Smash Burger Tacos with Secret Sauce
Smash burger tacos had their viral moment a couple of years ago. Messy and wildly delicious, smash burger tacos are like the crispy, caramelized cheeseburgers at your favorite diner, but folded into blistered tortillas and drenched in a tangy secret sauce. Some call it Big Mac® sauce.
Watch Brittany and I make smash burger tacos on KELOLAND Living here.
What is a smash burger taco?
The concept of a smash burger taco is simple—spread a tortilla with a thin layer of ground meat, fry it to a crisp, flip it to blister the tortilla, melt some cheese, fold it, and top with secret sauce, lettuce and onion. Sesame seeds optional.
Got a big family? Get two frying pans going on your stove top or use a flap top griddle like a Blackstone.
There’s just one of you? No problem! When you bring your ground beef home from the grocery store, just season and portion the raw meat into the serving size you want for each taco. Freeze the meat. Thaw before making a single smash burger taco.
Ingredients and Ideas
Meat: lean ground beef is what I like to use simply because it’s less greasy when I flip the tortillas. But, as long as you wipe out the grease between each smash burger taco, you can use whatever ground meat, or blend of beef, you like. Ground chicken and turkey are good too.
Tortillas: soft flour tortillas work well because they absorb the juices. There are lots of options for soft tortillas so just use what you like best, even low carb. When I make these for Jason and me, I use what we have on hand, which is soft flour tortillas in the soft shell taco size. They are about 8 inches in diameter so I use 1/3 pound of ground beef on each.
Since that might be too large for some people, fajita tortillas are generally smaller, more like 6 inches. Of course you’ll want to adjust the amount of meat you spread on the tortilla to a smaller measurement. For example, you might make four that size so you’ll spread 1/4 pound on each.
Cheese: your options are endless when it comes to cheese. A classic smash burger comes with sliced American cheese, however, you’re going to personalize these to your tastes and what you have on hand. Cheddar, pepper jack, Colby, Gruyere are all excellent choices. Want to jazz it up? Shred a specialty cheese like ranch, garlic, pepperoni, ghost pepper, dill, smoked cheddar, bacon cheddar, or chipotle.
Speaking of cheese! Why not use cheese that you’ve smoked? Here’s how Jason and I do it.
Pickles: I’m a big fan of dill pickles so that’s what I use. You like sweet pickles? Go for it. Another way to make smash burgers better than your neighbor’s is to toss in spicy or garlic pickles.
Secret Sauce: although I’m sharing my recipe for secret sauce, you could use a store bought burger sauce in place of homemade. It lasts longer in the refrigerator so if you’re not making smash burgers for the whole family to eat right away, maybe a bottle of burger sauce is the way to go.
What Else Can I Put Secret Sauce On? Shelf life being said, your homemade secret sauce should be good in the refrigerator for at least 5 days or so. Add it to patty melts, deli meat paninis and melts, taco salad, Big Mac bowls, or drizzle it on cheeseburger or dill pickle pizza.
You may also like my one pan breakfast sandwiches and wraps. Pin the recipe and read about it here.
Watch Brittany and I make them on a KELOLAND Living segment below.
Sweet wishes,
Smash Burger Tacos with Secret Sauce
Equipment
- 1 skillet, at least 9 inches (could make on a flat-top grill)
Ingredients
Secret Sauce
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
- ¼ tsp liquid smoke, optional
- ½ tsp hot sauce, optional
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp pickle brine
- ¼ cup finely diced dill pickles
Smash Burger Tacos
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 3 (8-inch) flour tortillas, soft shells
- your favorite burger seasonings
- cheese
Optional Toppings
- shredded lettuce
- finely diced onion
- pickles
- sesame seeds
Instructions
Secret Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients except the pickles.
- Stir in the pickles. Cover and refrigerate. Let the flavors develop for at least one hour in the refrigerator.
Smash Burger Tacos
- Heat oven to 170℉. (This is to keep the burgers warm while you finish all of them.)
- Season the ground beef with your favorite hamburger seasoning like salt, pepper, onion salt, Lawry's seasoning salt, etc. Spread ⅓ lb of the ground beef onto one side of each of the tortillas. Spread all the way to the edges as the meat will shrink back as it cooks.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place one tortilla meat side down into the skillet. Once the meat is crispy and cooked through, flip the tortilla (you might have to scrape under the meat to lift it from the pan) to blister the other side. Add the cheese to the meat and it will melt. Fold in half. Remove from skillet and place on a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm.
- Continue making the other two burgers and serve with secret sauce and optional toppings. Store leftovers in refrigerator up to 2 days. Reheat in air fryer or convection oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Go back to the recipe by scanning this QR code:
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
