For The Absolute Best Smash Burgers, Don't Skip This Step

The perfect burger is a thing of beauty and a joy to behold, but you can't just slap ground beef on the heat and expect miracles. There's a whole list of essential tips for grilling perfect burgers, and we're not here to discount any of them, but one major smash burger upgrade comes from the most elementary step: adding a second patty. Smash burgers have been a runaway culinary hit in the 2020s, and with good reason. Their crispy-textured surfaces and edges are a delightful complement to the unctuous richness of a well-seasoned burger and the pillowy softness of a bun. They may, in fact, just be Heaven's gift to burger lovers.

Doubling your smash burger patties gives you more of everything — more char, more surface area, and more lacy, crunchy edges crumbling between your teeth like meaty candy. When you lovingly drape both those patties with cheese, not only do you, again, double the gustatory pleasure (because, who doesn't love cheese?), but you add moisture back to your handheld, a virtue that may be slightly lacking with the well-done beef. There are dozens of ways to step up your burger game – celeb chef Alton Brown swears by hand-grinding your homemade burgers, and Bobby Flay boasts a trick for perfectly-melted cheese – but the single essential step to smash burger nirvana is simpler than you think.

On TikTok, content creator grillinwithdad insists that size matters when it comes to double smash burgers. "I like using three-ounce portions, loosely rolled into balls," he reports, showing himself weighing his beef. Keeping the portions modest ensures that texture remains front-and-center, and not giant mouthfuls of meat. Facebook's Smoking and Grilling with AB agreed with the assessment about patty size: "Go 3–4 oz balls, not patties. Smaller = thinner smash = more crust. That crispy edge is the whole point." A Redditor, on the other hand, felt like even that was too generous: "I feel the recommended 3oz balls is too big — if properly smashed, diameter wise, they will likely be too big for the bun. Try either 2 or 2.6oz. That will give you either 6 or 8 burgers per lb of ground beef. Keep in mind, you will be doubling these up."

A good smash burger doesn't beg for tons of toppings, since a lot of the attraction is in the texture of your burger itself. But don't skimp on that cheese! Many folks argue that American cheese, the kind served in plastic, is what you want due to its supreme meltability. While we're normally a fan of bolder cheeses with burgers, a smash burger is not the time or place for your Camembert or sharp cheddar. The cheese serves the burger by adding lubrication for the flat, crispy patties. There's no need to gild the lily. Keep it simple, and always think in terms of twos.