How to Cook a High-Quality Flat-Top Burger

Cast iron drops in temperature after each burger. Steel doesn't. That's why I produced it I come from a steel household and I knew the product might surpass cast iron for high-heat cooking.

I do this all summertime. Prepare smashburgers at on a preheated frying pan or steel. This high heat is vital for producing the Maillard reaction, which provides smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep taste. Get it ripping hot. You want to hear that sizzle the second the beef hits the steel.

Flip, add cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and finish cooking. You need to work quick. This is high-heat, high-speed cooking. That's what makes it so good. is the very best ratio for smashburgers. The 20% fat material is essential for developing a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will result in a drier, less delicious burger. Crispy edges come from 3 things: (500-550F) Get your frying pan ripping hot. Optimize contact with the griddle.

The technique needs direct, high heat from a griddle to create the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, but they will not be smashburgers. They'll simply be ... baked hamburgers. is the traditional choice it melts completely and has a velvety texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are likewise fantastic if you wish to blend it up.

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This optimizes area for browning and produces the signature crispy edges. Do not be shy. Really smash it. That's where the magic happens. Season on the griddle. Don't season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Absolutely. 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 transfers heat, you begin utilizing it for whatever. I created the Baking Steel in 2012 after checking out that steel conducts heat much better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our family shop. Cast iron is fine. However if you're major about smashburgers, steel is better. It shops more heat, recovers much faster, and offers you a constant crust from the first hamburger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work fast, and make some bad ass hamburgers.

What began as a Kickstarter project (boosted by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Eats) has actually grown into the go-to tool for numerous thousands of home cooks. His obsession with high-heat cooking goes way beyond pizza. After years of screening smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every griddle on the marketplace, he created the Skinny Griddle and Mini Griddle specifically for stovetop cooking crafted to hold heat the way just steel can.

The Skinny Frying pan is his go-to tool for smashburgers in your home. He's the co-author of Baking with Steel with Jesse Olson Moore and teaches high-heat cooking through his complimentary online classes and recipes.

Professional Flat-Top Strategies for 2026 Summer Grilling

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

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a great deal of heat, and they can give your hamburger the best sear, and a well rounded, even prepare. We enjoy frying pans due to the fact that they are so versatile, and while generally they are used on stovetops, we routinely cook hamburgers on a frying pan in the oven, or perhaps 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 burgers: If you have cast iron griddles, they are going to need a layer of spices to secure the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and also protects it from rust.