Why Premium Natural Ingredients Elevate Your Burger

There is no end to the number of tasty burgers you can make, but here are 12 that will make your mouth water.

J. Kenji Lpez-Alt writes a column for The New York Times on food and science, and he develops recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I've spent the last 20 years of my profession rigorously looking into and testing dishes, strategies and extensively accepted kitchen area wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've run numerous burger joints and even wrote a regular monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Burger Lab, in which I separated and tested every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most crucial ideas I have actually discovered for optimizing your hamburger experience, whether in the backyard or the kitchen. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

How to Make Crispy Restaurant-Style Sides

In bread, this can be an advantage, but with burgers, overhandling can create an unwanted dense texture. (Including extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra seasoning, like onions and herbs, also requires you to overwork the meat and distract from the beef flavor, so avoid it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a good thing in sausages, which need to have a firm texture, but with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger needs to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Whether you're making a huge hamburger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is crucial. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait until your pan or grill is hot before adding the patties, and prepare them up until they're well browned on both sides.

This makes the most of flavor while keeping juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to eating so much faster. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a chance to drip out.

Smash BurgersCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Restaurant BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Thick Backyard BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

Using Chef Flat-Top Styles in the Home

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually always been a hamburger enthusiast. Maturing, I 'd gladly chew them down at sit-down restaurants and from the drive-thru coming home from gymnastics practice. I 'd squish the soft bun and let catsup dribble down the sides over my fingers. If there were any little melty American cheese leavings stuck on the wrapper, I 'd drag my french fries through them (I still do this).

Catch me on the right day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. In fact, I may say that on a lot of days. And you may state the exact same. But even if you do, it's most likely we don't have the same concept of what makes the perfect hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some new ones and continued to leave off the ones I understand people like but I just. Perhaps I have not tried your favorite burger. Maybe I'm out to get you (just kidding).

There's one best burg out there for everyone. Let me show you what makes the best hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I state I'm growing a little tired of smashburgers? The very best ones astonishingly remain juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, but sadly, many places go too tough on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glowing from the beef and perhaps a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be seared to help lock in the juices, however not too crusty.