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How to Make Smoked Hamburgers + Recipe

May 1, 2023

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Sink your enamel into the proper smoked hamburgers piled excessive on toasted buns with caramelized onions, crispy bacon, and gooey cheddar cheese. This straightforward smoker recipe is one of the best ways to get juicy burgers with superb smoky taste on any grill with our ideas for charcoal, gasoline grills, and pellet people who smoke.

Smoked hamburger on a bun with burger toppings ready to be devoured.

The flavour you get from grilling hamburgers might be why they’re an iconic bbq staple proper alongside a superb sizzling canine. There’s one thing about floor beef patties and the grill that’s simply indulgent. Whether or not you’re grinding your individual hamburger or utilizing your favourite burger mix out of your native butcher or grocery retailer, these all-beef hamburger patties are begging for smoke taste, candy caramelized onions and sharp cheddar cheese.

Relating to the proper smoked hamburger, we discovered two issues that actually matter for this smoker recipe. First, the fats content material of the bottom beef needs to be excessive. If the meat is just too lean (90/10), the patties dry out whereas on the smoker. Identical to our butter trick within the burgers for our hamburger salad, the fats content material provides taste and moisture whereas on the grill. We go so far as a 60/40 mix with Wagyu floor beef. Or for the proper mix, take a look at our how to make ground beef information for the proper burgers recipe.

The second trick to an incredible smoked hamburger recipe is the dimensions of the burger patty. We don’t go any smaller than a 1/4 (quarter pound) patty. This helps make a juicer burger with a fantastic char on the finish. The place burgers with crispy edges are excellent for griddle-grilled smash burgers, the cooking technique of smoking may also trigger skinny floor beef patties to be dry. Go for high-fat floor meat and thick patties for the proper burger.

Substances

For this recipe, you’ll want floor beef; we advocate a high-fat ratio for the very best outcomes. We used Black Hawk Farms Wagyu floor beef, which is a 60/40 mix. If you’ll find a 70/30 mix, use it or strive Porter Roads Beef Vs Bacon mix. Take a look at all of our trusted sources for where to buy meat online.

You’ll additionally want conventional burger fixings like kosher salt, freshly floor pepper, comfortable buns (we go for brioche buns), lettuce, tomato, onions, bacon, crispy pickles, and cheddar cheese.

Don’t neglect to provide your self a wide range of your favourite condiments, from ketchup and mustard to a do-it-yourself compound butter recipe like our favourite garlic aioli, to actually take these hamburgers to the subsequent degree.

How one can Make Smoked Hamburgers

Prep the burgers

Begin by prepping your floor chuck into patties by merely breaking the meat up in a bowl, gently dividing it into equal parts, and rolling it right into a ball earlier than gently urgent it into quarter-pound patties. You don’t wish to overwork the meat or press too laborious, inflicting the meat to turn into dense. A lightweight hand goes a great distance for these easy burgers.

Then, place the burgers on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and chill them within the fridge for no less than one hour earlier than cooking. This step permits the fats within the combination to agency up, serving to the patties to carry collectively on the grill.

Showing ground beef being divideed into balls to form patties.

Prep the grill

In the meantime, prep your grill for smoking. You need the temperature of your smoker round 225 levels F with a water pan to assist preserve the humidity up.

Smoke the burgers

When the grill is holding regular even temp and the smoke coming from the charcoal is a transparent whispy blue coloration (clear smoke), rapidly clear the grill grate. Sprinkle the patties liberally with salt and only a trace of pepper on each side, and place the burger patties on the cooler facet of the grill, the facet reverse of the recent coals.
Cowl the grill with the lid and permit the burgers to smoke for 60-90 minutes. Use a digital meat thermometer to test the interior temperature of the burger. When they’re about 10 levels below the place you need them to be, transfer the patties to excessive warmth (the recent facet of the grill) for a fast sear. Add the cheese and permit it to soften whereas toasting the buns.

Showing burgers over indirect heat, with the coals on one side of the grill and the patties on the other.

Caramelize the onions

Whereas the burgers are smoking, caramelize your onions forged iron skillet with butter on the cooler facet of the grill, permitting the onions to slowly flip golden brown and translucent.

Serve the smoked burgers

Rigorously take away the smoked burgers from the grill, switch them to a clear platter, and construct your burgers. Don’t neglect to provide your self a wide range of toppings, from crispy pickles to a do-it-yourself compound butter recipe like our favourite garlic aioli, to actually elevate these hamburgers.

Close up of a juicy burger with all the toppings.

