Top 10 Smash Burger Mistakes for Beginner Griddlers 

Straight forward, to the point, no gratuitous mini videos, no crazy camera angles, just cooking! Which is what I watch for. If I want comedy, I'll watch the 3 stooges

Love how down to earth you are. Feels like I’m listening to a neighbour giving some good advice.

I have done the In-N-Out burgers on my flattop. You spice, add mustard and then flip. Double double animal style is the best! Great video Johnny, thank you!

These little tidbits of information learned over time and through trial and error are a shortcut for us. Thanks, much appreciated.

Hi Johnny, I've been watching your channel for the past couple of months while contemplating buying a griddle. I bought a Blackstone 28XL, 28" with 3 burners. After seasoning it, my first cook were smash burgers. I made them In-N-Out style. They came out so good, my wife wanted them again the next night. So far, I have made breakfast, a ribeye steak, and chicken fried rice. I'm in the beginners learning curve and I will master this new griddle. Thank you for making informative videos that are entertaining!

Love it!!! You're back teaching us. Thanks for the great video.

Great insight. I started making mine 3 oz and that changed everything to perfection.

Or use a scale to get the correct weight

The three ounces pattys is the golden advice

Brother - I followed your instructions and the smash burgers turned out imperfectly perfect. I made 10 burgers from 2 pounds of 80/20 and they turned out fantastic! Not a single one left. My 14 year old eating machine had 6 and left us the rest. Made potato's as well that came out really good too. I am liking this griddle cooking a lot. Consider me subbed.

Great tips, I’ve been making great smash burgers for 4 years now…but I am always looking for tips and tricks to try new things…appreciate you posting this!

:39 “…it’s on sale a LOT and I’m really cheap…” I really liked the sincerity with which you said that. I subscribed.

We got a blackstone for my birthday Sunday I followed this video tonight to make smash burgers they came out great I appreciate your videos it’s like talking to a friend who’s teaching me how to cook on this

The measuring cup is a great idea.

Johnny you the man. Just did 80 smash burgers for a family group this weekend. I second all your tips, it's what really makes burgers great. Another suggestion is if you are doing a large number of burgers use fresh not frozen beef. I did 60 3oz balls of fresh 80/20 and 20 balls of previously frozen beef. The fresh was much easier to work with. I will start using a salt and pepper dish fo seasoning great tip. Also a 6" stainless drywall taping knife has a great feel for flipping the burgers. Love your videos, thanks.

Thanks, Johnny. I have made smash burgers many times but I have learned a few tricks after watching this.

6:30 Johnny I’m new to the griddle scene and your videos are on target! Thanks for sharing. Keep the content coming.

Nice tips sir !. I will definitely try that !. Thank you so much for all you do !. We ALL APPRECIATE IT !

I bake my own buns and they're big in diameter, so 4 oz smashburger balls flatten out perfectly to fit the buns. 80/20 for the win for sure and yeah, cooked some yesterday, absolutely delicious! Thank you for the tips!

That video was a pleasure to watch, great stuff.

Great tips Johnny. Thank you so much. Always enjoy watching your videos. And love the email with all the different sauces. Cheers.

Awesome video. I'll be using this guide next time I'm in the mood for smash burgers.

I never thought to add the burger sauce during the cook. Im trying that today! Thanks Johnny!

Thanks Johnny. Your tips are 100000% accurate. I make them all the time and have perfected the technique. I might suggest you use/try MARTINS POTATO BUNS though. They're soft and perfect to top off the real deal from Shake Shack, Smash Burger, In-Out Burger etc. Give it a try. Good luck and enjoy!!!

"Pinnch AND Gooo"...got it!😋 Great suggestions...TY!!

That was great, i'm gonna check out this video on my screen now then.

great segment sir. appreciate the tips.

Great tips Johnny.

Bro... you should have a million subscribers. Love, love, love your channel!

Just got my griddle. I’ve been using your tips and tricks along the way. I’m looking forward to doing smash burgers with your advice

Amen Johnny on 80/20 burger. The last time I used 70/30 was before I had a griddle and it produced so much grease I thought my kitchen would catch on fire! I never buy that now.

Love your videos, keep up the good work

This is really helpful! Thank you for a great video on how to smash burgers to perfection. Much love from Sweden.

Perfect video Johnny! I've been doing a lot of it wrong. Now this is my only go-to for how to do smash burgers!! Melaney from SoCal

Great content. Thank you

Great tips! I see exactly where I have been messing up.

All good tips for smashburgers on the griddle. But...my mom and dad would have had a fit if I'd left the fridge door open that long. I grew up in the 60s 😁. Thanks for the tips for this new griddle chef.

