The Blackstone grill is one of the most basic cooking devices you can use — just a broad, flat, hot surface. The flat-top’s simplicity makes it one of the easiest grills to create amazing burgers without fancy ingredients or high falutin’ techniques. Good lean-to-fat ratio, optimal temperature and time, portion sizing, and grill management make all the difference. Whether you smash ’em or not, the best burgers that come off a hot Blackstone are those that embrace its simplicity, with a crispy crust and the richness of flavor from the Maillard reaction, which is the chemical process that makes browned meat so delicious.
Choosing an 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio (this is Ina Garten’s favorite ratio for burgers for a reason) from cuts like chuck will give you plenty of renderable fat to melt on the grill, creating a tender burger that still has some bite. You can use a leaner ratio from cuts such as sirloin, but the leaner you go, the less fat there is to add flavor and retain moisture, and the greater your chance of the meat sticking to the griddle itself. What a Blackstone can do that grill barbecues can’t is allow you to form a crispy, beautifully browned crust by maximizing contact with the cooking surface. This creates two approaches for using a Blackstone for burgers. Classic, thicker burger patties need longer to allow the internal meat to cook before the exterior burns, around two to four minutes per side on a medium temperature — somewhere between 375 and 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Smash burgers cook hotter and faster, getting around two to three minutes per side (or until crispy) on a grill between 425 and 475 degrees.
Don’t skip the preheat
Knowing what temperature range to aim for is a start, but you shouldn’t lay your patties down until that grill is nice and hot. Michigan-based chef Sherry Ronning told Tasting Table in our roundup of Blackstone grilling tips and tricks that “preheating your griddle is a must. The whole goal is to get a nice golden-brown color to your food. Remember that color adds flavor.” If your grill heat is lagging, your crust will take too long to form, and you’ll end up overcooking a dry burger, whether it’s thick or smashed. Another hot tip is to always flip a patty onto unused real estate to ensure the surface you lay the second side on is as hot as possible. Remember to let thicker patties rest before consumption to retain juices.
For thicker burgers, form five to six ounces of ground beef into loose balls or patties, combining gently by hand to avoid over-mixing. Smash burger patties can be around three ounces, or you can portion a third of a cup of ground beef. The simplicity of the best Blackstone burgers means that you need minimal ingredients to let the beef shine; just salt and pepper, maybe a sprinkling of dry seasoning, will do the trick with no need for breadcrumbs or eggs. You may decide to add a little extra moisture in the form of mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, or mustard, but be careful not to overdo it, as excess moisture can interfere with the browning.
