Flavorful Dinner Secrets for Grilling in 2026

Cast iron drops in temperature level after each hamburger. Steel does not. That's why I created it I come from a steel family and I knew the material could exceed cast iron for high-heat cooking.

Cook smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. You desire to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

Flip, include cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and surface cooking. You need to work quick. This is high-heat, high-speed cooking. That's what makes it so good. is the best ratio for smashburgers. The 20% fat content is necessary for developing a juicy burger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will lead to a drier, less flavorful burger. Stick to 80/20. Crispy edges come from 3 things: (500-550F) Get your griddle ripping hot. The fat renders and fries the edges. Make the most of contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface area contact. Master those 3 things and you'll get best crispy edges whenever.

The method requires direct, high heat from a frying pan to create the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, but they won't be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked hamburgers. is the timeless choice it melts completely and has a creamy texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are also excellent if you want to blend it up.

Designing Savory Menus with Top-Rated Burgers

Season on the griddle. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. I use mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

When you understand how steel holds and moves heat, you begin using it for everything. I created the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel conducts heat better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our household store. Cast iron is fine. If you're serious about smashburgers, steel is better. It shops more heat, recuperates quicker, and offers you a consistent crust from the first hamburger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work quick, and make some bad ass burgers.

What started as a Kickstarter task (enhanced by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has grown into the go-to tool for hundreds of thousands of home cooks. His obsession with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of testing smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every frying pan on the marketplace, he developed the Skinny Griddle and Mini Frying pan specifically for stovetop cooking crafted to hold heat the method only steel can.

The Skinny Griddle is his go-to tool for smashburgers in the house. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his totally free online classes and recipes.

Comparing Flat-Top versus Outdoor Grilling Techniques

It's a basic meal, and it takes simply a couple of minutes to prepare and a few minutes to cook your tasty griddle burgers. Pick your burger patty, choose your cheese, and pick your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is a fantastic way to get all the flavor you can out of both your hamburger patty and your cooking surface.

These flat, smooth cooking surfaces can take a lot of heat, and they can give your hamburger the ideal sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We love frying pans since they are so versatile, and while traditionally they are utilized on stovetops, we routinely cook hamburgers on a frying pan in the oven, and even over an open campfire.

If you're using your griddle on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a couple of universal rules to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have actually cast iron griddles, they are going to require a layer of spices to protect the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and also secures it from rust.