Smoked Burger Recipe

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This Hamburger recipe for Smoked Burgers is the best I ever had.  The juicy texture and smoky taste just made me feel at home.

There are a million hamburger recipes all over the internet but I tell you what, whenever warmer weather hits I think grilling and my Smoked Burger recipe.   Every week, sometimes more than once, I find myself pressing out ground beef patties and slipping them inside my electric smoker out on the deck. I tried smoking burgers a few months back and discovered that they were the best I’d ever had – and so I became immediately hooked. 

Not An Expensive Recipe

The thing I love most about these is that you don’t have to use expensive ground meats for them to taste like you did. The process of slow heat and smoke helps to create a tender and juicy burger with just about any old run of the mill ground beef. Seasoning is simple and cooking is as easy as placing them in the rack and going back inside to wait it out in air conditioned comfort.

What Should I Put On My Burger?

Today I thought I’d share with you my perfect smoked burger. In addition to smoking the patties, I also add in slices of onion and let them cook low and slow in my smoker. Once finished, I top it off with provolone cheese, a little bit of mustard, and a new product I’ve discovered this summer: Vlasic Farmer’s Garden Pickles. Although, I should say Farmer’s Garden Veggies because there is more than just pickles in that jar!

Don’t Have A Smoker? 

*If you don’t have a smoker, my best recommendation for juicy burgers is to cook them using this method.

How To Make A Delicious Smoked Burger

Ingredients For Making A Delicious Smoked Burger

Recipe Ingredients:

  • Ground chuck
  • shaped into hamburger patties*
  • Provolone cheese
  • Large onion
  • beef bouillon cube
  • pat of butter
  • Season All
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Vlasic Farmer’s Garden pickles*.

Special Burger Making Technique

*I usually make my patties into doughnut shapes, leaving a hole in the middle that helps them to get cooked evenly and closes up once they are done. That isn’t needed with smoking because they cook so slow and low anyway. Smoked hamburgers are a favorite, and I think you will enjoy this technique.

What Kind of Pickles Should I Use?

*There are five different varieties of these pickles: Zesty Garlic Chips, Bread & Butter Chips, Kosher Dill Spears, Kosher Dill Halves and Dill Chips.  I’m using the Zesty Garlic but you can use your favorite.

uncooked burger patties seasoned with salt

To prepare the burgers, I just sprinkle them liberally with seasoned salt.

What is Season All?

Season All is a wonderful flavor enhancer for just about anything and contrary to popular misconception, it does not contain MSG (just heading that one off at the pass because I’ve been around the block enough to know it was coming!). Now there may be brands that do have it but the ones I use don’t. 

How to Make Smoked Burgers

smoked burger ingredients sliced, and placed on foil

To prepare your onion, cut it into wedges, add a pat of butter, and a beef bouillon cube, and place it in foil.

ingredients wrapped in aluminum foil

Like this.

That bouillon gives it an extra oomph of flavor. My mother says it makes it taste kind of like French onion soup. I say it makes it taste like a really good onion. 🙂

burger patties and foil wrapped ingredients placed in
smoker

Now put everything in your smoker.

I preheat my smoker to 225 to 250 and cook my burgers until the internal temperature reaches 155-160. You can take them out at 150 but I like to cook them a little longer just to make sure it doesn’t “Moo” at me when I go to take a bite. You can do this on a smoker on pellet grill.

My Masterbuilt smoker has a temperature sensor that sticks into one of the piece of meat and then there is a little button I can press on the outside of the smoker to tell me what the temperature is at any given time during cooking. This makes it easy to know when my burgers are done. There is even a remote that you can just keep with you and check on the temperature from inside the house but y’all know I lost that a long time ago :). Organization is not one of my spiritual gifts. They generally take around an hour but it is important to cook until they get to the desired temperature rather than go by a timer.

soaked hickory chips

These are my soaked hickory chips. You can buy a bag of them at the grocery store and one bag usually lasts me approximately ten forevers 🙂 I load them up in my little thingiemabobber here on the right.

wheeled smoker

And then I insert the Thingiemabobber into the Whosiewhatsit and turn it upside down to unload the wood chips. I like to add more chips about half an hour later but you certainly don’t have to. Whenever I am smoking chicken, which takes around two hours or so the way I do it, I add wood chips two or three times.