Hey Johnny! We had this bike rally down here in Kentucky over the weekend. I hosted a party for my club brothers who were in attendance (about 25) and introduced them to the smash burger on my Blackstone. I learned a lot! The bottom line is if you are feeding a bunch of people, the smash burger is the fastest and tastiest way to do it. They were a huge hit with my brothers!!

That transition and camera angel when you talked about putting them in the fridge was perfect lol

Another great video, thanks. And I’m going to try making some burger sauce tomorrow. 👍🏻

Your videos are THE BEST! Thank you AGAIN!! 🔥🔥🔥

Sounds bloody marvellous mate👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

thx for the video. greetings from germany!

Rewatching this. Great rewatchability (that’s a word I swear)!

Best griddle channel on YT

I enjoy your videos. We use grass fed beef from a local farmer and its usually 90/10. I throw a stick of butter down and cook my smash burgers in that. Makes a mess, but they don't dry out. If I get ground beef at K-Roger, I go with the 80/20 and far less butter. I'm going to try adding the sauce during the cook.

glad to see you didnt cheap out on the mayo! nice video, thx!

You have to order fried mustard at In-N-Out. Traditionally comes with pickles too without asking. Previous INO cook here. “Ah, taking you back to your INO days” when I asked for my BS. Got it up and running last week, used it almost everyday and I’m doing these tonight! I appreciate your tips!

Damn dude, almost 100k subscribers! Nice job

Thanks Johnny. Need to incorporate that trick of keeping them in refrigerator. Stay hydrated!

Excellent beer choice

Thanks man! Great tips

Good tips Johnny B!

Great tip about chilling the not meatballs before cooking

Love your videos Johnny. Wish you lived next door, I'd get the beer (and would be happy to taste test!)

Great video 👍

i use 85/15 it seems to cook up with an excellent crust as well as enough juicy ness to make a perfect burger.

Great tips! Did them tonight, had big honkin sourdough buns (on sale) so I had to make the burgers bigger.

I did turkey smash burgers last week! They were great!

Great video, made me want burgers tonight. You gotta try smashing the burger ahead of time in a tortilla press. Perfectly flat and plenty of time to season them.

Thank you dude 👍

Good advice…..thanks

Actually useful tips! Thanks! 😋

Teenage sons were bugging me to make these so I watched this video and cooked for 7. I used a press and parchment, and I probably could have pressed a few of them a little thinner, but……they were excellent even on the first try! Truth be told, I got so excited I forgot to season them (so they will be even better next time) although bacon and the cheese added a little salt. Could not find 80/20 that particular day at Costco, so made some balls with 85/15 and some with Wagyu. Your tips were great, especially the ball size and the high temps on the griddle. Thanks!

Everybody else can go home, these are the best tips out there.

Helpful thanks

A good sear, Lawry's Lemon Pepper, American Cheese and the right bread to patty ratio. Grill the onions, toast the bun to get that brown outer edge. Makes an amazing burger.

I made smashed burgers today on my 3 in 1 cuisanart! Came Out perfecto!

Great tips. I've tried a few times on the Blackstone and they just haven't been right. Hoping to fix that and make them amazing this Summer!

I use a a wide spatula with the burger press on top and twist . I use a piece of foil so it doest stick and works great. I agree with the temp 500 or more

Very nice & polite person❤🤲🤗

good upgrade on beers from older videos... ;)

Bra Tips, för en Nybörjare som mej😉 Har Aldrig gjort dem Själv Än. Men jag måste våga prova nu 🤗👍🇸🇪

ooo I like the 1/3 measuring cup idea. I made smash burgers for the first time and the sizes were all over the place lol. I also messed up with cook order. I toasted the buns last lol. I did cook my onions first though.

Thanks!

Juicy truth is so good... nice choice

I had a food trailer, we did 3x 1.5 oz balls. 80/20, although I believe our butcher delivered 75/25. We would break a bevel edge spatula every second season or so. These burgers were hot, tasted so good. Simple condiments- mustard ketchup and mayonaisse. Onions and pickled jalepenos. Lawrys seasoned salt. Canadian cheese (same stuff as American cheese). Toasted bun.

Johnny,,,,Thanks so much for making my life much easier with your videos !!! I got my Blackstone last summer and still very very much in the learning mode, I have watched a lot of videos and yours are the simplest and most informative I have seen, just doing things the easy way without a bunch of un-needed info, even the tips on temps, cleaning and such are the best !! Please keep the videos coming !!

I love that old diner technology because that was the best😊😊

Yes, you can get a mustard burger at In-n-Out. They grill it with the mustard on it, Melaney from SoCal where In-n-Out is the King!!