Woman Carnivore Skilled Recipe Suggestions

For a charcoal grill:

Arrange your charcoal grill for a 2-zone fireplace by infighting coals in a charcoal chimney. When the coals are about 70% ashed over, 10 – Quarter-hour, pour them onto one facet of the grill. Add wooden chips on to the coals and canopy the grill, adjusting the air vents on the quilt to permit the grill to preheat to 220-225 levels F. When able to grill the burgers, observe the instructions within the recipe card under.
We use Cowboy All Pure Hardwood Briquets and Jack Daniel’s smoking wooden chips when grilling burgers. For much more good smoke taste, strive Cowboy’s Garlic and Onion briquets.

For a gasoline grill:

Prep your gasoline grill for oblique warmth by turning 2 of the three burners on excessive. Permit the grill to preheat after which flip off all however one burner, set to low or adjusting as wanted to keep up an ambient temperature of 220-225 levels F on the grill. After the burgers have smoked to your required inner temperature, rapidly sear them over the recent facet to complete.
So as to add further smoked taste, we use a smoker field full of wooden chips or a foil packet (like we present in how you can smoke on a gasoline grill).

For a pellet grill:

For a Traeger grill, prep the smoker as directed for the smoke setting, round 225 levels. Smoke the burgers as directed. When prepared to complete, take away the burgers from the pellet grill and alter the warmth to the sear setting. Shortly sear the thick patties, if desired, and add the cheese on high to soften simply to complete.
We use Jack Daniel’s charcoal pellets in our pellet smoker and add just a few chunks of hickory wooden to the most popular a part of the grill grate for added smoke taste.

For an electrical smoker:

Prep your electrical smoker with the smoker field full of hickory, publish oak or Jack Daniel’s smoking wooden chips. Set the temperature to 225 levels F and smoke the burgers on the rack furthest from the heating coil or mechanism. Add the cheese for the final 10 minutes and toast the buns in a toaster oven or on a griddle to serve.

What to serve with smoked burgers

We like to pair juicy burgers with recent smoked potato salad, coleslaw, smoked baked beans, creamy Dutch oven mac and cheese, smoked corn on the cob, deviled eggs, and tremendous crispy duck-fat fries.

Leftovers and Reheating

Retailer leftover smoked hamburgers in an hermetic container or wrapped in aluminum foil within the fridge for as much as 3-4 days.

To reheat, heat the patties in a preheated oven at round 325 levels F, wrapped in foil, for 10-Quarter-hour or till heated by way of. You too can reheat them on a grill over low warmth or in a skillet with a small quantity of oil on medium-low warmth.

Personally, we love these reheated chopped up in a skillet for a cheeseburger omelet or used for low-carb hamburger salads.

Smoked burgers with cheese a caramelized onions, pickles, tomato mustard and ketchup on a black plate.

Recipe FAQs

What kind of floor meat ought to I take advantage of for smoked hamburgers?

For smoked hamburgers, it’s finest to make use of floor beef with a fats content material of no less than 20% (80% lean) for a juicy and flavorful burger. We use 70/30 or 60/40 floor beef once we can get our palms on it or grind our hamburger. A combo of floor chuck or floor sirloin are each nice choices.

What kind of wooden ought to I take advantage of for smoking burgers?

For smoking hamburgers, select a wooden that imparts a gentle to medium smoky taste. Good choices embody hickory, oak, or Jack Daniels wooden chips (comprised of recycled Jack Daniels whiskey barrels). We don’t advocate mesquite because it burns sizzling and might go away an acrid style.

Ought to I flip the hamburgers whereas smoking them?

There’s no have to flip the hamburgers whereas smoking; the oblique warmth and smoke will prepare dinner them evenly. Nonetheless, if you’d like grill marks or a seared crust, you possibly can briefly sear the patties on a sizzling grill over excessive warmth after smoking.

What’s the best temperature for smoking hamburgers, and the way lengthy ought to I smoke them?

The best temperature for smoking hamburgers is round 225°F to 250°F. Smoke the hamburgers for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or till they attain an inner temperature of 145 (medium juicy burger) to 160°F (well-done burger). Prepare dinner occasions could range relying on the warmth of the smoker, environmental elements, and your required degree of doneness.

How do I do know when the smoked hamburgers are cooked?

Use a digital meat thermometer to test the interior temperature of the hamburgers. For a medium-rare burger, intention for 130-135°F; for medium, 140-145 levels F); and for well-done, 160°F. Something over 160 levels F and the burger will rapidly dry out.

Extra of the very best burger recipes

Have you ever given this smoked burger recipe a strive? There’s one thing in regards to the flavors that’s simply laborious to beat in relation to a superb hamburger. When you have, please assist us out and price the smoked burgers recipe and go away a remark for the subsequent man.

Deal with your self to a BBQ expertise with our flavor-packed smoked hamburgers, topped with caramelized onions, crispy bacon, and melted cheddar cheese. Grasp the artwork of the proper smoky, juicy burger with this easy-to-follow recipe that’ll turn into a cookout favourite.