Delicious Traeger smoked burgers (and smoked cheeseburgers!) are tender, juicy, and loaded up with smoky flavor. Make my easy DIY hamburger patties using ground beef – or use store bought ½ LB beef patties. Let’s smoke ‘em up!
HEY THERE — Are you on instagram? I post quick, easy smoker recipes there @sipbitego.
Table of Contents
Why it’s such a good smoked hamburgers recipe…
- Learn to make easy burger patties with just salt and pepper.
- Melt cheese in the smoker, too! Learn exactly when to add cheese.
- Massive smoke flavor!! Especially if you use strong pellets like the yummy Traeger Hickory Pellets used in this demo.
- It’s a pretty quick smoker recipe. Even at my lower smoking temperature for burgers on the Traeger, you’ll be ready to enjoy them in about 1.5 hours.
- New to smoked foods? See my step by step video for beginners (scroll to bottom of page).
Why do you smoke burgers on low?
This recipe smokes burgers at 225 degrees F.
The reason: massive FLAVOR!!!!
It’s true that there are faster ways to smoke burgers – at 350, 400, 450, and even 500 degrees F – but I love smoking burgers at 225 degrees (or 250 if I’m “rushing it”) because they slowly pick up a TON of smoke flavor. And they come out with a beautiful deep, rich color.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make from-scratch burgers smoked to perfection.
For basic smoked burgers from scratch
- Ground beef (ideally 80/20 blend)
- Salt and pepper
- Burger buns
- Cheddar cheese (or gouda, etc, to make a smoked cheeseburger)
Condiment ideas (optional)
- Tomato
- Pickles / relish
- Lettuce
- Onion
- Ketchup
- BBQ sauce
How to smoke burgers
Now I’ll walk you through it…
Quick look at smoked hamburgers on the Traeger…
- Make beef patties and preheat the smoker.
- Smoke burgers.
- Add bun and cheese when almost done and finish smoking burgers to desired temperature.
- Assemble smoked cheeseburger and enjoy.
Detailed recipe steps
- Measure the beef patties. To make the patties, use a scale to measure 8 oz burger patties, or ½ LB burgers, that are about ½ inch thick. (If you don’t have a scale, you can eyeball dividing up each LB of burger meat in half.)
- (optional) Season ground beef into burger patties for smoking. To a large bowl, add ground beef. You can choose to season the meat now with salt and pepper, or wait to add it on when you add the burgers to the grill. (we have tested and like both methods).
- Shape burger patties (smoosh the meat together gently) so each one is about ½ inch thick. The goal is to create burger patties that are a bit wider than the diameter of the hamburger buns. Chill burger patties in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, or up to a few hours before smoking them.
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F. In the Sip Bite Go recipe video you’ll see we like using Hickory wood pellets for burgers because they provide phenomenal smoky flavor to the beef.
- Smoke burgers. Remove burger patties from the fridge and season them with salt and pepper (if you haven’t already seasoned them). Then add them directly to the preheated smoker grill grates. Close the lid and smoke burger patties for 60 minutes. Optionally, you can flip the burgers at the 30 minute mark (but usually, I don’t).
- (Optional) Toast buns and turn it into a smoked cheeseburger about 5-10 degrees prior to your ideal doneness temperature. So for medium smoked burgers, you’ll add the buns (inside facing down) directly onto the grill grates and add cheddar cheese on top of the still-smoking burgers when the temperature of the patties measure about 135 degrees F internally. From this point, you’ll smoke them another 15-20 minutes, with cheese on top, until the next step. Check the buns periodically and pull them off when they look toasted.
- Continue smoking burgers until done. They’re ready when the internal temperature reaches your desired level. Our burgers in the photos measured 145 degrees F for medium burgers. Transfer to a platter.
- Finish smoked burgers with your favorite condiments and enjoy.
Serve your burgers with smoked bacon on top.
Smoked burgers temperature chart
We smoked these burger patties to a perfect 145 degrees F. The cheese was added to the burgers on the Traeger when they were about 140 degrees, so the cheddar picked up a yummy smoke flavor as well.
- Rare smoked burgers (125-130°F) is still red inside.
- Medium rare smoked burgers (130-140°F) is red to pink inside.
- Medium smoked burgers (140-150°F) is mostly pink.
- Medium well (150-160°F) has just a slight bit of pink inside.
- Well cooked (160°F) has no red or pink inside.
Gourmet burger recipes to check out…
- See how to make hamburger patties step by step
- Smoked burgers
- Sous vide burgers
- Mayo seared sous vide burgers
- Sous vide lamb burgers
Also try this smoked meatballs recipe.
FAQs
Perfect medium temperature smoked burgers are done at 145 degrees F, as seen in the Sip Bite Go demonstration. You can use the burger temperature chart above to cook burgers on the smoker to different levels of doneness.