This smoker has wheels on the back of it so I just wheel it outside when I need to use it and wheel it back into the house or garage when I’m done.

four smoked burgers on a plate

These are our super juicy burgers once they are done smoking. They are literally bursting with juice and delicious smoked meat flavor.

Christy's smoked burger with chips and pickles

And here is our burger, all loaded up and ready to devour! Serve up on a toasted bun with all your favorite fixings.

Recipe FAQs

How long does it take to cook hamburgers on a smoker?

It can take around 60-90 minutes to smoke a hamburger on a smoker. It all depends on how the internal temperature is of your burgers.

What temperature should you smoke a burger?

You will pull them off when they are 155-160 degrees internally. Reach for a meat thermometer and measure the temperature by poking in the largest portion of the hamburgers. That way you get an accurate reading on the temperature.

Do you flip burgers when you smoke them on the smoker?

The only time you will flip the burgers is when you sear them. Other than tat you do not have to flip your hamburgers as they smoke on the grill or smoker.

Smoked Burgers

Slow heat & smoke helps to create a tender and juicy burger with simple seasonings. Cooking is as easy as placing them on the rack and waiting.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: burger
Servings: 4
Calories: 664kcal

Ingredients

  • 4 Hamburger Patties hand shaped, using your preferred ground beef
  • 4 slices Provolone Cheese
  • Season All
  • Large Onion with a beef bullion cube and a pat of butter
  • Vlasic Farmers Garden Pickle Chips

Instructions

  • Preheat electric smoker to 250 (if you don’t have a smoker, prepare the burgers using this method). Liberally sprinkle each side of the patties with Season All.
  • Slice onion into wedges and place in center of foil square along with bullion cube and butter. Seal well in foil.
  • Place patties and onion inside smoker. Cook to an internal temperature of at least 150, I prefer 155-160.
  • To serve, top with cooked onion, provolone cheese, mustard, and Pickle Chips.

Nutrition

Calories: 664kcal
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

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62 Comments

  1. My hobby got me a smoker for my 50th and for the party on Saturday, he wanted to smoke burgers, but neither of us had a clue if that was a possibility; thanks for this super informative post!! Can’t wait to try it!!

  2. Try Campbell’s beefy mushroom as a topping. Closest to homemade mushroom and Swiss. The provolone also picks up some smoky flavor. I apply the provolone when it hits about 155°. It’s a weekly thing also. I smoke on a GMG Daniel Boone WIFI pellet grill.

  3. This sounds wonderful. We just got a smoker for Christmas. Just one little comment….. That bullion cube is full of MSG.

  4. I have a Masterbuilt 40″ smoker. I’ve smoked plenty of pork butts, ribs, and turkeys but I’ve never tried burgers. I’ll have to give this a shot!

  5. These look awesome…can’t wait to try them. I love those old fashioned pickles too. Yum!!! Thanks for sharing………….I really enjoy your postings. Again, thank you for sharing.

  6. love my smoker!! Will have to try burgers on it. My favorite so far is dry rubbed wings but I make my own rub so I don’t have any weird additives. Also a smoked spiral ham is wonderful. Just cook it low & slow to add lots of good smoky flavor.

    His to you keep your smoker so shiny clean? My Son-in-law told us to let the smoke, etc. build up to help season it but it looks pretty bad.

  7. Thank you for the nice post. I was wondering how long it takes to cook the burgers? I understand that we are trying to reach an internal temp of 150, but does it takes hours or is something that can be done in a reasonable amount of time.

    Thank You!

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