11 Tips From Guy Fieri For Making The Best Burgers

If the burger in and of itself is a quintessential part of American life, Guy Fieri's version is a cutting-edge iteration of the classic. The TV personality has long gained fame for challenging the limits of what we consider "acceptable" in the kitchen: Cue his apple pie hotdog. And, luckily, Fieri's hamburger recipes are no less unique. At his Las Vegas restaurant, Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen, the celebrity chef has offered fun fare, including a bacon mac 'n' cheese burger and a ringer burger that's topped with a massive fried onion ring. He even started his own line of signature sauces, allowing his fans to smother their burgers in BBQ-flavored goodness from the comfort of their own homes.  

Because Fieri's burgers are so iconic, it can feel intimidating to try to replicate them at home. However, as Fieri once put it on his Instagram, "Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you're cooking and not making mistakes, you're not playing outside your safety zone." And, luckily, to prevent you from making tons of mistakes, Fieri has been pretty open about the tricks that he uses to make a mouth-watering burger. From his controversial preference for American cheese to his ideas for vegan burgers that actually taste good, Fieri's burger-making tips are likely to give you truly spectacular results. 

Before you even touch the grill, Guy Fieri suggests prepping your burger ingredients. As the celebrity chef revealed in an interview with Insider, this means slicing your buns, coating them with butter, and lining them up on a tray so they're ready to serve. It also involves cutting up your vegetables so that these healthier items are ready to use as toppings. In his conversation with Insider, Fieri recommended that home cooks shred their lettuce, rather than chop it. He also shared some tips for ensuring that the rest of your toppings will fit over your patties:  "Slice your tomato and cut those white onions so thin that they only have one side." 

While all this preparation may seem like a lot of work, it will actually speed up your overall cooking process. Professional chefs like Fieri often engage in kitchen prep — or "mise en place" — to organize their workspaces in such a way that it's harder for them to waste time searching for a missing ingredient or reaching for the wrong vegetable. By taking a few minutes to follow Guy Fieri's kitchen prep tips, you'll probably end up spending less time in the kitchen. After all, his burger-making method consumes only ten minutes  in total, making your trip to "Flavortown" a fast one. 

Once your burger meat is perfectly seasoned, it's time to throw it on the heat — literally. In his interview with Insider, Guy Fieri revealed that the key to making a delicious burger is cooking it at a high temperature. Because of this, the celebrity chef recommended preparing your patty "on the hottest griddle or cast iron pan you can get." The reason for this tip is that Fieri likes his burgers with a brown crunchy exterior — which he referred to in the interview as "all that delicious caramelization."

Fascinatingly, though, science has another term for this phrase: The Maillard reaction. According to Mosa Meat, the Maillard reaction takes place when amino acids, carbohydrates, and air come into contact and catalyze a chemical reaction. This process is what causes meat to take on that gorgeous dark color as it cooks. However, a high temperature is an essential element to the Maillard reaction; if your griddle hasn't reached somewhere between 140 and 160 degrees, the chemical process won't take place, and your burger won't char. 

To give your burger that nice color that Guy Fieri loves so much, the celebrity chef says to grab one of your seasoned balls of meat. Then, as he told Insider, you can throw it on the heat and subsequently squish it down with a spatula. Stop squishing when your patty reaches the desired thickness — about 1/2 inch. The result should be appealing to the eye.

While Fieri's metal bowl technique is an essential part of making his signature cheeseburger, it's not the only thing you can do to make the perfect melt. In an interview with Insider, Guy Fieri also explained that choosing the right ingredients is key to getting that gooey layer of cheese that people love so much. According to the chef, American cheese "melts really well," or at least better than its alternatives. Because of this, Fieri recommends using American cheese on your burgers. 

Interestingly, there is a method to Fieri's madness. In terms of composition, cheese is a combination of fats and water, which are bound together by proteins. When exposed to slightly warmer temperatures — for example, 90 degrees — the fats in the cheese begin to melt, leaving you with a stretchier result. However, when those temperatures rise higher to, say, 150 degrees, the proteins in the cheese fall apart enough that the dairy product turns into liquid. 

American cheeses are unique, as they are not created in the traditional, European way, but are rather chemically manufactured. They have even more water in them than popular old-school cheeses, like Swiss cheese or Manchego. Plus, their recipe includes plenty of chemical salt, which keeps the proteins from binding too tightly. As a result, American cheeses melt way more quickly and at much lower temperatures than the alternatives, making them the ideal topping for an extra-gooey cheeseburger. 

Just because Guy Fieri makes a mean meat burger doesn't mean that he leaves his veggie burgers on the back burner. On the contrary, the "Mayor of Flavortown" has his own unique technique for making the most delicious veggie burgers. In an interview with Food & Wine, Fieri revealed that he isn't a huge fan of store-bought vegan burgers. "Most veggie patties suck — that's a culinary term," he opined. Instead, Guy Fieri told the outlet that he likes to make his own patties using grains as a base, instead of beans. Fieri even went so far as to specify which grain he believes works particularly well: "Quinoa is my baby — quinoa hot, quinoa cold. So nutty, has a little pop."

If quinoa burners aren't exactly your thing, fear not! Guy Fieri has more vegan-friendly burger suggestions. In an exclusive with the Daily Meal, Fieri divulged another excellent replacement for ground beef: Soy chorizo. When asked what to use in vegetarian sliders, Fieri replied, "That soy chorizo, you've got to give that a shot ... I don't want to call them "meat substitutes" or whatever, but it's one of the best go-to's." Apparently, the reason that Fieri loves this ingredient so much is its quality. As he told us in his interview, "Quality ingredients will always prevail."

Regardless of whether you are making a veggie patty or a traditional ground chuck hamburger, Guy Fieri believes that you should top off your creation with some fixings. As the celebrity chef told Food & Wine, "You don't ask for Metallica with less Lars, it's that acid and tang and pickle." Of course, Fieri has recommended different toppings for different types of patties. When it comes to vegan burgers, Fieri suggests using plenty of charred veggies. He also told Food & Wine to try adding some garlic to the buns: "Cut off the tops of the garlic cloves, steam, then puree them with olive oil, and kiss both sides of the bun with it."

Meanwhile, Fieri says that hamburgers require toppings that add a touch of acidity. In a video that he made for Carnival Cruises (via Ark Travel Group on YouTube), Fieri explained: "We hit it with ... thin-sliced pickles. You need that acid from the pickles and also from the super thin sliced onions." The celebrity chef expressed that other great hamburger toppings included fresh tomato and shredded iceberg lettuce. For a more elaborate result, you could even replicate Fieri's "Ringer Burger" by plopping a fried onion ring on the top.