Professional Flat-Top Methods for 2026 Summer Grilling

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

I do this all summer. Prepare smashburgers at on a preheated griddle or steel. This high heat is crucial for producing the Maillard reaction, which provides smashburgers their signature crispy, lacy edges and deep flavor. Get it ripping hot. You wish to hear that sizzle the second the beef strikes the steel.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Leaner beef will result in a drier, less tasty burger. Stick to 80/20. Crispy edges come from three things: (500-550F) Get your griddle ripping hot. The fat renders and fries the edges. Optimize contact with the griddle. Heat, fat, and surface contact. Master those three things and you'll get perfect crispy edges whenever.

You can bake burgers in the oven, but they will not be smashburgers. They'll simply be ... baked hamburgers.

How to Prepare a Gourmet Flat-Top Burger

Season on the frying pan. Don't season the beef before forming the balls it can make the texture mushy. I utilize mine for pancakes, bacon, eggs, grilled cheese, quesadillas, seared steaks, and more.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

As soon as you comprehend how steel holds and transfers heat, you begin utilizing it for everything. I invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading that steel carries out heat much better than stone.

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

What started as a Kickstarter task (improved by an early recommendation from Kenji Lpez-Alt on Serious Consumes) has become the go-to tool for hundreds of thousands of home cooks. His fixation with high-heat cooking goes method beyond pizza. After years of screening smashburgers on cast iron, stainless-steel, and every griddle on the market, he created the Skinny Griddle and Mini Frying pan specifically for stovetop cooking crafted to hold heat the way only steel can.

The Skinny Frying pan is his go-to tool for smashburgers at home. 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.

Savory Dinner Inspiration for Grilling in 2026

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

These flat, smooth cooking surface areas can take a lot of heat, and they can give your hamburger the ideal sear, and a well rounded, even cook. We love griddles because they are so versatile, and while traditionally they are utilized on stovetops, we regularly prepare burgers on a frying pan in the oven, or perhaps over an open campfire.

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