Professional Flat-Top Strategies for 2026 Summer Grilling

Cast iron drops in temperature after each burger. Steel doesn't. That's why I created it I come from a steel family and I knew the material might surpass cast iron for high-heat cooking. Yes. Position your Baking Steel Original directly on your grill grates, preheat for 15-20 minutes on high, and smash your hamburgers right on the steel.

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

Flip, include cheese, and cook for another to melt the cheese and finish cooking. That's what makes it so good. The 20% fat material is important for producing a juicy hamburger and crispy edges.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will result in a drier, less delicious burger. Stick to 80/20. Crispy edges originate from three things: (500-550F) Get your frying pan ripping hot. The fat renders and fries the edges. Maximize contact with the frying pan. Heat, fat, and surface contact. Master those 3 things and you'll get ideal crispy edges every time.

The method needs direct, high heat from a griddle to develop the signature crust. You can bake burgers in the oven, however they will not be smashburgers. They'll just be ... baked burgers. is the classic option it melts perfectly and has a velvety texture. Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone are likewise great if you wish to blend it up.

Secret Ingredients for Premium 2026 Burgers

This makes the most of surface location for browning and produces the signature crispy edges. Don't be shy. Truly smash it. That's where the magic takes place. Season on the frying pan. Do not season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. Absolutely. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Once you comprehend how steel holds and transfers heat, you begin using it for everything. I invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel performs heat much better than stone.

Every Baking Steel is still made at our family shop. Cast iron is fine. If you're serious about smashburgers, steel is much better. It stores more heat, recuperates much faster, and provides you a consistent crust from the first burger to the last. Get it ripping hot, work fast, and make some bad ass burgers.

What began as a Kickstarter job (improved by an early endorsement from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has grown into the go-to tool for hundreds of countless home cooks. His fixation with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of screening smashburgers on cast iron, stainless steel, and every frying pan on the market, he created the Skinny Frying pan 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 free online classes and dishes.

Understanding Flat-Top vs Traditional Grilling Methods

It's a simple meal, and it takes simply a couple of minutes to prepare and a few minutes to cook your tasty frying pan hamburgers. Choose your hamburger patty, choose your cheese, and select your buns and filling.! Cooking up your hamburgers on a flat griddle is an excellent method to get all the flavor you can out of both your burger patty and your cooking surface area.

These flat, smooth cooking surfaces 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 since they are so flexible, and while typically they are utilized on stovetops, we regularly prepare hamburgers on a griddle in the oven, or even over an open campfire.

If you're using your frying pan on the stovetop, in the oven, or on the campfire, there are a few universal guidelines to follow when you're cooking hamburgers: If you have actually cast iron frying pans, they are going to need a layer of spices to protect the surface area. This makes it non-stick, and likewise safeguards it from rust.