Basil Pesto Smash Burgers Recipe

A thin, perfectly cooked smash burger with a beautiful crust, a slice of melted cheese, and a toasted bun wants for only one thing to finish it off: a delicious sauce. In this recipe, smash burgers take on an Italian twist, with a basil pesto aioli adding a gourmet touch to a standby favorite.

The heart of this recipe is the smash burger, made using a simple method to quickly and easily produce some of the best burgers you've ever had. Smashed flat on a hot griddle or skillet, the burgers cook in just minutes, creating a gorgeous, caramelized crust and locking in all of the juices. But no burger is complete without sauce.

The basil pesto aioli takes this burger to the next level. You might never want mayonnaise on a burger again after tasting this garlicky, herby, complex sauce. Topped with slices of melty mozzarella, ripe tomato, and a few leaves of crisp lettuce, this is a recipe that might just have you swapping the grill for a griddle all summer long.

For the smash burgers in this recipe, you will need ground beef, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and mozzarella cheese, as well as toasted buns to serve them on and tomatoes and lettuce to top them. But what really makes these burgers unique is basil pesto aioli. For the sauce you will need basil, garlic, walnuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, mayonnaise, and white wine vinegar. Once you have gathered all of these ingredients you are ready to start whipping up a pesto aioli and smashing burgers on the griddle.

Add the basil, garlic, walnuts, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese to a mortar and pestle or food processor and grind or puree until smooth and uniform in texture.

In a bowl, stir together the pesto with the mayonnaise and white wine vinegar. Set aside for now.

Mix the salt, pepper, and garlic powder into the ground beef.

Form the seasoned ground beef into 4 thick patties.

Bring a large skillet or griddle to high heat.

Add the patties to the skillet, being careful to leave room for them to expand when smashed, and cook for 30 seconds to render some fat. You may need to cook the burgers in batches.

Flip the patties and smash them flat with a spatula. Cook like this until nicely browned, around 1 minute.

Flip the burger and top with a slice of mozzarella. Cook for around 1 minute until the cheese is melted and this side is also browned.

Remove the burgers to a plate to rest for around 5 minutes.

Spread a good amount of pesto sauce on each side of the bun and top the burgers with lettuce and sliced tomato. Serve the burgers hot.

We have all eaten plenty of sauces dubbed with the moniker aioli, often with exciting flavors like garlic, chipotle, or truffle, but what is aioli really? The original aioli is very different from the garlic sauce that comes with your french fries at the local gastropub. Traditionally, aioli is a sauce from the Mediterranean that is made with only garlic and olive oil. Pounded garlic and olive oil are whipped together until emulsified, creating a creamy, garlicky sauce. This sauce was first recorded thousands of years ago, but since then the term has come to refer to a much broader array of sauces.

In more modern parlance, aioli is often used to refer to any sort of infused mayonnaise. This leap makes sense given that mayonnaise has a similar texture to aioli and, when infused with garlic, a similar flavor. The big difference between mayonnaise and aioli is that mayonnaise eschews garlic and instead uses egg as its emulsifying agent, creating a sauce that is more stable but less flavorful. Which is exactly why we ended up with so many faux aiolis: Mayonnaise is begging for more flavor.

While they may not be traditional, these mayonnaise-based aiolis are delicious, simple, and certainly here to stay. Whether made with only garlic or with more exotic ingredients like cilantro, jalapeno, or, as in this recipe, basil pesto, they are a perfect sauce to top a burger, dip fries, or finish a tuna salad.

The decision about how to make your pesto — whether to use a traditional mortar and pestle or opt for the ease of a food processor — can be a difficult one. Is it worth it to go through the extra effort involved with using a traditional mortar and pestle, or should you just pop it all in the food processor and be done in a flash? Both are great options, but your choice will alter the final product.

Opting for a food processor or blender is a surefire way to get a smooth pesto on the table quickly. With just the push of a button, you can grind your basil, garlic, walnuts, and all the rest into a smooth paste. It is fast and simple, but some consider using the food processor a pesto mistake.

As for the mortar and pestle, this is the traditional method and is generally considered to yield a superior pesto. This is because the grinding action of the mortar and pestle crushes the basil, releasing more of its aroma, rather than chopping it, as is the case in the food processor. Whichever method you choose, be it the arm workout of the mortar and pestle or the quick and easy button press of the food processor, this recipe is sure to create a delicious sauce for your smash burgers.