5 Chain Restaurants With Burgers Cooked Fresh to Order
I don’t eat a burger often, but when I do, I only want the best. This means it needs to be made from high-quality ground beef, perfectly seasoned, cooked fresh to order, and loaded with the best toppings and condiments. Unfortunately, not all burger joints or restaurants cook patties to order. Many of them simply heat up pre-cooked or even frozen burger patties to cut costs and save time. If you want a fresh burger cooked specifically for you, there are options. Here are 5 chain restaurants that cook burgers fresh to order.
Smashburger
Smashburger prides itself on its high-quality beef, cooked to order with a high-heat smash technique on the grill to lock in flavor and deliver crispy edges. Each “gourmet” patty is “expertly crafted with Certified Angus Beef,” the brand maintains on its website. “We take great pride in using only the finest beef for our burgers, which is sourced from family-owned farms and ranches throughout the United States, such as Walter Angus located near our Colorado headquarters.”
The Habit Burger
The Habit Burger & Grill is a SoCal-founded chain specializing in chargrilled burgers, cooked over an open flame, fresh to order. It “has built a loyal fanbase with its smoky, flavorful patties, chargrilled to perfection over an open flame, and a commitment to fresh ingredients,” says Yelp, ranking the smaller chain second out of all burger chains in the country.
Shake Shack
At Shake Shack, gourmet burgers, free of hormones and antibiotics, are grilled with care the second you place your order. “Our proprietary Shack blend is freshly ground and served on a non-GMO potato bun,” it says on the website, regularly using the term “made-to-order” in product descriptions. The chain “hands down” serves the best burgers, one Redditor maintains. “There’s something in the crack that they use to coat the Pattie’s and give them that crust. Mmmmmmmm.” Another adds, the Shake Shack burger is “more elevated than McDonald’s or Burger King.”
In-N-Out Burger
There are many reasons why In-N-Out is one of the most highly hyped fast-food chains in America. One is that patties are grilled fresh to order, giving them a smoky, juicy flavor that fans line up for. “Freshness You Can Taste,” is the chain’s slogan and is taken seriously. They “always serve only fresh – never frozen – high quality products,” the brand shared in a recent social media post. “In fact, we don’t even own a microwave or a freezer. We have always made our hamburger patties ourselves starting with fresh, high quality front-quarter beef chucks – no additives, fillers, or preservatives.”
Whataburger
Whataburger cooks patties to order on a flat-top grill. One employee revealed that “we get them raw and frozen, pop them on the grill, season them, and cook them,” they revealed on Reddit. “We use a skillet type of grill. The meat is placed on the grill, scored, seasoned, and then left to cook,” another added.