6 Frozen Smash Burgers, Ranked Worst To Best

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There are so many reasons to add frozen smashed burgers to your grocery cart. Normally, you can make smash burgers from scratch by smashing a loosely formed ball of ground beef down on a hot grill. But getting them to come out just right means practicing technique and experimenting with different grades of beef and a range of lean-to-fat ratios. 

Frozen smashed burgers, on the other hand, give consistent results every time. They have a shorter cook time than regular burgers. Compared to regular burgers, which have a mild flavor and chewier texture, smash burgers are thin, easier to stack, and develop a crispier crust and lacier surface when cooked. Frozen burgers are also better for large gatherings. You can cook the frozen patties much more efficiently because they're all the same size and thickness. Any extra patties can go straight back in the freezer, so you waste less food.

Of course, there are several brands of frozen smashed burgers, and it's hard to know which to buy. So, I wanted to try and rank them to see which one was the best. While they all were yummy and tasted similar because they're made with the same single ingredient, beef, I based the ranking on the texture, thickness, and juiciness of the patties.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

Member's Mark Smashed Burgers from Sam's Club got the lowest ranking. They were too thick and dry, which made them more like traditional burgers than smashed ones. They also took the longest to cook — around nine minutes.

These patties have a unique look. They appear to have been cut out with a splat-shaped cutter. Each one is just under ½-inch thick and has a diameter of around 5½ inches. The ground beef seems tightly packed together. This burger had about 20% fat. This is good news, considering that the best ground beef for burgers has an 80/20 lean-to-fat ratio. The burgers got a crispy crust on the top and bottom, but they were so thick that the edges didn't crisp.

A 12-pack of Member's Mark burgers costs around $17.50. That's around $1.50 per burger. Interestingly, even though this package contained more patties than the others (most of which had eight burgers), it didn't make it cheaper per unit. 

The Cattlemen's Ranch Smashed Burger patties, which I got at Aldi, got a low ranking for a couple of reasons. First, they grilled well, but were problematic to cook in a fry pan. They had the same long, nine-minute cook time as Member's Mark. They were juicier, though, which earned them a higher ranking.

Cattlemen's Ranch Smashed Burgers have a distinctive look. They are ¼-inch thick and have a diameter of about 5½ inches with irregular edges. The raw patties were the reddest of all the burgers and had a smooth outer texture. That texture made no difference when I grilled one and saw that a delicious crust formed on my burger. However, when I cooked it in a frying pan on the stove, I found that the smooth surface made it harder to cook. Hot air got trapped under the patty, causing it to dome and not get crispy. When I tried a bite, I thought the texture tended towards rubbery and chewy, which may have been because of how it popped up in the middle while it cooked.

Each box of Cattlemen's Ranch burgers has eight patties and costs about $10 — that's $1.25 each. That's the cheapest cost per burger of any brand I tried. I would feel confident buying these for my next massive barbecue party. It also might be worth trying Aldi's other burgers; its Black Angus frozen burgers have gotten high praise, even ranking as the best frozen beef burger that one of our tasters tried.

Great Value's Smashed Burgers had obvious strengths and weaknesses, putting them in a middle spot in this ranking. On the one hand, they were one of the juiciest burgers I tried. On the other, they were the fattiest, with a lean-to-fat ratio of 75/25, which meant they shrank significantly when they cooked. They didn't get crispy edges or develop a crust easily, and they were rubbery. However, they were superior to the Cattleman's Ranch burgers because they browned better in a frying pan.

These frozen patties are thin and wide. Their diameter is around 5¼ inches and they are ⅜ inches thick. They have obvious score marks across their surface. Those score marks helped them lie flat in the frying pan because they let steam and hot air escape. Although these patties touched the surface completely, they still didn't form as much of a crust as higher-ranked products, nor did they get crispy edges in the seven minutes it took to cook them.

