smash burger

A 'smash burger' is a style of burger where a ball of beef is pressed flat ('smashed') onto a very hot griddle, creating a thin, crispy patty with a deeply browned crust. Originating in American diners in the mid-20th century and popularised globally in the 2010s via Shake Shack and TikTok. If your teen is talking about smash burgers, they are talking about food. Harmless culinary vocabulary.

'Smash burger' is a culinary term for a burger cooked by pressing a ball of ground beef flat onto a hot griddle, producing a thin, deeply browned, crispy-edged patty. The technique has roots in American diners (mid-20th century) and was popularised globally in the 2010s via chains like Shake Shack. Register: informal, food and restaurant. In formal writing the term is recognised. A common learner mistake is to assume any thin burger is a 'smash burger'; the defining feature is the smashing technique on a hot surface.