Savory Outdoor Dinner Inspiration for the Future

There is no end to the variety of scrumptious hamburgers 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 establishes dishes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Program on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually spent the last two years of my career rigorously looking into and testing recipes, strategies and extensively accepted kitchen area knowledge to figure out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've run multiple burger joints and even wrote a monthly column for Serious Eats called the Hamburger Lab, in which I isolated and tested every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a burger.

Here are the most crucial ideas I've discovered for optimizing your burger experience, whether in the yard or the kitchen area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Selecting the Best Meats for Tasty Burgers

In bread, this can be an advantage, but with burgers, overhandling can create an unwanted dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra flavoring, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the beyond your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is a good thing in sausages, which need to have a company texture, however with burgers, you desire looseness. A hamburger ought to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply optimizes flavor. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a big hamburger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash hamburger on a frying pan, browning is flavor, and high heat is key. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, wait up until your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and prepare them up until they're well browned on both sides.

This maximizes flavor while preserving juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to consuming so much faster. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Don't let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have had a possibility to leak out.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Using Chef Flat-Top Styles in the Home

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a hamburger fan. 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 ideal day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Actually, I might state that on a lot of days. And you might state the very same. However even if you do, it's likely we don't have the very same concept of what makes the ideal hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some brand-new ones and continued to end the ones I understand people like however I simply. do not. get. Yes, I know your favorite isn't there. Perhaps we have various taste. Perhaps I have not attempted your preferred hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply joking).

There's one perfect burg out there for everybody. Let me share with you what makes the best hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little tired of smashburgers? The finest ones unbelievely stay juicy with just a hint of flaky char around the edges, however sadly, the majority of places go too difficult on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glowing from the beef and perhaps a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be seared to assist lock in the juices, however not too crusty.