Walmart sells its eight-pack of store-brand smashed burgers for around $12, putting each unit at approximately $1.50. That's a fair price for a fair burger.

Holten's Chop House Smashed Burgers fell in the middle of this ranking because their good characteristics outweigh the bad. They have a loose, flaky texture that makes them easy to bite into and chew. On the negative side, much like Great Value smash burger, this patty shrank noticeably when cooked. Ultimately, this burger ranked higher than Great Value because it was crispier.

The uncooked patties were pale in color and had deep score marks. Their texture contributes to their flakiness and gives them optimal contact with the frying pan. At 6 inches wide, they have the largest diameter of all the burgers I reviewed. They were ⅜ inches thick, had a lean-to-fat ratio of around 78/22, and I could see that the meat was loosely packed, which may be why the patties shrank so dramatically. 

An eight-patty package of Holten's Chop House Smashed Burgers costs around $13. That puts each burger at around $1.60, which is a fair price for a more than acceptable product.

Meijer's Smashed Beef Patties are almost at the top of this list because they have many positive qualities. They get wonderfully crispy, are comparatively small, and are easy to stack on a bun. They are better than the Holten's Chop House burgers because they get crispier edges and cook in under five minutes. The only reason this brand came in second instead of first is that these patties dry out quickly if you don't watch them carefully while grilling.

This smash burger, which has a 80/20 lean-to-fat-ratio, is distinct from the others in terms of its size and shape. It weighs only 2 ounces while all of the other patties were 4 ounces. Its shape is perfectly round, 5 inches in diameter, and is less than ¼-inch thick — which is about half as thick as most of the other burgers. The smaller size of these patties makes them an ideal buy for a gathering where there will be lots of kids. And, since they are extremely thin and wide, it's easy to stack them and fit your mouth around the burger.

There are 16 patties in the $12 box. That means each patty costs around $0.75, but keep in mind that they are just half the size of the others. That means that, by weight, they cost about the same amount as Great Value or Member's Mark.

The Smashed Original Bubba Burgers got first place in this ranking because of their high quality. These are the only patties made from graded beef — USDA Choice chuck. That means the ground beef came from a decently marbled chuck roast. Often, processed products, like beef patties, use ungraded ground beef, which is made from older cows. The difference in the quality of the beef comes through in the taste. This burger's flavor stood apart, while all the others blended together. This burger had a nutty, caramelized outer layer and savory, juicy, beefy center. The flavor was mouthwatering, and this popular burger brand was easy to cook.

These frozen patties, which have a lean-to-fat ratio of 79/21, are large and thin. They have a diameter of about 6 inches and are just over ¼-inch thick. Only Meijer and Cattlemen's Ranch are thinner. The meat is less densely packed than some other patties, so this patty does shrink. The scoring on the surface helps the burger brown well on the grill and in a frying pan in under seven minutes. 

A box of eight burgers costs around $16 at Target, making them around $2 a burger. That's more than any of the other burgers reviewed here, but the quality of the beef in these makes them a worthwhile splurge.

Ranking these smashed burgers was challenging. They all had the same single ingredient, beef, meaning their flavor was fairly consistent across the board. So I based my ranking on texture more than flavor. I considered the size of the burger by measuring the diameter and thickness with a ruler. I also paid close attention to the fat content in each burger. Burgers with lean-to-fat ratios of 80/20 formed a crispy crust and stayed juicy, but they didn't shrink as much as the ones with ratios closer to 75/25. I cooked the burgers in a frying pan as well as on a gas grill, noting how long they took to cook. Smashed burgers cook fast as a whole, but some patties cooked much faster than others.

During the taste test, I noted the crust on each patty and its juiciness. Some burgers had more tender textures, while others were drier, tougher, and chewier. Burgers with loosely packed meat were superior, as they were more lacy and flaky. Burgers that easily formed crispy outer crusts got higher rankings than the ones that did not, as did burgers that were too dry or thick.