- I made both Gordon Ramsay's and Guy Fieri's 10-minute burger recipes.
- Fieri's is simpler than Ramsay's recipe, which features way more ingredients and steps.
- I loved both burgers, but Fieri's burger took the top spot in my celebrity-chef showdown.
Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay both have 10-minute burger recipes, so I decided it was time for a little showdown in honor of the holiday weekend.
I discovered Ramsay's bacon cheeseburger recipe in his cookbook "Ramsay in 10," which includes 100 recipes that only take 10 minutes. And it was Fieri himself who gave me his burger recipe when I asked for his top burger tips.
"This may be a more complicated answer than you bargained for, because it's not just about a burger recipe," Fieri told me. "It's about the execution of the whole deal. You can get down with whatever toppings you want, but the basics have to be covered."
I whipped up both Ramsay and Fieri's recipes at home to decide who truly had the best — and quickest — burger. Here's how it all went down.
Fieri's burger is all about the classic ingredients.
To make Fieri's perfect burger at home, you'll need:
- Ground beef (Fieri recommends 80% lean, 20% fat)
- American cheese slices
- Brioche buns
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Onion
- Pickles
And there's very little prep.
All you have to do is get the veggies ready. Fieri told me it's important to shred the lettuce, slice your tomato, and "cut those white onions so thin that they only have one side."
Per Fieri's recommendation, I also buttered the buns and popped them into the oven so they could get nice and toasty.
Then I made my patties.
I seasoned my ground beef with salt and pepper, then shaped it into balls.
Once my patties were ready, I threw one on the griddle and smashed it with a spatula.
Fieri said it was essential that I cook my burgers "on the hottest griddle or cast iron pan you can get."
"You smash it down hard, we're talking a half-inch thick," he added.
The Mayor of Flavortown also told me it was important to let my patty crisp up to "get all that delicious caramelization going." I waited until the sides of my patty got crunchy before I flipped it over.
After flipping my patty, I added the cheese.
Fieri loves using American cheese slices on burgers because "they melt really well," he told me.
Then it was time for Fieri's special cheese-melting trick.
First, I sprayed some water around my burger. Then, per Fieri's instructions, I had to place "some sort of dome or metal bowl" over my patty.
"That steam will melt your cheese before you overcook your burger," he told me.
I didn't have a metal bowl on hand, so I used an old Marie Callender's pie tin I found in my parents' kitchen.
My cheese looked perfect.
Less than 10 minutes had gone by and it was already time to build my burger.
Constructing my burger was super easy.
I placed my patty on the bottom bun, then added the tomato, onion slices, and pickles. I placed the shredded lettuce on the top bun and voilà — I was done!
Fieri's burger tasted just as good as it looked.
What impressed me most about Fieri's burger was how juicy it tasted, even without a single condiment. The patty — which was perfectly cooked — truly stood on its own. It had just the right amount of crispiness and was packed with flavor.
The brioche bun added a nice hint of sweetness to the overall taste, and the beautifully-melted cheese tasted almost buttery. The burger was pure perfection.
Read my full review of Guy Fieri's perfect burger here.
Ramsay's burger has quite a few more ingredients than Fieri's.
To make Ramsay's cheeseburgers at home, you'll need:
- Ground beef
- Brioche buns
- Bacon
- Cheddar cheese
- Egg yolks
- Frozen red chili
- Tomato
- Onion
- Little Gem lettuce
- Mayonnaise
- Sriracha
First I prepped my burgers.
I added 16 ounces of ground beef into a bowl — enough to make four burgers — along with two egg yolks. I then sprinkled salt and freshly ground black pepper on top, along with one grated frozen chili.
I used my hands to mix everything together and made four patties that were each around 1-inch thick.
"Remember that the thicker you make the patties, the longer they will take to cook," Ramsay writes in his book. "So if you want these on the table in under 10, press your burgers until they are a little thinner for a quicker cooking time."
I drizzled some vegetable oil on my griddle and threw my patties on top.
I let my patties cook for four minutes over medium-high heat, seasoning them with some more salt and pepper.
Then I added my bacon and onion slices, increased the heat to high, and let everything cook together.
As my burgers cooked, I prepped Ramsay's special sauce.
I mixed four tablespoons of mayonnaise with two teaspoons of sriracha in a small bowl, along with some salt and pepper.
I also toasted my buns and prepped my veggies.
I sliced one tomato and washed some Gem Lettuce leaves for the bottom of my burgers. I also toasted my buns in the oven for about two minutes.
Then I flipped the burgers, bacon, and onions.
I let them cook for another five minutes. Since my bacon and onion slices were ready before my burgers, I took them off the griddle and placed them on a plate lined with a paper towel.
It was time to add the cheese — and Ramsay uses the same trick as Fieri.
Ramsay also recommends covering the patties with something to help the cheese melt. But, unlike the Mayor of Flavortown, he doesn't spray the burger with water first.
Instead, Ramsay's recipe instructed me to first add some butter to the griddle and place the cheese slices on top of my burgers. Then he recommends covering the patties with a lid or upturned saucepan. I used a metal bowl, which perfectly covered two of my patties.
The cheese looked absolutely beautiful.
This is such an easy trick, and clearly worked really well for both Fieri and Ramsay's burgers. I now consider it an essential part of making a great cheeseburger at home.
Once my patties were ready, I built my burgers.
First I spread some of Ramsay's sriracha mayonnaise on my bottom buns. Then I added the Gem Lettuce, tomato, and onion slices, plus my cheeseburger and bacon.
After I threw a few more onion slices on top and spread more sauce on my top buns, my burger was ready to go.
Ramsay's burger looked straight out of a restaurant.
There's no denying how impressive this burger looks, and it tasted great, too. The patty was plump and juicy, and I loved the kick of heat from the sriracha mayonnaise and grated chili.
The bacon and onion also gave some nice crunch and savoriness, while the tomato and lettuce added a dose of freshness.
Read my full review of Gordon Ramsay's perfect burger here.
Both Fieri and Ramsay have fantastic burgers, but it's the Mayor of Flavortown who takes my top spot.
Fieri pulls off his incredible flavor with far less work and prep than Ramsay's recipe. While you've got to keep track of quite a few different steps to make Ramsay's burger happen in 10 minutes, Fieri's recipe is far simpler — and still delivers fantastic results.
Plus, I couldn't believe Fieri's burger tasted so good without any sauce or condiments. I've found his burger to outshine those I've had from places like Five Guys, and it's comparable to the gourmet burgers I've tried all over New York — for a fraction of the cost.
But at the end of the day, you really can't go wrong with Ramsay or Fieri. Either way, you're going to have one very delicious burger.
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