- Today, you're gonna learn how to make
a restaurant-quality smash burger.
(upbeat music)
Hey, everybody.
It's Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com.
Smash burgers are really easy to make at home,
and I think they taste better
because you have all of the best ingredients.
Plus, you're gonna love our two-ingredient special sauce
that just takes these over the top.
So let's get started 'cause I want a burger.
(hands tapping)
And, if you haven't already,
make sure you subscribe to our channel,
so you'll get notifications every time we post a new recipe.
To make four smash burgers,
you'll need one and a half pounds of 80/20 ground beef.
Ground beef that is 80% lean and 20% fat
will give you the best flavor and juiciness for burgers.
Divide the beef into eight equal portions.
They should each be about three ounces,
and you can use a kitchen scale
to make sure you have exactly three ounces for even patties.
This is our favorite kitchen scale,
and I will link to it in the notes.
Loosely roll the portions into balls.
This reminds me of when I was a kid,
and I would put rocks in my snowballs.
Shh. (laughs)
I'm a nice person. (laughs)
For the record, do not put rocks in your snowball.
It's generally a bad idea.
Cover your meatballs with plastic wrap
and refrigerate them until you're ready to hit the griddle.
You want the meat to be cold before you cook it.
(upbeat music)
Now, to make our special burger sauce,
you'll need just one-third cup of mayo, and use real mayo,
and add one teaspoon of yellow mustard.
Just a little bit of mustard goes a long way
to add great flavor.
Just stir those together until they are well combined
and set that aside.
Now I'm gonna quickly prep
the rest of my favorite smash burger toppings.
I'm using a red onion.
Thinly slice that into rings.
We love using red onion for burgers
because they're a little more mild than yellow onions.
Next, thinly slice one large tomato.
And if you have any trouble slicing through your tomato,
use a serrated knife, which will make it easier.
As I prep my toppings,
I like placing them onto a serving platter
so people can quickly build their burgers.
Next, slice up some fresh iceberg lettuce.
Peel off the outer leaves
because you want the lettuce to be really crisp,
so remove any soft leaves.
You can see I'm using my serrated knife again.
I find this the easiest knife
for thinly shredding the lettuce
and thinly shredding it like this
just makes it feel and look restaurant-style.
And last but not least,
I love pickles, and especially on burgers,
so I'm adding some dill pickles,
and these are already pre-sliced, so it's even easier.
Just transfer them to a bowl and add it to your platter.
All right, our sauce and our toppings are ready to go.
I'm also adding four thick slices of medium cheddar cheese
to add to the burgers.
You want to have everything prepped and ready to go
before your patties start cooking.
Now, the first thing we're gonna cook
are the burger buns.
I love to butter them on the cut side
and then toast them on the griddle.
This is a quick and simple step,
but it will completely transform your burgers
into restaurant-style burgers.
You can either spread on some softened butter
or brush on some melted butter,
Whichever is more convenient for you.
Now we're gonna head out to the griddle.
And you can use a skillet for this.
You can use an indoor griddle
or an outdoor cooktop if you have one.
Preheat your cooktop to medium heat,
then place the buns on their cut side down,
and toast them for a minute or two,
just until they're lightly golden underneath.
Once they're done, I like to transfer them to a wire rack
just so they don't get steamy underneath.
Then, we're gonna crank up the griddle
to medium-high heat.
Now, to smash burgers,
you can either use a spatula with a meat mallet for a press,
or you can use a burger press,
and I will link to these in the notes.
Also, cut some six-inch-by-six-inch pieces
of parchment paper, or you can purchase pre-cut ones,
and I'll link to that in the notes.
As soon as the patties are on the preheated griddle,
top them with a piece of parchment paper
and quickly smash them as thin as you can.
If using a spatula, place that down first,
then press over the top of it with a meat mallet as a press.
I find it it's a little quicker and easier
to use a burger press.
And you want to press directly down over the meat patty
and flatten it out really thin
to make sure that as much of the meat patty as you can get
is making contact with the cooktop.
Cook that for about two minutes on the first side.
It's just enough time to season with salt,
pepper, garlic powder, and add a dab of that sauce.
