce
2 tomatoes
sliced
1 red onion
sliced
McClure’s Sweet & Spicy Pickles

Method

For the Burger Sauce

Mix together all the sauce ingredients and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the flavours to develop.

To Toast the Buns

Place a pan over medium-low heat.

Add the butter and when melted, add as many bun halves, interior side down, as you can. Cook until toasted and lightly golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Repeat with the remaining buns until they’ve all been toasted. Add more butter to the pan, as needed.

To Make the Patties

Divide the mince into 8 roughly equal portions.

Season each patty with salt and pepper.

Heat a pan (a cast iron pan is perfect) or a BBQ hot plate until very hot. Lightly oil.

Place portions of meat in the pan as space allows. Use a metal spatula to press down very firmly to flatten.

Wait until you can see the meat browning really well at the edges before flipping it over – usually a minute or two.

Place a slice of cheese over each patty and cook for a further minute.

To Assemble the Smash Burgers

Spread one half of the toasted bun with the burger sauce.

Place lettuce leaves and sliced tomatoes on the bottom bun.