Top-Rated Gourmet Burger Recipes for 2026

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

By J. Kenji Lpez-AltJ. Kenji Lpez-Alt writes 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 Program on YouTube. This video and short article are part of, our series on kitchen area fundamentals.

Credit ... Adam CentrellaAs an expert chef, food author and cookbook author, I have actually invested the last 20 years of my profession rigorously investigating and checking recipes, methods and commonly accepted cooking area knowledge to determine the whys of cooking. Over this time, I have actually operated numerous hamburger joints and even wrote a monthly column for Serious Consumes called the Burger Laboratory, in which I isolated and checked every possible variable that can impact the flavor and texture of a hamburger.

Here are the most essential tips I've discovered for enhancing your hamburger experience, whether in the yard or the cooking area. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Choosing the Best Meats for Tasty Burgers

In bread, this can be an advantage, but with hamburgers, overhandling can produce an undesirable dense texture. (Including extenders, like eggs or breadcrumbs, or additional spices, like onions and herbs, also forces you to strain the meat and distract from the beef flavor, so avoid it.) Salting the exterior of your patties keeps their texture loose and tender.

This is an excellent thing in sausages, which ought to have a company texture, however with burgers, you want looseness. A hamburger should be tender, with plenty of pockets for juices and rendered fat to collect.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Browning your patties deeply makes the most of flavor. Credit ... Ryan Liebe for The New York City Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Whether you're making a huge hamburger on the grill or a crisp-edged smash burger on a frying pan, browning is taste, and high heat is essential. For thicker grilled or griddled burgers, wait till 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 preserving juiciness. Don't let your patties sit around on the cutting board (or worse, a steam table). Hamburgers are at their finest fresh from the fire, before any juices have had an opportunity to leak out.

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

Selecting the Best Beef for Tasty Burgers

Updated May 7, 2026, 8:42 a.m. CTI've always been a burger 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).

Capture me on the best day and I may confess that a cheeseburger is my favorite food. Really, I might say that on the majority of days. And you might say the very same. Even if you do, it's most likely we don't have the very same concept of what makes the perfect burger.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

I kept some old favorites, included some new ones and continued to leave off the ones I know individuals like however I just. Maybe I have not tried your favorite hamburger. Maybe I'm out to get you (just kidding).

Let me share with you what makes the ideal hamburger for me. Let's begin with the patty.

When I bite in, I require to see a little shimmer, some sparkling from the beef and perhaps a little grease running down the sides. When I see a smashburger on the menu, I constantly opt for a double patty. Smashburger or not, the patty should be scorched to assist secure the juices, but not too crusty.