How to Smoke Burgers

Making smoked burgers is the perfect alternative for your summer grilling! This recipe walks you through everything you need to know to make the best, moist and juicy, smoked hamburgers.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword how to smoke burgers, smoked burgers, smoked hamburgers

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1 30

Total Time 1 40

Servings

Calories 552kcal

Equipment

burger press
smoker
metal spatula

Ingredients

3 pounds ground beef or ground pork, ground chicken, ground turkey or ground lamb
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
8 Burger Buns

Toppings

Lettuce optional
Sliced red onion optional
Sliced tomatoes optional
Sliced Cheese optional
Pickle chips optional
Ketchup optional
Mustard optional
Bacon Aioli

For Smoking

Water
Wood chunks or chips, pre-soaked, or pellets (whichever your smoker uses)

Instructions

Get out and measure all of your ingredients.
To make the burger patties, take a soft ball sized section of meat and gently shape it into a ball.
Using a burger press or your hands, shape the burger and place on a plate.
Once all the burgers have been shaped, season with salt and pepper and both sides.
Cook the burgers in the smoker at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for 60-90 minutes
Depending on what doneness you prefer, see chart in notes but use your thermometer to check for doneness.
Once the burgers have reached temperature, flip the burger to sear the other side quickly (only leave on for a minute or two before removing and add cheese after you flip, if desired).
Remove hamburgers to a serving plate and serve with all your favorite toppings!
Serve them up!
Enjoy!

Notes

**Nutrition doesn't include toppings you may add.

Add very little to your hamburgers. Even too much salt can dry out smoked hamburgers.

Avoid overmixing the ground beef or you may end up with dense burgers. Make them a half-inch thick and wider than your chosen buns to accommodate for shrinkage.

Remember to leave a thumb-sized imprint on the top of the patties before you throw them on the smoker. This will prevent them from puffing up into a meatball.

Always check your smoking hamburgers after cooking for 60 minutes. Add more wood chips or pellets and water if needed.

Use a meat thermometer to check the doneness of your burgers. You won’t be able to use visual clues to check because smoking causes a chemical reaction in your meat making it turn pink. This may be misleading if you're judging doneness by color (135 degrees F for medium-rare).

When possible, avoid leaner cuts of ground meat, you need a reasonable amount of fat to keep your burgers moist while smoked, at least 15 % if not 20%. If you use leaner meats you may end up with a delicious, but slightly dryer burger.

Sear the upward-facing side of the burger before removing it from your smoker. You can do this when the internal temperature of the burger is about 5 degrees from being ready. After flipping you can add your cheese.

Nutrition