Once you see the juices collecting
on the surface of the patty, it's time to flip them over.
When you're flipping your patty,
make sure to scrape firmly underneath the patty
to ensure that you keep all of that yummy browning
on the patty and don't lose it on your grill.
Now cover one patty with a thick slice
of medium cheddar cheese, top it with the second patty,
and they're ready to take off the grill.
That's all there is to it.
It's just two minutes on the first side
and about a minute on the second side.
Now, I'm totally craving this burger,
so I'm gonna put it together while it's hot and juicy.
All right, our burger is cooked,
and it is time to put this together.
Here's how we assemble the perfect smash burger.
We start with that sauce on our toasted bun,
and it's just the two-ingredient sauce,
but it is really magical on these burgers.
You'll love it.
I'm just gonna spread that around on the bottom bun,
a generous amount of sauce,
and then three slices of pickle, and some lettuce.
And I love slicing up the lettuce like this.
It's so restaurant-style and crisp and fresh.
Oh, it's good.
All right, and then some fresh tomato, two slices of tomato,
and a little bit of purple onion.
Okay.
And then last but not least, the burger.
Here we go. Here we go.
And I love to serve these right off the grill.
It's a great idea to pre-assemble this
so that as soon as your patties are off the grill,
you can just put it on.
It's cheesy, it's hot, so fresh,
and oh, it's irresistibly good.
Okay. Here we go.
Oh. Look how cheesy that is.
Yummy yum.
Okay, and then just top it with that top toasted bun,
and that buttery toasted layer, it just adds great flavor.
And if you really want to serve these restaurant-style,
here's how to make a wrapper.
And this contains the burger 'cause it's big, all right?
It keeps the mess contained.
So here's how you do it. It's really easy.
Fold a square sheet of parchment paper in half,
into a triangle.
And then you're gonna place that over your burger,
about halfway over your burger, lift it up,
and now we're going to tuck under one corner,
tuck under the second corner, just like so,
and then we're gonna bring that bottom corner up
and over the burger.
It's just like wrapping a present.
Boom.
I love it. Restaurant style.
So fun. Okay.
It's nice to wrap them all up like this
and put them on a platter, and they will disappear fast.
Plus, the kids love this 'cause it's like going out to eat.
Okay. Now I'm gonna stop talking.
I'm gonna do some eating.
It's time for that taste test,
and I have been so excited for this.
Okay, here we go.
Looks like I have to put that whole thing
in my mouth right now, and that's gonna be a challenge,
but I'm up for a challenge. (laughs)
Here we go. Mm.
Oh.
Mmm.
Wow.
I've got burger juice dripping down my arm anyways.
It doesn't matter.
Wow, the patties are so juicy.
Oh.
And then having cheese wedged in between them,
oh, it just adds so much great flavor.
You'll love the sauce in the patties and on the sandwich,
and Mayo and mustard just works on a burger.
And then all those fresh toppings
that you can just really pile it on.
That's what I love about making burgers at home.
It has all the best ingredients,
and I feel good about myself after I eat a homemade burger.
It doesn't have that same heaviness.
And if you're serving kids who aren't big eaters,
feel free to give them a single-layer smash burger
with just a piece of cheese and a patty.
It is simple, excellent,
and a really quick way to feed a crowd.
All right, burgers are made and...
Kids, it's time for burgers!
- Yay!
- All right. So here's yours.
I've got the fun little holders on there.
You're very welcome.
- This looks good. - Here yo go, sweetie.
Take this. Take it in your hands.
There you go. There you go.
It's easy to eat.
Go ahead and chomp in.
- Mmm.
- Haumph.
Say haumph.
What do you say? What do you think?
She's thinking, thinking. Why?
- I don't like it. I love it.
- Aww. You just dripped juice all over the floor.
But I'm glad you love it.
Really? Thumbs up and thumbs down?
All right. Okay.
We gotta see that. We gotta see that.
Two thumbs up.
All right. That's a wrap.
We're gonna eat our burgers, our delish, delish burgers.
- It's also nice to have a nice side of the sauce
you can use on the patties.
- If you don't like the burger, I can eat your burger.
- No!
- Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
- No! - Uh-huh.