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5 from 5 votes

Copycat SmokeShack Burgers

Author: Shake Shack: Recipes and Stories

Ingredients

SHACK SAUCE:

  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • ¾ tsp ketchup
  • ¼ tsp kosher dill pickle brine/juice
  • Pinch of cayenne
  • Dash of kosher salt

BURGERS:

  • 4 hamburger potato buns
  • 4 tbs unsalted butter, melted
  • 8 tbs diced pickled hot cherry peppers
  • 1 pound ground beef, evenly divided into 4 pucks
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 4 slices American cheese
  • 8 slices bacon, cooked and each broken in half

Instructions

SHACK SAUCE:

  • Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Cover and refrigerate if not using right away.

BURGERS:

  • Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-low heat. It’s imperative you use a smooth surface, so no grill pans here. Split the buns open and brush all the insides with the melted butter. Place the buns buttered side down on the griddle and toast until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the buns to a plate or platter and spoon the Shack Sauce onto the top buns. Sprinkle 2 tbs of hot cherry peppers onto each of the top buns and gently press to adhere them a bit to the sauce.
  • Turn the griddle heat up to medium-high and let it get really, screaming hot. Season one side of each beef puck with salt and pepper. Place the pucks seasoned side down onto the hot griddle. Take a small pot in your nondominant hand. Put an oven mitt on your dominant hand. Make a fist with your mitted hand and put it down into the pot, which is facing upright. Place the bottom of the pot onto the beef puck and use your mitted, dominant hand to push down to flatten the burger. Use some elbow grease and don’t worry that you’re ruining anything. Press down hard and really flatten that sucker. Once you’ve smashed your burgers, season the top with more salt and pepper. Cook the burgers about 2 ½ minutes, until the edges beneath are brown and the juices on the surface are bubbling hot. Carefully flip the burgers and cook one minute longer for medium. As soon as you flip the burgers, place a slice of cheese on each. When done, transfer the burger to the bottom buns and top with 4 halves of the broken bacon. Top with the top buns and serve immediately.

Notes

Recipe sourced from Shake Shack: Recipes and Stories. I’m writing these instructions in a certain order, which is what you should follow. This whole process has to move quickly, and if you haven’t gotten the right moving parts nailed down at the right time, it’ll go sideways in a hurry and ruin everyone’s dinner. First you make the burger sauce. Then you toast the buns. Then you slather the buns with the sauce and sprinkle them with the cherry peppers. Then you cook the burgers and immediately transfer them to the buns which are waiting like good little soldiers. This ensures sanity and a meal at the proper temperature and doneness with nothing getting cold or soggy because it’s waiting around when it shouldn’t. Secondly, I’m giving very and perhaps oddly specific instructions on how to flatten the patties when cooking the burgers. The book instructs you to use a heavy spatula, but it doesn’t take into account that most home cooks aren’t restaurants and as such don’t have metal spatulas that are large and sturdy enough to get the job done adequately. Don’t ask me how I know this. I’ve devised a much more home-cook friendly method that works beautifully.