F&W Staff Favorite Burgers

Instead of putting caramelized onions on these tasty lamb burgers, Food & Wine’s Justin Chapple whisks onion soup mix into mayonnaise for a very playful and delicious spread.

The unconventional toppings make these burgers special: Pickled beets add earthiness and tang; grilled pineapple rings add sweetness; and fried eggs add richness.

At BLT Burger in Las Vegas, chef Laurent Tourondel brushes burgers with butter while they're on the grill. The natural sugars caramelize, making the meat extra-delicious.

Using sausage in burgers is a smart shortcut, because the meat is already seasoned.

"When I began working for the Food Network about 17 years ago, it was new and had no money. If you couldn't get there by subway, you couldn't be on it," says chef Bobby Flay.

Resist the urge to pile on any of the usual toppings—lettuce, tomato, ketchup. "The port is your condiment" explains Umami Burger's Adam Fleischman.

This burger has all the components of a BLT—they're just not configured in the usual way. Crumbled bacon and intense sun-dried tomatoes are mixed into a garlicky mayonnaise, which gets slathered on a juicy burger. The lettuce part, arugula, adds a crunchy, peppery hit.

Inspired by the sliders at White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey, Adam Fleischman creates beef patties by flattening balls of ground meat on the griddle.

Give a beach party worthy of Gidget with guests in bathing suits and sunglasses and a menu of lean-but-luscious turkey burgers.

Instead of frying strips of bacon, Bobby Flay brushes them with mango chutney, then bakes them in the oven—the sweet, crispy, smoky pieces are irresistible.

Sang Yoon first learned the benefits of making burgers with more than one kind of meat when he tried a beef-pork patty at a little corner stand in Atlanta. For his impressive version, he uses chopped smoky bacon to enrich ground pork. Just before the burgers are done, he tops them with Camembert (for creaminess) and Gorgonzola (for more creaminess, as well as pungency).

Scallops make incredibly juicy burgers despite their low fat content. Marcia Kiesel adds corn to her scallop burgers for a bit of sweetness and crunch. To keep the burgers moist, don't overcook them; there should be a thin layer of barely cooked scallop at the center.

A great hamburger starts with great ground beef, says David Walzog, executive chef at SW Steakhouse at Wynn Las Vegas. He advocates ground-to-order beef with at least 20 percent fat content, seasoned generously with salt and pepper. "After that, it doesn't need much else," he says—just a sturdy bun and sauce that won't overpower the beef, like this sweet-and-sour red onion compote. To make the juiciest burger possible, Walzog says to shape the patty gently and make a small indentation in the center; this ensures even cooking as the burger swells during cooking.

Inspired by a Korean-cooking YouTube channel called Maangchi's Cooking Show, Grace combines pork and kimchi in panko-coated cakes and serves them with an umami-rich soy-sesame mayonnaise. The patties make great burgers, especially with bread-and-butter pickles.

Once prepared, the green chile relish can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

For wine pairings, try a zippy Grüner Veltliner.

These healthy vegetarian patties are coated with panko bread crumbs so they become deliciously crispy in the skillet. "I add quinoa to make these semolina cakes a little fluffier and healthier. I love to serve them topped with a poached egg," says Maria Helm Sinskey.