The Western Smash Burger

May 07, 2025 • Tom Jackson

The Western Smash Burger recipe brings steakhouse attitude to backyard cooking, pairing double‑seared patties with smoky bacon, pepper‑jack melt, and crispy beer‑battered onion strings. Crafted on the Yoder Smokers YS640s pellet grill, it showcases how high, even heat creates an irresistible crust while keeping the beef juicy. Southwest accents—Cattleman’s Grill Road House Seasoning, pickled jalapeños, and Big Rick’s Chipotle Bar‑B‑Q Sauce—layer big flavor without extra fuss. From mixing high‑temp cheese into the grind to steaming the buns for pillowy softness, every step is designed for speed and taste, making this a crowd‑pleasing burger you can tackle any night of the week. Bookmark this recipe if you’re searching for “smash burger on a pellet grill,” “beer‑battered onion straw burger,” or “Western bacon cheese burger” inspiration.

What You'll Love

LEM High Temp Pepper Cheese goes into the grind, not on top of it. Mixing the pepper jack cheese directly into the beef before forming the balls means it melts from inside the patty as it cooks — you get cheese in every bite rather than a slice that slides off the edge. At 475°F on the griddle, it also helps the exterior develop a crispier, lacier crust as the cheese renders into the sear.
The smash technique does the work that seasoning alone can't. Pressing the beef ball flat against a screaming-hot griddle with parchment paper and a grill press maximizes surface contact, creating a wide, caramelized crust in two to three minutes that a thicker patty would need five or six times longer to achieve — and still wouldn't match. That crust is what makes a smash burger a smash burger.
Beer-battered onion strings replace a bun's worth of filler with actual flavor. The batter — flour, Cattleman's Grill Butcher House Brine, baking powder, and beer — fries to a thin, shatteringly crisp shell around the onions at 400°F in the cast iron skillet sitting right inside the same grill. They're hot, crunchy, and savory, and they add a textural contrast that no raw or grilled onion can replicate on a smash burger stack.
Big Rick's Chipotle Bar-B-Q Sauce is the right finish for this build. The chipotle heat and smoky sweetness of the sauce connects the Cattleman's Grill Road House seasoning on the patty to the pickled jalapeños underneath — all three are working in the same smoky, spicy register. It's drizzled on at the end so it doesn't steam off during the cook, which keeps the flavor concentrated and the bun from getting soggy.

The Western Smash Burger

Tom Jackson

Rated 5.0 stars by 3 users

Cuisine

American

Servings

8

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Calories

453

Fire up the Yoder Smokers YS640s and smash your way to burger bliss with double patties, beer‑battered onion strings, jalapeños, and smoky chipotle barbecue sauce. This quick, flavor‑packed Western Smash Burger turns pantry staples into a towering restaurant‑style meal at home.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Beer batter Onions:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine
1/8 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup beer
1 cup yellow onions, sliced thin
Neutral flavored oil (vegetable, canola, peanut, avocado, etc.), for frying

Burgers:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup (150g) LEM Backwoods High Temp Pepper Cheese
Cattleman’s Grill Road House Seasoning
4 slices pepper jack cheese
4 slices bacon
2 burger buns
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp cup pickled jalapeños
1/4 cup Big Rick’s Chipotle Bar-B-Q Sauce

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Directions

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640s Pellet Grill to 475ºF with the Yoder Smokers Griddle installed over the fire box and a Lodge 10” Cast Iron Skillet inside, filled with 3/4” neutral flavored frying oil.
Combine the high heat cheese with the beef and mix well by hand. Divide into four equal portions and form into balls.
Slice the onion thin.
To make the beer batter, combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk.
Place the onions in the batter and toss to coat.
The oil should be around 400ºF or just above. Drop the battered onions in the oil, spreading evenly. Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack over a pan or on paper towels to drain excess oil.
While the onions are frying, cook the bacon on a wire rack over a sheet pan on the opposite side of the grill until rendered and browned, about 15 minutes, then remove.
Reduce the grill temperature to 425ºF.
Place the beef balls on the griddle. Place a piece of parchment paper over each individual portion and smash them with a grill press until thin. Season the tops with Cattleman’s Grill Road House Seasoning. When well seared (only about 2-3 minutes) flip and top each patty with pepper jack cheese. Sear the opposite side, then remove.
While the burgers cook, steam your buns inside a sealed foil pan, wrapped in damp paper towels for a few minutes, until softened.
To build the burgers, spread the bottom bun with mayonnaise, then top with pickled jalapeños. Place two of the smash burger patties on top. Place the fried onions on the patties, then drizzle barbecue sauce on top and finish with the top bun.

