Gordon Ramsay’s smash burger is 225g of beef mince bound with an egg yolk and grated frozen chilli, smashed thin on screaming hot metal. Bacon and onions share the pan, the patties flip at 90 seconds once the crust is set, and the cheese melts under a lid. Two burgers, done in 10 minutes.
Ramsay hasn’t published a smash burger, so I’m not pretending he has. This is his quickest burger from Ramsay in 10, pressed all the way thin, which his own headnote invites: “press your burgers until they are a little thinner for a quicker cooking time.” The smash itself follows the rule he gave in an interview last October: “the essence of a smash burger is a caramelization instantly. Too many people cook the burger, then they smash it two minutes in. It’s late.”
That word instantly is the whole technique. The crust comes from raw beef meeting hot metal under pressure, so the press happens the second the ball lands, not after. Wait even a minute and the surface is already cooked, which means you’re squeezing juice out of a burger instead of building a crust.
Gordon Ramsay Smash Burger Recipe (10-Minute Method)
Course: DinnerCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy2
5
minutes5
minutes870
kcal10
minutesHis Ramsay in 10 burger taken thin: yolk-bound beef smashed flat on hot metal for an instant crust, with the bacon and onions sharing the pan, his lid trick for the cheese, and a quick sriracha mayo. Two burgers, one pan, 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- For the burgers:
225g beef mince
1 egg yolk
½ frozen red chilli, deseeded for milder heat
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 thick slices of onion
4 rashers of bacon
2 brioche burger buns
1 tsp butter
2 slices of Cheddar cheese
2 Little Gem lettuce leaves
2-4 tomato slices
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the sriracha mayonnaise:
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp sriracha (or more if you like it hotter)
Directions
- Mix and ball, don’t shape: Season the beef with salt and pepper, add the egg yolk, grate in the frozen chilli and mix with clean hands. Divide into two balls and stop there, because the pan does the shaping.
- Get the pan properly hot: Put a griddle or heavy frying pan over high heat with a drizzle of oil until it just starts to smoke. His book version runs medium-high, but a smash needs more.
- Smash the instant it lands: Drop in the first ball and press it flat and thin with a sturdy spatula the second it touches the metal. Season the top, and don’t touch it for 90 seconds while the crust builds.
- Flip once, add the pan-mates: Flip the patty, tuck the bacon and onion slices into the pan around it, and give everything another minute or two. Repeat the smash with the second ball if your pan fits only one.
- Butter, cheese, lid: Add the butter to the pan, lay a slice of Cheddar on each patty and cover with a lid or an upturned saucepan until the cheese melts. Stir the mayonnaise and sriracha together while you wait.
- Build it his way: Toast the buns, spread the bottoms with sriracha mayo, then lettuce, tomato, onions, patty, bacon, a little more mayo, more onions, and the lid. Eat immediately, smash burgers don’t wait.
FAQs
Why does the patty have to be pressed straight away?
Because the crust only forms when raw beef hits hot metal under pressure, and that window closes fast. Press after the surface has cooked and the spatula just forces juice out through a finished crust. His verdict on the late smash: “you may be coloring it beautifully, but nine times out of 10, it’s dry as anything.”
The thinness is the point, not a side effect. A thin patty is all crust and no grey middle, which is the entire trade a smash burger makes against a thick one.
Is an egg yolk normal in a smash burger?
Purists would say no, a smash burger is plain beef, salt and pepper, full stop. The yolk comes from his Ramsay in 10 recipe, where it binds the quick-mixed mince, and I kept it because a bound patty holds together better under a hard press, especially with leaner supermarket mince.
If you want the purist version, drop the yolk and chilli and the technique works exactly the same. And if beef isn’t on the menu at all, his chickpea veggie burger presses flat and crisps in the very same pan.
Is the Dirty Burger at his restaurants a smash burger?
No, and the difference is worth knowing if you’ve eaten one. The American Style Dirty Burger uses thin 100g patties stacked two high, but they’re shaped before cooking and grilled, not smashed onto a flat-top to order. A smash burger is shaped BY the pan, which is where the crust comes from.
If it’s his restaurant burgers you’re after at home, the over-the-top end of his menu translates too, and his restaurant-style truffle burger rebuilds that one layer by layer.
What’s the frozen chilli trick about?
It’s a chef’s tip straight from the book: he keeps a handful of chillies in the freezer and grates a little into curries, sauces and burgers whenever a dish needs heat. Frozen chilli grates like Parmesan, no chopping, no burning fingers, no half-used chilli dying in the fridge.
In this burger it spreads the heat evenly through the mince instead of leaving hot pockets. Grate it straight from the freezer and it practically disappears into the meat.
Did Gordon Ramsay make a smash burger on Next Level Kitchen?
He set the challenge but didn’t cook it. On his Next Level Kitchen channel, Ramsay challenged Richard Blais to make a smash burger without a traditional bun, and Blais answered with a Greek-spiced patty smashed onto a flour tortilla with tzatziki. Fun watch, but the recipe is Blais’s, not Gordon’s.
That’s worth knowing because clips from it get shared as “Gordon Ramsay’s smash burger” all the time. The closest thing to his actual smash method is the press-it-instantly rule on this page, in his own words.
What sauce goes on it, and what on the side?
His sriracha mayo from the book, stirred together in the time the cheese takes to melt, which suits a 10-minute burger better than any simmered sauce. His own swap if chilli isn’t your thing: wholegrain, English or Dijon mustard instead.
On the side, his crispy smashed potatoes are the natural partner, same violence, different vegetable. The rest of the lineup is in the burger recipes roundup.
