The Original Smash Burger Tacos
Last Updated on February 28, 2025
Tacos and burgers had a love child, and it’s absolutely delicious—Smash Burger Tacos. Made famous through my social media this recipe took over the internet quickly, with countless variations. There’s a reason for that too, sear these up and serve the whole family, and you’ll see why.
We’re talking a seared beef patty pressed into a crispy tortilla, topped with your favorite burger toppings such as delicious homemade burger sauce, iceberg lettuce, crispy dill pickles, and of course a slice of cheese (or two).
Why This Process Works
- Super simple: Meat, tortillas, and toppings. That’s all you need, and everything cooks so incredibly fast. Sear these up within 1-2 minutes and you’ll have dinner ready.
- Unlimited topping combinations: Stick with the classic and make Big Mac smash burger tacos, or try using your favorite toppings. Try sweet and spicy pickles, pickle de gallo salsa, or quick pickled jalapenos.
- Healthier: One of the benefits of smash burger tacos would be the lack of buns, making this a lower-carb alternative to hamburgers. Try making them with ground turkey or chicken for a lower-fat version!
Important Tips
- Flour tortillas are key. Corn tortillas will work, but not near as well. The meat sticks to the flour tortillas better when seared, and can fold easier after the fact. Plus the flavor of the flour tortillas matches the missing buns, really emulating the authentic smash burger flavors. Look for smaller flour tortillas, about the same size as a typical corn tortilla.
- Any flat top, griddle, or large skillet will work. This recipe shows the smashburger tacos being seared on a griddle, but this can easily be accomplished with any hot skillet. You just won’t be able to throw down 6 at a time, but at least you’ll have them.
- Have everything ready to go when you start. This smash burger recipe is simple, but it moves quickly. Make sure you’re ready because the meat will sear very quickly. Meat, tortilla, smash, flip, and you’re done!
Step 1: Prepare the Beef
Portion out the beef into golf ball-sized portions, roughly about 2 ounces each. When flattened, they should cover the full surface of the tortilla, sometimes creeping over.
Heat up your searing surface to a high heat. If using a griddle as shown above, do not turn on all of the burners. The tacos will be flipped over, and the flour tortilla doesn’t need to crisp up on the back. It’s best if they are flipped to a surface with ambient heat to keep them warm and pliable.
Season the beef with some Canyon Crust Beef Seasoning or your choice of seasoning (can’t go wrong with salt, pepper, and garlic powder). Place the seasoned side of the beef down onto the hot surface. Find those tortillas quickly, it’s time to smash!
What cut of beef is best for smash burgers?
Use an 80/20 ground beef blend for smash burger tacos. This blend has the right amount of fat to create a thin, crispy crust while remaining juicy. You don’t want dry burgers!
The ideal size for smash burger tacos is 3 ounces each, allowing for the ground beef to cover most of the flour tortilla surface to achieve a thin, crispy burger without shrinking too much.
Step 2: Smash the Burgers with Tortillas
Once the meat is on the hot surface, grab a tortilla and your pressing utensil.
Place the tortilla on top of the ball of meat and smash it down, pressing the burger flat onto the surface. Lift up the press to see if you’ve smashed it into a thin patty, which should smush to the edges of the tortilla. It’s fine if the burger smashes past the edge—trust me, it will cook.
The hot surface will sear the meat within about 2-3 minutes. Watch the color of the beef change from bright red to brown, and the edges should be crispy on the bottom.
What Do You Use to Smash the Tacos?
Use any flat burger press, such as you would to make traditional smash burgers. Flat spatulas don’t work here as well, you’ll need something heavy. One of the best burger presses would be this Stainless Burger Press with a thick handle.
Step 3: Scrape and Flip
Using your metal spatula or scraper flip the burger with the tortilla side face down, on the cool side of the griddle or a low-temp large skillet. The tortilla does not need to be heated up on the back, otherwise, it will crisp up and cannot fold easily.
The bottom of the burger will be cooked through, so don’t worry. If by chance the meat separates from the tortilla during the flip, just set them back together.
Make sure the smash burger taco is flipped to the COOL SIDE of the griddle. If you flip it right into where it was searing, it will crisp up the taco and potentially burn. While a crispy shell may taste delicious, it will not fold easily and can break on you. The back of the tortilla just needs to warm a little bit, it doesn’t need to be fried.
Toppings for Smashburger Tacos
This is the time where you want to throw down a slice of cheese, such as American or cheddar cheese. Give it another minute or two until the cheese melts, and you’re ready to go.
Stick with this recipe combination if you want to make a more classic flavor profile for cheeseburger tacos. Some of our favorites toppings are:
- Homemade burger sauce (recipe below)
- Melty cheese, such as American, Swiss, provolone, or Muenster
- Dill pickles, try the sweet and spicy pickles recipe!
- Chopped onions, or even quick pickled red onions
- Thinly sliced tomatoes
- Shredded or chopped lettuce
- Yellow mustard
Frequently Asked Questions
Typically not. The burgers are seared on the griddle and the liquids are squeezed out during this phase. Some of it will be absorbed into the tortilla, but most of it falls with gravity onto the hot surface.
