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There is no end to the number of delicious hamburgers you can make, however here are 12 that will make your mouth water.

J. 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 likewise the creator and host of Kenji's Cooking Show on YouTube.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs a professional chef, food writer and cookbook author, I've invested the last 20 years of my profession carefully researching and evaluating dishes, methods and widely accepted kitchen area wisdom to find out the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually run numerous burger joints and even wrote a month-to-month column for Serious Consumes called the Hamburger Laboratory, in which I separated and evaluated every possible variable that can affect the taste and texture of a burger.

But that doesn't mean you can't go for something better. Here are the most essential tips I've found for enhancing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the kitchen. Working hamburger excessive can trigger it to end up being thick. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

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In bread, this can be a good thing, but with burgers, overhandling can create an undesirable dense texture. (Incorporating extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional flavoring, like onions and herbs, also requires you to exhaust the meat and sidetrack from the beef taste, so avoid 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 an advantage in sausages, which need to have a company texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A burger must hurt, with lots of pockets for juices and rendered fat to gather.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

This makes the most of taste while keeping juiciness. Do not let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or even worse, a steam table). Burgers are at their best fresh from the fire, before any juices have actually had a chance to drip out.

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

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Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a burger fan. Maturing, I 'd gladly munch them down at sit-down restaurants and from the drive-thru getting home from gymnastics practice. I 'd squish the soft bun and let catsup dribble down the sides over my fingers. 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 may confess that a cheeseburger is my preferred food. Even if you do, it's likely we don't have the exact same concept of what makes the best burger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some brand-new ones and continued to end the ones I understand individuals like but I simply. don't. get. Yes, I know your favorite isn't there. Possibly we have different taste. Perhaps I haven't attempted your preferred burger. Possibly I'm out to get you (simply kidding).

Let me share with you what makes the perfect hamburger for me. Let's start with the patty.

When I bite in, I need to see a little sparkle, some shining from the beef and maybe a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I always go with a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty needs to be scorched to assist lock in the juices, however not too crusty.