Prepare to have your mind blown if you use Traeger Hickory Pellets like I did in the Sip Bite Go Traeger smoked burger recipe demo. I really love using a strong wood chip flavor for burgers to make them special and memorable.
Saturated fat is pretty comparable to 85/15 ground beef, but they’re just a little more jucy burger at 80/20. (It’s the ratio you’ll find for ground chuck). But we have used more lean ground beef and they’ve turned out pretty juicy, always tender and pretty much just as good!
I think smoking burgers in many ways is easier than grilling them. They’re perfect for outdoor grilling / food smoking parties in the backyard because they’re difficult to mess up. It’s easier to burn traditional grilled burgers, or overcook them if you get carried away chatting with guests while they’re on the grill.
For party or meal prepping smoked burger, you can pop them on the Traeger before the party starts, since they take about 2 hours. Use a thermometer that stays in the burgers like the one I recommend below and you’ll get alerted on your phone when they’re ready to take off the grill. They always turn out tender and juicy! See more about exactly how can you smoke burgers the easy way.
More Tasty Grill + Smoker Recipes
- Smoked leg of lamb
- Smoked wings
- Smoked turkey breast
- Whole smoked turkey
- Smoked onion rings
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked whole chicken
- Traeger tri tip
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Smoked jalapeno poppers
- Smoked corn on the cob
- Traeger beef ribs
- Smoked brisket flat
- Smoked shrimp
- Grilled chicken wings
- Grilled skirt steak
- Flank steak marinade
- Grilled potato wedges
- Smoked pulled pork
- Want more? See my lineup of easy smoker recipes
See my favorite smoker tools and seasonings in my Amazon Storefront.
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, hope that answers all your questions about smoker burgers. Soon I’ll also have a recipe for other ground meat smoker options like ground chicken burgers.
If you don’t follow me on instagram you totally should @sipbitego. And for more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel and see the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
Traeger Smoked Burgers / Smoker Cheeseburgers Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
For basic smoked burgers from scratch
- 2 lbs ground beef ideally 80/20 so they are juicy
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 4 burger buns
To make a smoked cheeseburger
- 4 slices cheddar cheese
Condiment ideas (optional, not included in nutrition info)
- 1 tomato beefsteak, sliced ½”
- 4 pickles deli style, sliced (substitute relish)
- ½ cup lettuce Iceberg, shredded
- 1 medium onion sweet or yellow, sliced ½”
- ketchup
- bbq sauce
Instructions
- Make beef patties. To make the patties, use a scale to measure 8 oz burger patties, or ½ LB burgers, that are about ½ inch thick. (If you don’t have a scale, you can eyeball dividing up each LB of burger meat in half.)
- (optional) Season ground beef into burger patties for smoking. To a large bowl, add ground beef. You can choose to season the meat now by mixing in the salt and pepper before forming the patties, or you can wait to add it on top when you add the burgers to the grill. (we have tested and like both methods).
- Shape burger patties (smoosh the meat together gently) so each one is about ½ inch thick. The goal is to create burger patties that are a bit wider than the diameter of the hamburger buns. Chill burger patties in the fridge for at least 15 minutes, or up to a few hours before smoking them.
- Preheat Traeger Grills or Pitt Boss or whatever pellet grill you’re using to 225 degrees F. In the Sip Bite Go recipe video you’ll see we like using Hickory wood pellets for burgers because they provide phenomenal smoky flavor to the beef.
- Smoke burgers. Remove burger patties from the fridge and season them with salt and pepper (if you haven’t already seasoned them). Then add them directly to the preheated smoker grill grates. Close the lid and smoke burger patties for 60 minutes. Optionally, you can flip the burgers at the 30 minute mark (but usually, I don’t).
- (Optional) Toast buns and turn it into a smoked cheeseburger about 5-10 degrees prior to your ideal doneness temperature. So for medium smoked burgers, you’ll add the buns (inside facing down) directly onto the grill grates and add cheddar cheese on top of the still-smoking burgers when the temperature of the patties measure about 135 degrees F internally. From this point, you’ll smoke them another 15-20 minutes, with cheese on top, until the next step. Check the buns periodically and pull them off when they look toasted.
- Continue smoking burgers until done. They’re ready when the internal temperature reaches your desired level. Our burgers in the photos measured 145 degrees F for medium burgers. Transfer to a platter.
- Finish smoked burgers with your favorite condiments and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Rare (125-130°F) is still red inside.
- Medium rare (130-140°F) is red to pink inside.
- Medium (140-150°F) is mostly pink.
- Medium well (150-160°F) has just a slight bit of pink inside.
- Well (160°F) has no red or pink inside.
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