30 Celebrity Chefs' Favorite Burger Recipes

It's hard to find someone who doesn't love a good burger — even among vegetarians who opt for the meatless kind — and celebrity chefs are no exception. Even if they often cook fancy, multi-step dishes on television, chances are they like to eat a great burger just like we do. Sometimes, their recipes or hamburger toppings can get a little complicated, but other times chefs prefer a simple, quick recipe for classic American burgers. No matter who your favorite celeb chef is, from Alton Brown to Ina Garten, they have a delicious burger recipe waiting to try. 

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Anthony Bourdain liked to keep it simple in his own kitchen. His favorite burger recipe is a classic: simply seasoned beef patties, smoked bacon, American cheese, sesame seed buns, Russian dressing, lettuce, tomato, and onion. But in this recipe he relayed an important tip: Don't press down on the burgers while they're cooking!

Recipe: Best Company

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Bobby Flay boosts his hamburger recipe with a complex, mildly spicy barbecue sauce made with garlic, ginger, tomato puree, mustard, molasses, ancho and chipotle chiles, and peanut butter for a nutty note. The burger patties are glazed with the sauce on the grill and get topped with cheddar and scallions for a mild onion flavor.

Recipe: Food & Wine

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This recipe from Rachael Ray includes a savory homemade olive tapenade and Italian flavors. A mix of beef, pork, garlic, fennel seeds, and Worcestershire is grilled before getting topped with cheese, fresh basil leaves, and tapenade made with black olives, capers and anchovies.

Recipe: Food Network

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Guy Fieri's burger recipe is complicated and time consuming, but totally worth it in the end. Garlic is roasted and bacon is cooked until it's almost falling apart. Then, the bacon is cooked under a brick into a crispy "pig patty." The roasted garlic goes into Fieri's signature donkey sauce, and the whole thing is put together with melted cheese and toppings.

Recipe: Food Network

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Even Julia Child had a favorite burger recipe. Hers includes chopping the ground beef with a knife, along with sautéed shallots for flavor. The beef is formed into thin patties that cook in just a minute or two in a pan.

Recipe: Food Network

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The burger served at Gordon Ramsay's Bread Street Kitchen in London combines ground short rib, chuck, and brisket into a flavorful patty with just the right amount of fat. Ask your butcher to grind these cuts specially for you.

Recipe: Gordon Ramsay Restaurants

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Turkey burgers aren't the only beef-alternative meat around. Chicken makes a great burger too, as Martha Stewart shows us in this southwestern-inspired recipe. Canned diced green chiles, cumin, and cilantro season the patties, and thick tomato slices are grilled for a unique topper.

Recipe: Martha Stewart

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Jamie Oliver brushes ground chuck patties with mustard and Tabasco sauce while they're cooking for extra flavor. The patties get placed on top of a homemade creamy burger sauce that's mixed with shredded iceberg lettuce like a slaw. Pickled red onions lend extra tanginess.

Recipe: Jamie Oliver

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Leave it to Giada de Laurentiis to give a hamburger an Italian twist. She adds flavorings reminiscent of pizza into ground beef: sun-dried tomatoes, cheeses, garlic, basil and tomato paste. Grill them up and top with more cheese and some marinara sauce for a gourmet pizza burger.

Recipe: Food Network

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Jacques Pepin is European, so it's no surprise his favorite burger recipe includes French comte cheese and Italian ciabatta rolls. Getting a beef brisket ground by a butcher ensures freshness and flavor.

Recipe: The Spruce

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In proper Emeril fashion, these burgers are packed with flavor by marinating cubed beef chuck with bacon, onions, thyme, garlic, and Worcestershire before grinding it all together. The cheeseburgers are grilled and topped with two slices of cheddar, because one just isn't enough for these big patties.

Recipe: Emeril's

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The Pioneer Woman gets a little fancy with her favorite burger. She caramelizes onions with brown sugar, makes a spicy mayo, grills kaiser rolls, and tops it off with crumbled blue cheese and baby greens.

Recipe: The Pioneer Woman

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Wolfgang Puck made these slider-sized burgers for an Oscar after-party. The ground chuck mini patties have classic toppings of cheddar, tomatoes, pickles, and thousand island dressing. Brioche buns add a hint of sweetness.

Recipe: Delish

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Vegetarians love burgers too, and Sandra Lee has a simple recipe for them. Garbanzo beans, walnuts, bread crumbs, seasonings, and eggs combine to make these veggie burgers, which then are served with honey mustard and avocado slices.

