Smash burger ratio

The ratios

• Ball weight: 2–3 oz for a single, two 2 oz balls stacked for a double. Smash patties are thin on purpose — a big ball steams instead of crusting.
• Fat blend: 80/20 is the standard, and for smashing it is close to mandatory — the fat rendering onto the flat-top IS the crust. Leaner blends smash dry.
• Bun: a soft potato bun around 4 inches for a single; the beef should overhang slightly after smashing, not sit inside a wall of bread.
• Sauce: roughly a tablespoon per burger — enough to moisten the bun, not enough to slick the plate.

The ten-second window

The smash happens once, within the first ten seconds of the ball hitting the metal — that is when the surface is still loose enough to spread thin and the maillard crust forms on contact. Smashing later squeezes out juice and buys nothing. Press flat with a stiff spatula (a second spatula on top helps), hold two to three seconds, then leave it alone until the scrape-and-flip at about ninety seconds. The full timing lives in grill times.

Scaling the batch

Smash burgers are the most forgiving batch cook — portion by ball count, not total weight. The calculator converts your headcount into pounds of 80/20 and back into ball counts, and burgers per pound covers what the pack sizes yield.