Easy Smash Burger Recipe

Hey, I'm John Kanell, and today on Preppy Kitchen, we're making some easy, delicious smash burgers. So let's get started. First off, grab one and a half pounds of ground beef. You want an 80-20 mix for this. It shouldn't be too lean. You need the fat to make this extra delicious. You're gonna divide this into eight equal portions. I'm doing six because I didn't get enough beef at the supermarket. Okay. Now, with your clean hands, we're gonna roll these into balls and place them onto a plate or small baking sheet because these guys have to chill for 20 minutes. You can chill these for up to six hours. The chill time is just gonna help the patties hold together when we cook them. And if you haven't had a smash burger, who are you? Smash burgers are burgers that have a thinner patty that's smashed down during the cook, and the benefit to this is it gives you really more surface area for caramelization, like all those delicious parts on the outside are magnified. Once your patties are rolled out, we're gonna cover this up and pop this into the fridge for 20 minutes or up to six hours. While your patties are chilling, it's time to grab your toppings and get things prepped up. You can keep it simple or add tons of favorites. I'm gonna have some very thinly sliced red onion. Of course I'd like some fresh tomato. I have some thinly sliced cheddar ready to go. You could use American cheese or any of your favorites will work in this. These guys just melt really well. Iceberg lettuce, grab some pickles if you want them. And I'm also gonna make an easy burger sauce for this. It comes together in a minute and I just really prefer the taste. Into a small bowl I'm adding a quarter cup of mayo, a tablespoon of ketchup or so, a teaspoon of mustard. I'm also gonna add my favorite relish, a teaspoon to a tablespoon or so. Give that a good mix and you're gonna have a great sauce that's enough for about four burgers. If you're making eight burgers today, double the sauce. And by the way, if you like my videos, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. There's two new recipes every single week. Towards the end of your chill time, grab a big cast iron skillet or your griddle. We're gonna place it over medium high heat. Warm it up and then you have an option here. You can go straight to smashing those burgers or you can toast your buns. I always like to toast the buns. So cut them and they'll go face down for a nice little toast. It also helps soften the bread. Today I'm just using some store-bought brioche buns but I have a delicious and easy recipe for burger buns on the blog. You can click in the description box below for that. Once the pan is warm, we're gonna brush the cut sides with some melted butter. I have a few tablespoons here. And then they go onto the pan for about a minute. After about a minute, we're going to pop these onto a baking sheet just to hang out. Oh my gosh, the color looks so nice. They smell great. My buns are all toasted. My sauce and toppings are ready. So now we're gonna smash these burgers. Grab them out of the fridge. You're gonna cook two to four at a time. It depends on the size of your pan or griddle. And I would do even numbers if you're choosing to do two patties per burger, which is what I'm gonna do. Grab your burger patty onto your hot pan. Now we're gonna use a spatula and give it a smash. These can be hard to smash, so feel free to grab a can of something and that'll help you just press down. The original smash burgers were actually smashed with cans of beans and I can see why. It makes it so much easier. Season the tops of your burger patties with salt and pepper and some pepper. Cook these for one to two minutes. And I will point out, you should not overcrowd them. The joy of a smash burger is that crispy edge and you don't wanna have them overcrowded and steaming. It's been about two minutes, so I'm gonna give these a flip. Flip them over, season with salt and pepper once more and you're gonna cook these for one to two minutes again until they're cooked through. Grab one slice of cheese if you're doing a double decker or two slices if they have singles. Continue this process with your remaining burger patties. While these are cooking, grab your toasted buns. We're gonna spread some sauce on so they're nice and ready to accept our patties. About a tablespoon per bun and you'll be good to go. If your patties are sticking, just loosen the edges a bit and that'll help them stay intact when you lift them with your spatula. There's a ton of debate on who had the first hamburger. Louie's Lunch in Connecticut claims they served the first one in 1900, but there's also Dairy Cheer in Appalachia which had the first smash burger smashed with a can of beans. And honestly, you could ask 100 different people and you'd get 100 different answers for who had the first burger. I'm not gonna claim Connecticut, I'm just saying. Some people say. Pile those toppings on, I have some thinly sliced onion, my beautiful tomatoes, a little bit of salt and pepper on top. You could add pickles and the lettuce could be shredded or torn, it's totally up to you. Give it one last press and just like that, it's ready to enjoy. That is simply delicious. I hope you get a chance to make this recipe and if you like my videos, hit my dinner playlist and I'll see you later.