Recipe Note

Why mix the cheese into the beef instead of melting it on top?

LEM Backwoods High Temp Pepper Cheese is formulated to hold its shape at high cooking temperatures rather than fully melting away. Folding it into the ground beef before forming the balls means the cheese stays distributed through the patty as it cooks — you get pockets of melted pepper cheese in every bite rather than a slice that pools at the edges or slides off. It also contributes to a crispier, more textured crust when the patty hits the hot griddle.

What's the right way to smash the patties?

Place the beef ball on the griddle, lay a small square of parchment paper over it, then press straight down firmly with a grill press or the bottom of a heavy skillet. Press hard and hold for a few seconds — you want the patty as thin and flat as possible to maximize the contact surface with the griddle. Don't lift the press and re-smash; one hard press while the beef is still cold is more effective than repeated taps after the crust has started to form.

Can I fry the onion strings inside the grill at the same time as the burgers?

Yes — that's exactly how this recipe is set up. The cast iron skillet filled with frying oil sits on the griddle over the fire box while the grill preheats to 475°F, getting the oil up to around 400°F. The onion strings go in first and fry for about 10 minutes while the bacon cooks on the opposite side of the grill. By the time the onions are done and draining, you drop the grill temp to 425°F and go straight into the burger smash. Everything runs in sequence without ever leaving the grill.

How do I keep the buns from getting soggy under all those toppings?

Two things help. First, steaming the buns in a sealed foil pan wrapped in damp paper towels makes them soft and pliable without adding moisture that soaks through. Second, the build order matters — mayonnaise goes on the bottom bun first, then jalapeños, then the patties, then onion strings, then sauce on top. Keeping the sauce at the top of the stack and the mayo as a barrier on the bottom prevents the bun from sitting directly in liquid during the few minutes between building and eating.

Can I make this indoors?

Indoor cooking rating: 4 out of 5 — Great in the kitchen, but better on the grill. A cast iron skillet or griddle on a high-heat stovetop burner replicates the smash technique very well — you lose the pellet grill's ambient smoke character but the sear, the cheese melt, and the beer-battered onion strings all work identically indoors. The main trade-off is that the stovetop can't run the frying skillet and the griddle simultaneously the way the YS640s can, so you'll need to work in stages.

Recipe Highlights

Two Patties, Not One: Each burger is built with two smash patties stacked on top of each other, which means two full layers of seared crust, two applications of Road House seasoning, and two slices of pepper jack melted over the top. A single thick patty cooked to the same internal temperature would have a fraction of the crust surface — the double-smash is what makes the texture of this burger what it is.
Temperature Sequencing Matters: The grill runs at 475°F to get the frying oil hot enough and cook the bacon, then drops to 425°F for the burger smash. That 50-degree drop is deliberate — the griddle is still extremely hot for a hard sear but slightly less likely to char the seasoning on the patty before the interior sets. Don't skip the temperature reduction before you start smashing.
The Parchment Paper Is Doing Real Work: Pressing through parchment rather than directly onto the beef keeps the patty from tearing when you lift the press and prevents the seasoning from sticking to the press surface. It also lets you press with full force without the meat buckling or folding at the edges. Use a fresh square for each patty.
Build Order Is the Final Step: Mayo on the bottom bun, then jalapeños, then two patties with cheese, then onion strings, then a drizzle of Big Rick's Chipotle Bar-B-Q Sauce, then the top bun. That sequence keeps the sauce away from the bottom bun, the crunch of the onion strings away from the hot patties until the last second, and puts the heat from the meat directly against the cheese so it stays melted through the build.