Recipe: Food Network

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Ina Garten's hamburger is super simple, but there are a few key additions most recipes don't use. Into her ground beef, Garten adds steak sauce and egg yolks for flavor and richness. There's also a little pat of butter hidden in each one that melts as the burger cooks to prevent drying out.

Recipe: Food Network

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Tyler Florence's big half-pound short rib and chuck burgers get a boost from homemade buns and a sauce he calls "burger goop." Ketchup, mayo, mustard, chives, pickles, and capers sounds much tastier than any goop I've ever had.

Recipe: Food Network

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For Curtis Stone, nothing is better on a burger than onion marmalade and blue cheese. Red onions are cooked down with sugar, red wine, and vinegar for a tangy topping, and Maytag blue cheese is melted over the patties on the grill. A quick mustardy aioli brings bright flavors.

Recipe: Curtis Stone

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AB is known for making everything from scratch and being exact and scientific about it, so it's no surprise his burger calls for grinding your own meat. He uses a mixture of beef and lamb, grills it over charcoal, and tops it simply, with grated cheddar and mayonnaise.

Recipe: Food Network

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Based on a famous style of burgers in Oklahoma, Zimmern's griddled onion burgers are for people who love the flavor of deeply caramelized onions. Thinly sliced onions are cooked in a skillet before the burger patty is smashed on top of them, embedding the onions in the beef. When you flip it, the dark brown onions become the top of the burger.

Recipe: Andrew Zimmern

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Cat Cora is going all out. This burger uses a truffle and herb aioli, goat cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions, a fried onion ring, and arugula to make a towering sandwich. She even includes a recipe for baked sweet potato fries as the ideal accompaniment.

Recipe: Hallmark Channel

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Rick Bayless sticks to his Mexican-inspired cuisine with his queso fundido burger, roasting poblano peppers and mixing them with onion for rajas that goes atop a chorizo and beef patty. There's plenty of gooey Monterey jack cheese, too.

Recipe: Rick Bayless

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You may or may not have probably heard of butter burgers — unless you're from Wisconsin where they're a matter of pride. Grill master Steven Raichlen's take on the classic starts with making a garlic and fresh herb butter, then stuffing a pat into the middle of each patty so it melts into the burger from the inside out.

Recipe: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Ayesha Curry's turkey burgers have an Asian twist with soy sauce, chili paste, and ginger mixed into the meat. They get topped with a fresh, spicy apple and savoy cabbage slaw and smoked paprika mayo.

Recipe: Woman's Day

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Ground chorizo and beef in equal amounts give this burger from Aaron Sanchez a Mexican-inspired flair. The patties are seasoned with homemade adobo and topped with pickled onions, chile-lime crema, and grilled sweet potato slices.

Recipe: The Daily Meal

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The burger recipe from Martin Yan has two hits of Asian flavors: in the patty and in a sauce on top. The hoisin barbecue starts out with bottled barbecue sauce and hoisin, making it super fast to put together. Soy, sesame oil, and ginger are mixed into the ground beef before they're cooked.

Recipe: The Seattle Times

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The Neely family grills up a burger reminiscent of Memphis-style barbecue. Shallot, garlic, Worcestershire, and barbecue dry rub are mixed into the patties. They're topped with coleslaw and a creamy sauce that includes buttermilk and barbecue sauce.

Recipe: Food Network

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This recipe from J. Kenji López-Alt is super simple, with few ingredients, because it's the technique that's important: Small balls of beef are smashed onto an ungreased griddle and then scraped off, giving them a crispy, browned crust. A slice of American cheese between two patties keeps things together.

Recipe: Serious Eats

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Ming Tsai's Asian-influenced burger recipe will be a hit with kids — instead of being shaped in a patty, the beef is shaped like a sausage and served in a hot dog bun. A cooked relish of onions, bell pepper, honey, rice vinegar, and chile sauce tops them.

Recipe: Golf Digest

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Mushrooms and Swiss cheese are a fantastic burger combination. Melissa d'Arabian pushes it a little further by adding a glaze of Dijon mustard and soy sauce to up the umami even more.

Recipe: Food Network

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Graham Elliot grills his cheeseburgers and tops them with a slice of gooey brie cheese. A mayonnaise with a mild, cooked garlic flavor joins grilled onions and peppery watercress for a medley of unique tastes.

Recipe: Tasting Table

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