The griddle guide
A smashed burger is a crust problem, and the crust is decided in the first thirty seconds. This page covers the three things that decide it: weight, heat and temperature.
| Cut | Safe internal temperature | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Ground beef (any patty, including smashed) | 160°F (71°C) | none |
| Beef steaks, roasts and chops | 145°F (63°C) | 3 minutes |
| Poultry, whole or ground | 165°F (74°C) | none |
Figures published by FoodSafety.gov and read on 2026-08-01. They are the agencies' numbers, not ours.
Weight does the work
A light press has to be pushed, and pushing tears the patty and squeezes out the fat that was going to make the crust. A heavy press is set down flat and left for ten seconds: its own mass spreads the ball into an even disc with full contact against the metal. That is why every press on this site prints its weight in pounds on the card. Cast iron gets there by mass, stainless by gauge, and a wide flat face matters more than either.
Smash press or bacon press
They look alike and do opposite jobs. A smash press is used once, at the start, for ten seconds, on a ball of beef. A bacon press stays on the food for the whole cook to stop it curling. Using a smash press as a weight on a finished patty presses the juice out of it; using a bacon press to smash usually bends it.
The temperature that is not negotiable
Ground beef is safe at 160°F, and a whole-muscle steak at 145°F with a three-minute rest.[1] That difference is the reason a smashed patty is judged by a thermometer rather than by the pink in the middle: grinding moves surface bacteria through the meat, so the whole patty has to reach temperature. A thin smashed patty gets there fast, which is another argument for a hot griddle and a short cook.
Sources
Each of these was read before it was cited, on the date shown on the sources page.
- Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart FoodSafety.gov (USDA, FDA, CDC) The two figures the griddle guide is built on: ground meat is safe at 160°F, while whole-muscle beef steaks, roasts and chops are safe at 145°F with a three-minute rest. That difference is why a smashed patty is cooked by temperature rather than by colour.
Published 2026-08-01. Figures updated 2026-08-21.