Actually I’ve had great luck with 70/30 as well as 80/20. I use a kitchen scale and make 2.5 0z since I saw that Freddy’s uses 2 oz. Agreed on the overpack. Especially if you grind your own beef, do not make meatballs and smash them lol. Always great videos Johnny! 🔥

Your fridge light stays on after you close the door.

Cool video - love it 🍔

Love that you have a fantastic Cincinnati bear

Hamburger Helper is great.

"Give your sibling a bloody nose." BWAHAHAHA! Great video, guy. Those burgers look amazing!

Really good spot-on tips. One of the best smashburger vids on youtube. I like the delay on the salt thing. Very few understand the benefit of applying the salt late in the cook!

I get 6 balls from a pound, roughly 2.5 ounces each (75 grams), and my sandwich is always 2 patties each. Don't forget to really press the edges thin all around when you do the smash so the edges crisp up nice. I always use a slice of parchment when I do the smash as Johnny did here. And a burger press is likely the best option.....most spatulas just aren't strong enough to properly smash a ball without bending. Or lay your spatula flat on the ball and use a wood spoon to help press/smash your spatula so you avoid bending it. Best tips are a super hot surface and also preparing your buns & condiments before throwing the patties on the griddle. I like the S & P premixed too. Speed is important because they really do cook fast with a really hot griddle. Nice job Johnny.

Hey Johnny, Did you try that mayonnaise cooke on the bun trick? Did you like it? InandOut burger does it on the bun, Mayo on one bun and mustard on the other then toast them

I still haven't had great luck with the ball method, so I just take one pound at a time and pre-flatten, pre-season, and pre-cut it into 6 pieces all on a piece of parchment paper. Then I flip the whole sheet onto the griddle at once and keep pressing them down until it's time to flip, add cheese, and remove. I made 24 burgers for a party last weekend using this method and everyone flipped out at how good it was. A few more little tweaks and I think I'll never have to worry about "meat balls" again. :D Thanks to you and your emphasis on *timing*, I've really become a very good amateur griddle cook, despite not really following any recipes.

Solid tips and i see you have good taste in beer. Juicy Truth is a really good hazy.

Thank you so much for the informative video Johnny! Lately I've been making the smash balls 2.5 oz and always double stack. I agree, 80/20 definitely works best. Today I plan on recreating the S'Mac & cheese smashburger with some additions. I've been letting my griddle get to about 425° and I was always wondering about temp. Today I'll try it at 500 degrees. I subbed to your channel a little while back and you definitely have a wealth of knowledge.

I’ve cooked only my second smash burger in my life the other day after watching a quick RU-vid tutorial from angus beef channel and then just mixing the technique with how I thought it would work best. I used a cast iron griddle insert for my stove top, prepped 4 oz tightly packed 85/15 ground beef balls, some room temp some cold. Fried diced onions first, then smashed the beef balls over them using a spatula and my hand with parchment paper of course. Made/smashed to 1/4 inch thick patties, seasoned them and grilled for 2 minutes per side. Buns were toasted first and sauce put on them right before making the burgers. It turned out so great, I had to make myself another one right after 😅. I think it comes down to what kind of cook you are and how you like your food, but I followed almost none of your tips and had an amazing result 🙃🤷‍♂️ Also the original smash burger video on YT didn’t smash their patties to where they have holes in them. 😁 But if you like beef chips instead of patties, that’s another thing ... 🙃 And lastly, I just smashed it a few times getting all the sides with the spatula quite easily, not sure if you knew you could do that 😅🤷‍♂️

For smashing, a small-ish cast iron pan works great. Nice weight, wide bottom. Put parchment paper over the ball of meat before you smash it to prevent sticking. You will bet an even smash that is the proper thickness. If you salt the meat before you put it in the fridge it will take out some of the water on the surface, and will provide more taste to the meat. You can still season a bit while it is cooking.

I tried smash burger last week and I made mistakes that I realized later and this video addressed all of them , I wish I watched it before lol I am going to try again

Great tips. I recommend a super quality fine cheese like aged cheddar . Really kicks it up a notch

I have the same flat top and cover but a Kamado Big Joe lol but thanks for the tips

J & W Grill in Chickasha, OK has been making these for about 70 years. Delicious! I watched the technique carefully, but no matter how much money i spent, i couldn't get a spatula strong enough to give me a good smash. Finally, i bought a masonry trowel. Perfect. The next time i went to J & W's, i looked to see what kind of spatula they were using. Surprise! They were using a masonry trowel.

80/20 huh Johnny? Sounds righteous to me - everyone seems to say 70/30 which sounds too greasy... If nothing else, it's 10% more food in my belly!😂😂😂 And thanks for always reporting the temperature - probably the most skipped information & probably the most important!👍

You had me at Hamburger Helper