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Smashburger

Classic Smash

  • Signature

The burger the whole concept rests on. A smashed Angus patty with a lacy, crackling crust, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion and the tangy Smash Sauce on a toasted bun. The crust is the reason to come, so eat it straight away, while the edges are still crisp.

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The story

Smashing a burger is a Depression-era trick, not a modern one. In El Reno, Oklahoma, in the 1920s, cooks pressed a handful of sliced onions into the patty on the griddle to stretch scarce beef, and the pressing turned out to matter more than the saving: forcing the meat onto hot steel produces the browned crust that a thick, gently cooked patty never gets. Diners across the Midwest kept the method for decades. Smashburger, opening in Denver in 2007, was among the first to build a national chain on it and gave the technique its name.

What’s inside

Make it at home

There is no copycat of the Classic Smash yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.

The Classic Smash on YouTube

Everyone who has cooked, copied or taste-tested it on camera.

Similar burgers at other chains

Built around the same things as the Classic Smash.

More from Smashburger

About Smashburger

  • United States
  • Since 2007
  • $$

Smashburger opened in Denver, Colorado, in 2007 with one technique as its entire identity: a ball of Certified Angus Beef is pressed hard onto a hot griddle with a heavy tool, so it spreads thin and forms a deep brown crust in seconds. Home cooks and food writers had long loved the method; Smashburger was one of the first chains to build a brand around it.

Around 200 restaurants, mostly in the US. Owned by the Philippine company behind Jollibee.

The full Smashburger burger menu and story →

Not affiliated with Smashburger. Trademarks belong to their owners.