How 12 celebrity chefs make burgers

Business Insider

23-05-2025

This Memorial Day, you might be firing up the grill and making some classic hamburgers.
Celebrity chefs, from Ina Garten to Gordon Ramsay, each have their own burger recipes.
Ree Drummond wraps hers in lettuce, while Rachael Ray makes her own version of a McDonald's Big Mac.
Forget boring lettuce-cheese-and-tomato burgers at your next cookout — it's time to get fired up about something worthy of a celebrity-chef restaurant.
With Memorial Day weekend and grilling season right around the corner, there are chef-approved tips for elevating a classic burger at home.
Potato chips, bacon-tomato jam, and freshly sliced avocado — practically every celebrity chef has their own unique list of toppings they have to add to create their own signature burger.
Here's how 12 celebrity chefs make their perfect burger.
Bobby Flay adds potato chips to make his signature "crunch burger."
Bobby Flay starts with four 6-ounce burgers made from ground chuck or ground turkey for the signature burger served at Bobby's Burger Palace.
He then adds American cheese, beefsteak tomato, lettuce, red onion, a homemade horseradish mustard mayonnaise sauce, and potato chips for the perfect amount of crunch.
Gordon Ramsay says seasoning can make or break your burger.
Gordon Ramsay makes his burger using ground beef and brisket and recommends storing the formed and seasoned burger patties in the fridge before putting them on the hottest spot of the grill.
For toppings, Ramsay adds American cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled white onions, and mustard mayonnaise.
Ina Garten makes her hamburgers using two types of beef and egg yolks.
To make Ina Garten's " real hamburgers," mix together 2 pounds of ground chuck and 1 pound of sirloin, steak sauce, egg yolks, salt, and pepper.
Garten also adds a small pat of butter to each burger, sticking it inside so it's covered by the meat before adding the burger to the grill.
Martha Stewart adds Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce to her burgers.
Martha Stewart makes her hamburgers by adding mustard and Worcestershire sauce to ground chuck.
She also recommends adding cheese, tomatoes, raw or grilled onions, pickles, and jalapeños to make the burgers even better.
Ree Drummond wraps her "low-carb" burgers in lettuce.
To make these Pioneer Woman-approved "low-carb" burgers, you'll need lettuce leaves large enough to fold over the entire hamburger patty, tomato slices, red onion, avocado, and chopped pickles.
Drummond also adds her own version of a special sauce, which uses Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise.
Jamie Oliver tops his "insanity burger" with homemade burger sauce and pickles.
British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's insanity burger comes directly from his cookbook "Jamie Oliver's Comfort Food." The recipe calls for a burger patty made from ground chuck steak.
Oliver uses sliced red onions lightly dressed in vinegar and sea salt, bacon, yellow mustard, Tabasco chipotle sauce, cheese, ketchup, pickles or "gherkins," and homemade burger sauce for toppings.
Joanna Gaines tops her "Gaines brother burgers" with drip jam and melted Gruyére cheese.
In her first cookbook, "Magnolia Table," Gaines shares the recipe for her famous burgers using ground beef, beefsteak tomato, homemade bacon-tomato jam, and Gruyére cheese.
To make Alton Brown's "burger of the gods," you'll need ground chuck and sirloin.
Alton Brown's "burger of the gods" patties are made with trimmed and cubed chuck and beef sirloin, plus kosher salt.
In the recipe, the celebrity chef and "Iron Chef" host recommends cooking the 5-ounce patties in a cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat.
Guy Fieri's "straight-up with a pig patty" burger requires many ingredients, including "donkey sauce" and applewood-smoked bacon.
To recreate Guy Fieri's burger, you'll want to read the lengthy list of ingredients.
However, some highlights from this "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"-worthy burger are applewood-smoked bacon, heirloom tomato, Vidalia onion, iceberg lettuce, dill pickles, and two different kinds of sauce.
Giada De Laurentiis' game-day burgers are topped with cheese, tomatoes, and avocado.
To make De Laurentiis' recipe for game-day burgers, you'll need 2 pounds of ground chuck.
The Food Network star elevates these simple burgers with toppings like grilled onions steamed with balsamic vinegar and sugar, mashed avocado, provolone piccante cheese, arugula, and thinly sliced tomato.
Emeril Lagasse is famous for his blue cheese-stuffed burgers.
For Emeril's "kicked-up" blue cheese-stuffed burgers, you'll want to crumble the cheese and form it into small patties. Then, sandwich the cheese between two beef patties before adding it to the grill.
Lagasse's recipe also recommends topping the stuffed burgers with sliced tomatoes, romaine, sliced onions, and his green peppercorn mayonnaise.
Rachael Ray's version of a McDonald's Big Mac calls for homemade special sauce.
Rachael Ray's recipe for "Big Smack" burgers uses her own special sauce, which is made with sour cream or Greek yogurt, ketchup, dill pickle relish, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.
She makes the actual burgers with ground beef sirloin and tops them with the special sauce, yellow American cheese, chopped Vidalia or white onion, dill pickle chips, and chopped iceberg lettuce.