Food and Recipes Dish Burgers Bacon Cheeseburger Recipe Be the first to rate & review! Smashed burgers are made for outdoor grilling because they tend to smoke up the kitchen. Each pressed-down patty spends less than five minutes on the grill, so cook them in batches so you can get them on and off the grill quickly. These burger patties are pressed down on a hot griddle to make them thin with crispy edges. You'll need a flat spatula without holes to smashthem properly. By Pam Lolley Pam Lolley Pam Lolley developed and tested recipes for Southern Living Magazine in the Souths most trusted Test Kitchen for 19 years. She worked closely with the editors planning and packaging stories, collaborating with art and photo teams on food styling and recipe reproduction to ensure reader satisfaction, content quality control, and recipe authenticity history and cooking. Her area of expertise was baking and and pastry development and she acted as the point person for these areas in the Test Kitchen. With 30+ years of experience in the culinary field, Pam created and tested 1000s of recipes for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on June 8, 2019 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall Active Time: 45 mins Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins Yield: 8 serves Ingredients 8 ounces thick-cut hickory-smoked bacon, coarsely chopped 2 pounds 85 /15 lean ground beef 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 8 medium Cheddar cheese slices (about 1 oz. each) 8 hamburger buns, split 3 tablespoons butter, melted Sweet-Spicy Refrigerator Pickles Optional toppings: sliced tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise Directions Arrange bacon in an even layer on a small baking sheet; freeze until frozen, about 1 hour. Transfer bacon to a food processor; pulse until finely ground, 5 to 10 times. Transfer bacon to a large bowl. Add beef, salt, and pepper; combine using hands until fully incorporated. Gently shape into 8 even balls. Place a griddle or large cast-iron skillet on unoiled grates of a gas grill, and preheat grill to high (450°F to 500°F) until griddle smokes, about 10 minutes. Working in 2 batches, coat hot griddle with cooking spray; arrange burger balls on griddle. Using a large, flat metal spatula, press balls firmly to flatten to about 3/4-inch-thick patties. Cover grill; cook patties 2 minutes. Turn patties over; cover grill, and cook 1 minute. Place 1 cheese slice on each patty. Cover grill; cook until cheese melts, 1 minute. Transfer to a plate; cover loosely with aluminum foil. Repeat with remaining patties and cheese. Brush cut sides of buns with melted butter. Place buns, cut sides down, on unoiled grates of hot grill. Grill until toasted, about 1 minute per side. Place 1 patty on each bun bottom; top with Spicy-Sweet Refrigerator Pickles, desired toppings, and bun tops. Rate it Print