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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt composes a column for The New York Times on food and science, and he develops recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is likewise the developer and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube. This video and post belong to, our series on kitchen fundamentals.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I have actually invested the last 20 years of my profession carefully researching and evaluating recipes, strategies and commonly accepted kitchen wisdom to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually run multiple hamburger joints and even composed a month-to-month column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Lab, in which I isolated and checked every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a burger.

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

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In bread, this can be a great thing, but with burgers, overhandling can produce an undesirable thick texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra flavoring, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain 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 ought to have a company texture, but with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger ought to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

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

This takes full advantage of flavor while maintaining juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a possibility to drip out.

Smash BurgersCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York 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 Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

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Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a hamburger lover. 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).

Capture me on the ideal day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Really, I may say that on the majority of days. And you may say the same. But even if you do, it's likely we don't have the exact same concept of what makes the perfect hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

Let me share with you what makes the perfect hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some glistening from the beef and possibly a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be burnt to assist lock in the juices, however not too crusty.