The Ultimate Oklahoma Smash Burger Recipe

Meet Brian Gerwig of @g_bque, a passionate home cook/backyard bbq’er with a love of all things cooking. Brian has always enjoyed cooking, but it was the start of his page in 2020 that really awakened his passion.

One of my favorite burgers to make is the Oklahoma Smash Burger. Crispy smash burgers with caramelized onions built in, there’s not a better burger to make. These are quick to make, packed with flavor and texture and quite the hit at your next gathering.

Total Time: 20 minutes       Yields: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1lb 80/20 ground beef
• Potato Buns
• American Cheese
• 2 tbsp salt, pepper & garlic rub
• 1 sweet onion, sliced with a mandolin

Burger Sauce Ingredients

• 1/3 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tbsp dill pickle relish
• 1 Tbsp chives
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1. Using 80/20 ground beef, make 2oz meatballs and place them in the fridge.
2. I’ve found the meatballs make the perfect smash burger, thin, crispy and juicy. Placing them in the fridge while prepping other ingredients allow for the meat to bind together, so it stays intact when smashing.
3. For the burger sauce, mix together all burger sauce ingredients and set aside.
4. Slice 1 sweet onion with a mandolin on smallest setting. If you don’t have a mandolin, a knife will work but you want paper thin onions to smash into the burger. Because this is a quick cook, this will help the onions caramelize faster.
5. Fire up a griddle to high heat
6. Once the grill starts to smoke, add your meatballs onto the griddle spacing out 3-4”
7. Add a small handful of onions on top of each meatball (add as little or as much as you want).
8. After 1 min, smash the onions into the meatball as hard as you can to create a smash burger
9. Season with salt, pepper & garlic or your favorite burger rub
10. Let that cook for 2-3 minutes until you see burger turning brown about 3/4 of the ways up on the side.
11. Give it a flip, adding American cheese to melt. You will probably need to scrape under the burger a tad but, that’s a great sign!
12. While the burgers are cooking, toast up potato buns on the griddle
13. To assemble, add burger sauce to the potato bun, your smash burger (I like to add 2), more burger sauce and the top buns back on
14. These burgers are great for a party which is why I load up my Titan Pro Roto Hard Cooler with my favorite drinks. The new light system makes it easy to see drinks in the evening/at night and the ice saver keeps the drinks cold all night long.