Savory Outdoor Dinner Inspiration for 2026

There is no end to the number of delicious burgers you can make, however 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 establishes recipes and appears in videos for NYT Cooking. He is also 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've invested the last two decades of my career carefully investigating and testing recipes, methods and commonly accepted kitchen wisdom to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated multiple hamburger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Lab, in which I separated and checked every possible variable that can affect the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most important pointers I've found for optimizing your burger experience, whether in the backyard or the cooking area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

How to Master the Ideal Flat-Top Burger

In bread, this can be a good thing, but with burgers, overhandling can develop 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 distract from the beef taste, so skip it.) Salting the beyond 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 an excellent thing in sausages, which must have a firm texture, but with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger should hurt, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This takes full advantage of taste while keeping juiciness. Preparing your buns ahead of time lets you get to eating so much faster. Credit ... Bryan Gardner for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Do not let your patties relax on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had an opportunity to leak out.

Smash BurgersCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Diner BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Thick Backyard BurgerCredit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Follow,,, and.

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Upgraded May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI have actually constantly 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 right day and I might confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. In fact, I may say that on a lot of days. And you may say the same. 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, added some brand-new ones and continued to leave off the ones I understand people like but I simply. Perhaps I have not tried your favorite hamburger. Perhaps I'm out to get you (simply kidding).

Let me share with you what makes the best burger for me. Let's start with the patty.

When I bite in, I require to see a little sparkle, some glowing from the beef and maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty must be seared to assist secure the juices, however not too crusty.