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There is no end to the variety of delicious burgers you can make, but here are 12 that will make your mouth water.

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt writes a column for The New york city Times on food and science, and he establishes recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube. This video and article belong to, our series on kitchen area principles.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food author and cookbook author, I have actually invested the last 20 years of my career carefully investigating and checking dishes, techniques and widely accepted kitchen wisdom to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I've operated several hamburger joints and even wrote a regular monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Burger Lab, in which I separated and tested every possible variable that can impact the taste and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most essential suggestions I've discovered for optimizing your hamburger experience, whether in the backyard or the cooking area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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In bread, this can be an excellent thing, however with hamburgers, overhandling can create an undesirable thick texture. (Integrating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or extra seasoning, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the outside of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Salt breaks down muscle proteins and helps them to connect more easily. This is a great thing in sausages, which ought to have a firm texture, but with hamburgers, you want looseness. A burger needs to be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply takes full advantage of taste. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a huge burger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash hamburger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is key. For thicker grilled or griddled hamburgers, wait until your pan or grill is hot before including the patties, and cook them up until they're well browned on both sides.

This makes the most of taste while preserving juiciness. Do not 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 an opportunity to drip out.

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

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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).

Catch me on the best day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Actually, I might state that on many days. And you might state the very same. But even if you do, it's likely we don't have the very same idea of what makes the best hamburger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, added some brand-new ones and continued to leave off the ones I understand individuals like but I simply. Maybe I haven't tried your favorite hamburger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply joking).

There's one best burg out there for everyone. Let me show you what makes the perfect burger for me. Let's start with the patty. Can I say I'm growing a little sick of smashburgers? The finest ones astonishingly remain juicy with simply a tip of flaky char around the edges, however regrettably, the majority of places go too tough on the smash.

When I bite in, I need to see a little shimmer, some sparkling from the beef and perhaps a little grease diminishing the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly choose a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty needs to be burnt to assist secure the juices, but not too crusty.