The Unexpected Canned Ingredient Giving Smash Burgers A Juicy Glow-Up

A better smash burger is right around the corner if you know where to look. You don't have to go to a restaurant and pay an arm-and-a-leg's worth for a single burger — achieve all your favorite flavors by making a burger with a few inexpensive ingredients from the grocery store. Additionally, one of the biggest mistakes people make with burgers is buying them pre-formed. Forming patties by hand lets you add ingredients into the base itself rather than sprinkling them on top. The canned goods aisle is a treasure trove of cheap eats that can turn a bland burger into a stunning dinner, and it'd be a mistake to overlook a can of French onion soup.

French onion soup is made primarily with beef stock and onions, creating a thick broth that's bursting with umami flavor. To capture these qualities in your burger, just pour the soup in with the raw burger base (around ¼ of a can for 1 pound of beef) before cooking the patties. A can of French onion soup is enough to add moisture and beefy goodness, softening the inside of the smash burger while crisping the edges.

The French onion soup trick can go with almost any burger concept since most already have beef and onions as part of the mix. But some ingredients really shine with this soup. Bobby Flay avoids cheddar cheese on his burgers, and in this case, you should too. Swiss cheese has a superior meltability; keep it simple with a low-budget baby Swiss, or level up the burger's depth with some delectable Gruyère or Emmental varieties. These nutty, soft cheeses are the perfect match for onions and beef.

The beauty of a smash burger is that, when the meat is compressed into a disk, there's far more room for toppings. However, with this flavorful burger concept, you don't need many of them: Sautéed mushrooms boost the burger's umami and add a pleasant textural element; a garlic aioli or mayonnaise is the only sauce you need; and lightly caramelized onions give the burger a nice crunch and boost the onion flavor. For an onion topping, go with yellow or sweet onion instead of red or white; these would be overbearing on this burger. With the power of French onion soup and a few simple toppings, boring smash burgers are a thing of the past.