The beauty of the smash burger, is that the ingredients are so simple, cheap and easy to work with. The common foundational smash burger can be made with 6 common things you can go grab for under $20 right now. From there you can spice them up even more should you want to. We will cover the basics, but at the end I’ll also share the little crunchies I always add on to make these smash burgers my own.

We will look at making a total of 4 smash burgers. Keep in mind the traditional smash burger has a double patty. So essentially these are “doubles”, but because of the starting weight of the proteins, they land at just the right amount.

1.5 pound ground beef (best results will be from 80/20 – the flavor is in the fat.)

1 large brown onion (flavor profiles of other onions will throw off the overall blend.)

Salt (any cooking salt is fine.)

Pepper (fresh ground during grilling is the best option.)

Package of your favorite hamburger buns (the simpler the better – fancy buns will change the flavor and density profile.)

8 slices of the good old fake American cheese (I use Kraft traditional American.)

Your Favorite Thousand Island Spread(Made from scratch, or jarred/bottled.)

Tools Needed

Flattop Grill (This isn’t really possible indoors with a pan or stovetop griddle – the mess, the smoke the grease…)

Meat Smasher (This is the key. The flavor comes from the smash.)

Optional

Iceberg Lettuce

Sliced Tomatoes

Dill Pickle Chips

Pepperoncini 

First lets start off with the meat. Remove all meat from the package and partition into equal round balls. Starting with 1.5 pounds (24 ounces) will land you with a quantity of 8 3oz meat balls. Toss those into a bowl and set aside.

Next lets cut our onion. What we want here is thin, evenly cut onion strips. I will start by cutting the onion in half, and then going all the way from one side to the other of the half, resulting in a pile of half moon shaped strips about 1/8″ thick. There is room for imagination here. You can do thick chopped too. The shaped doesn’t change the flavor at all. Since these are grilled and reduced on the grill before the meat, it will work any way you go at it.

Lets take all our ingredients and tools outside to our grill. Fire that up to high and let the cast iron top get smoky.

1. Toss onions on grill and let them start sweating. These will cook until caramelized. Won’t take long due to the high heat of the flattop.
2. Separate the onions into 4 even flat piles on the grill.
3. Place 4 meat balls on the onions, and the remaining 4 on the grill. Make sure all are spaced out evenly and as far away from each other as possible. This is important for the next step.
4. With wax paper in one hand, and your smasher in the other, flatten those meat balls as much as possible. You can’t smash too much. As flat as possible!!! Pro tip. I spray a little nonstick on the paper to ensure the meat doesn’t lift off.
5. Toss your tools aside and give all flat patties a dusting of salt and pepper.
6. After about 2 minutes, you will see the char on the under side of the patties creeping out. It is time to flip.
7. Flip burgers and dust again with salt and pepper.
8. Grab any lone onions and toss them on top of their respective patties.
9. Now place your cheese slices on each of the patties.
10. Toss your buns down on the flattop. Wait about 30 seconds and flip.
11. Place your onioned patties on top of non-onioned patties, leaving you with 4 total stacks of patties.
12. place your patty stacks on the the bottom buns and place on serving tray. Toss the tops in a pile aside.
13. Back inside the house, spread your thousand island spread on the top buns.

You’re now ready to top and serve. For a crunchier and fresher feel, add lettuce and tomatoes. If you’re feeling like it needs some tang then pickles and pepperoncini is the way to go.