smashburger

noun

smash·burg·er ˈsmash-ˌbər-gər

variants or smash burger

plural smashburgers or smash burgers

: a hamburger patty that is pressed thin onto a heated pan or griddle at the start of cooking

Smashburgers start life as 3- to 4-ounce balls of ground meat, then get smashed flat onto a hot griddle. The resulting patty is thin and often imperfectly shaped, with edges all brown and crispy. … According to historian and burger authority George Motz, smashburgers go back more than 150 years.—

Chuck Blount

To put the "smash" in "smashburger," I pressed down firmly on my burgers with a spatula.—

Erin McDowell

So what's a smash burger? (And we're not talking about the Smashburger chain of restaurants.) Let's have Hammy himself (owner [of Hammy's Smash Burgers] Hamzah Ahmed) describe what happens after the ball of beef is placed on a hot griddle: "We take our press and smash it into the grill … so it gets crispy around the edges and the inside stays juicy. It pretty much locks in all the flavor."—

Bethany Clough

Because a smash burger is loosely formed and flattened, it has lots of craggy surface area to get crisp and brown and so darn delicious it barely even needs any condiments.—

Joanne Sasvari

also : a patty (as of beans or ground turkey) prepared similarly

a black bean smash burger

: a sandwich featuring one or more such patties

… a full-service bar and restaurant offering its famous smash burger: A burger patty that is smashed between two pounds of cast iron and topped with American cheese, caramelized onions, pickles, mayo and mustard on a golden brioche bun.—

Ariel Perez

Examples of smashburger in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There’s one type of burger that’s a little bit trickier to master, however—the smashburger. —

Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 29 July 2024 The smashburger spot first debuted next to its sibling restaurant, steakhouse American Beauty, in 2019, and has since expanded with more locations and menu options. —

Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2024 The new menu offers starters such as BBQ pork belly served with pickled collards and smashburger sliders. —

Michelle Deal-Zimmerman, Baltimore Sun, 2 July 2024 Rhys settled gloomily into a back booth and ordered a double smashburger. —

H. C. Wilentz, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for smashburger

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'smashburger.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.