Ready to try the smash burger craze, but don’t want to fork out the big bucks or the space for a Blackstone grill? Try this simple recipe and make smash burger tacos on your regular grill.
I haven’t decided if this is a good habit or not. But when everyone jumps on board a new craze, I tend to hang back and watch. For life that is probably a good discerning quality. However, when it comes to cooking I think I may have missed out on some fun trends, like these yummy smash burger tacos! Cause these delicious smash burger tacos with pico de gallo are so full of flavor, you are going to wish you smashed into these tacos sooner!!
Smash Burger Tacos
For my easy smash burger tacos recipe, I decided to cook them on a regular grill and let the flavors of the grill, pico de gallo and taco seasoning steal the show.
Love Mexican food? Try these Sizzling Oven Fajitas!
There are lots of smash burger taco recipes online that have “burger sauce”. While the burger sauce styled smash burger tacos were good, it just didn’t seem to vibe all things Tex-Mex to me. I also tried cooking them in a cast iron skillet on the stove top as some suggested. This was a disaster. The results were soggy tortilla shells and lackluster taste. We ate them, but only because I didn’t want to waste the beef.
So let’s dive into how to make smash burger tacos on the grill, the way that your family will love!
How to Make Smash Burger Tacos on the Grill
Put a pound of ground beef in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning and 1 tsp of seasoning salt. Mix. Roll seasoned ground beef into 4 balls. Put aside.
On a cutting board cut up the tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, and cilantro for the pico de gallo. To keep the pico de gallo from being too hot, I cut the jalapeno in half and then trim out all the seeds. This will allow your pico de gallo to be flavorful with a bit of a bite without being too hot. Mix. Add salt and squeeze of lime juice. Taste and add more salt if needed. Place in fridge.
Turn on your grill. Allow grill to get hot for several minutes, while you gather your tortilla shells, canola oil spray (like Pam), and shredded cheese. After grill is heated, scrape anything off the grill before spraying a little no stick spray on the grill. Place your seasoned ground beef balls onto the grill. Sprinkle with 1/2 tbls of taco seasoning on top.
Allow the burgers to cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip burgers over and let them cook another 2 minutes. While they are a little over half done cooking, firmly, smash tacos with a flat metal spatula. Be sure not to press too hard or the beef will go through the grill slats. Cook for another minute. If beef is still noticeably pink, then flip back over for another minute.
Place tortilla shell on the smashed burger, placing the hamburger to one side of the tortilla shell. Allow tortilla to cook for a minute. Flip hamburger and tortilla so that the tortilla in under the smashed hamburger. Sprinkle cheese on top of the burger on the tortilla.
After the bottom side of the tortilla is crisp (1-2 minutes), use the metal spatula to flip up the one side of the tortilla into a taco shape. Flip over and smash again so that the tortilla will keep its taco shape with the burger inside the shell.
Pull smashed burger tacos from the grill and place on plates. Serve hot with sour cream and pico de gallo!
Tips for Making Smashed Burger Tacos
Here are a couple tips to making smashed burger tacos on your regular grill.
Use Lean Beef
To prevent your burgers from overly burning when you smash them on the grill, use 90 % lean beef or 80% lean.
Spray the Tortilla Shells
Want nice grill marks with a bit of browning? When you place your tortilla on top of your burger, spray with a little canola spray. This will help your tortilla crisp and brown nicely!
Smash Burgers When Over Half Done
Smash your burgers on the grill when they are over half done. You want the burgers to be pliable enough to still smash, but you don’t want them so underdone that they smash right through the grates. Cook a little longer. Then place the tortilla shell on them.
What to Serve with Smash Burger Tacos
You can keep it simple and just serve some chips with your smash burger tacos and pico de gallo. Or you can add all the fixings such as sour cream, avocado, cilantro, and rice!
Make sure to PIN the recipe for later!
Easy Smash Burger Tacos
Equipment
- 1 propane grill
- 1 flat metal spatula
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1/2 -1 tsp seasoning salt can use regular salt
- 4-5 soft tortilla shells (soft taco size)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Pico De Gallo
- 5 roma tomatoes or small tomatoes
- 1/2 medium onion chopped finely
- 1 whole jalapeno chopped finely I remove the seeds
- 1/4 cup cilantro washed and chopped
- lime juice
- 1 tsp salt add more to taste if needed
Instructions
- Put a pound of ground beef in a mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning and 1/2 tsp of seasoning salt. Mix.
- Roll seasoned ground beef into 4 balls. Put aside.
- Next prepate the Pico De Gallo. On a cutting board cut up the tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, and cilantro for the pico de gallo. To keep the pico de gallo from being too hot, I cut the jalapeno in half and then trim out all the seeds.
- Mix pico de gallo. Add salt and squeeze of lime juice. Taste and add more salt if needed. Place in fridge.
- Turn on your grill. Allow grill to get hot for several minutes, while you gather your tortilla shells, canola oil spray (like Pam), and shredded cheese.
- After grill is heated, scrape anything off the grill before spraying a little no stick spray on the grill. Place your seasoned ground beef balls onto the grill. Sprinkle with 1/2 tbls of taco seasoning on top.
- Allow the burgers to cook for 3-4 minutes. Flip burgers over and let them cook another 2 minutes. While they are a little over half done cooking, firmly, smash burger tacos with a flat metal spatula. Be sure not to press too hard or the beef will go through the grill slats. .
- Cook for another minute. If beef is still noticeably pink, then flip back over for another minute.
- Place tortilla shell on the smashed burger, placing the hamburger to one side of the tortilla shell. Allow tortilla to cook for a minute.
- Flip hamburger and tortilla so that the tortilla in under the smashed hamburger. Sprinkle cheese on top of the burger on the tortilla.
- After the bottom side of the tortilla is crisp (1-2 minutes), use the metal spatula to flip up the one side of the tortilla into a taco shape. Flip over and smash again so that the tortilla will keep its taco shape with the burger inside the shell.
- Pull smashed burger tacos from the grill and place on plates. Serve hot with sour cream and pico de gallo!
