Our 25 Best Burger Recipes

The ultimate summer cookout staple, hamburgers were first introduced to the American public in 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Fast forward 120 years, and what started as a simple patty-on-bun combo has become a cultural phenomenon, available stuffed, smashed, stacked, and topped with every ingredient under the sun. But behind every great burger you’ll find the same essential ingredients and fundamental techniques. 

Vegetarian versions aside, the most important element of any burger is the meat. A high-quality butcher shop burger blend (typically a mix of brisket, chuck, and ribeye) with a lean to fat ratio of 80/20 delivers the ideal balance of meaty flavor and juiciness. “Always use fresh ground beef,” says George Motz, burger historian, and chef/owner of Hamburger America in NYC. Freshly ground meat — ideally ground the same day you’ll cook it — has a loose texture that, when shaped into patties using a gentle hand, will result in supple, melt-in-your-mouth burgers. Purchasing beef that has been pressed into a tube or mashed into a mound is a sure way to end up with tough patties. 

Timely seasoning is also key. Cookbook author J. Kenji López-Alt discovered that mixing salt into the patties denatures the proteins, which results in a dense and bouncy, sausage-like texture. Seasoning only the exterior of the patties, and seasoning just before they hit the heat, gives you a tender, juicy patty.

Heat is your final factor: the thinner the patty, the hotter the grill should be. Smash Burgers cook quickly and need a smoking hot surface to form their crisped, scraggly edges, while thick Tavern Burgers require a moderate heat to nail the perfect medium-rare center. Some purists believe that a burger must be cooked on the grill, but we found a cast iron griddle or skillet, which provides the surface area to encourage caramelization while also trapping the drippings and preventing flare-ups, yielded better-tasting burgers. (Pro tip: The pool of residual drippings on the griddle are liquid gold, superb for toasting buns or sautéing vegetables).

Here are some of our favorite burger recipes, from cheddar-stuffed burgers to Hatch Chile Smash Burgers. Swap out the protein in your patties with flavor-packed Italian sausage in these Italian-Sausage Burgers with Garlicky Spinach, with juicy seafood in these shrimp burgers, or load up the toppings with these Japanese-Style Chili Burgers and the Urdaburger. We have enough recipes to keep every burger night unique.