No, as long as the instructions were followed and the burger was smashed adequately flat. The high heat will cook right through the beef, searing the surface and keeping the meat juicy. If there’s ever a question, flip the tortilla and warm it on a very low heat for a minute.
Yes you can, however, the flour tortillas have worked better through testing. The tortillas are more pliable and the meat adheres better, due to the flour absorbing some of the moisture and creating a bond. Plus it’s a more classic taste paired with the meat.
Yes, this is a great solution if you do not have a burger press. It will take a couple minutes of prep work, but cooks just as well.
More Burger Recipes to Love
These viral smash burger tacos are a huge hit, but we have plenty more you need to try:
- Smoked smash burgers
- Cowboy butter burgers
- Chicken Big Mac Burger
- Crack burgers (bacon, cheddar, ranch)
- Surf and turf smash burger tacos
- Luther burger (topped with DONUTS!)
- Grilled cheese burgers
Thank You For Trying Our Recipe!
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Smash Burger Tacos
Layers of crispy beef, melty cheese, and all of the classic toppings are folded in flour tortillas, creating irresistible Smashburger Tacos. Fire up a hot griddle and get ready to eat, these sear up quickly!
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 80/20, portioned into 3-ounce balls
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 8 small flour tortillas
- 8 slices American cheese
- Burger Sauce (recipe below)
- Sweet and Spicy Pickles
- Shredded lettuce
- Burger Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons pickle relish
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- Ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Portion the beef and prepare the workstation. Make sure the beef is about a small golf-ball size, roughly 3 ounces. Have the tortillas, cheese, and everything ready to go as this process happens quickly.
- Heat up the griddle to a high heat for searing. Don’t turn on all of the burners, just the one you’ll need to sear. This will give your tacos a cool landing place for when they are flipped.
- Season the beef and place on the griddle. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto one side of the beef and place it face down on the griddle. Do this for all of the portions, spacing them far enough apart so you can smash them down.
- Add the tortilla to the top and smash down. Quickly place a flour tortilla on top of the beef and smash it down using a press or your spatula. Press down to make sure it’s extremely thin. It’s not a problem if the burger is a little bigger than the tortilla. Let the meat cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the color of the beef has darkened and it’s crisp on the bottom.
- Scrape and flip the tacos. Using a bench scraper or spatula, forcefully scrape the meat off the griddle and flip the tortillas to the cooler side. Do not sear the tortillas on the hot surface, or they will crisp up. Add your cheese and cover the taco with a bowl or a lid to assist in melting if needed.
- Top and serve immediately. No need to wait for the meat to rest, these smash burger tacos are waiting for your toppings. Enjoy!
Notes
- These can be prepared on a cast iron skillet as well. Transfer the tacos to a warm plate when flipping to make sure the tortillas stay pliable.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Beef & Lamb
- Method: Griddle
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 507
- Sugar: 6.3 g
- Sodium: 870.7 mg
- Fat: 31.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.2 g
- Protein: 23.3 g
- Cholesterol: 73.4 mg
Great recipe! I’ve made this a few times since you first posted it. It’s easy and always a crowd pleaser. I prefer to use my outdoor grill but have made it indoors too using a large cast iron griddle which fits neatly over one whole side of our gas stove. The latter can get a little smokey in the house, so I just make sure to run the vent on high and have everything fully prepped to go go go so I can cook it all up quickly. Different than any other “burger” or “taco” and very very tasty.
Thanks for the feedback, I’m so glad you enjoy it! It’s definitely one of the fastest recipes to cook on the blog
We are trying this recipe out tonight. It sounds really good. We can’t wait to eat it.
Turned out awful. How do you keep the tortilla from soaking up the grease?
Did you flip the tortilla into the grease from searing the burger? That’s usually the most common mistake, causing the tortilla to get greasy and sometimes too crispy. The recipe and guide discuss how important it is to flip it to a cooler side of the pan/griddle to avoid this.
Made these tonight on the stovetop. Smash hit!! Thanks for the tips!!
That’s awesome! So glad you loved them
These were amazing and so much ‘lighter’ than a traditional hamburger on a bun. I wasn’t t sure about the pickles but they were the bomb! The whole combination of tortilla, burger, cheese, lettuce , sauce and pickles was so good! My husband was on board as the grill master and we will definitely make this recipe a keeper!
Thank you! They are surprisingly delicious and leave you feeling less heavy than smashing a few pairs of hamburger buns. So glad you all enjoyed them!
Bro I made these today on a cast iron griddle on a gas grill, phenomenal. The sweet and spicy pickles kicked it over the top and I used an old burger sauce recipe I always use with pickles and a little pickle juice in it. Having the griddle hot already is the key to this recipe.
Thank you! Pickles are super key. So glad you enjoyed it and figured out the flip.
I did not see the recipe for the burger sauce posted anywhere on this as was stated on the ingredient listing above. Is there any way that the burger sauce recipe could be sent to me, possibly?
Sure thing, here you go:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
This is the burger sauce I also use on my Grilled Chicken Big Mac Burger
What is this burger sauce recipe you speak of?!
I tend to mix things together inconsistently to make mine, but my favorite is definitely this one: https://www.chilesandsmoke.com/cowboy-sauce/