Shake Shack Just Revealed Its Coveted Burger Recipe

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Shake Shack may be home to a secret Peanut Butter Bacon Burger, but it's known for its Shackburger -- a deliciously meaty stack of bun, beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato and Shake Shack's secret sauce. For a long time, the so-called "sacred cow" of Danny Meyer's Shake Shack empire was mired in mystery, a deliciously perfect burger made with Pat LaFrieda brisket that could stand against the finest fast-food offerings out there.

A new cookbook has pulled back the curtain on the Shackburger though. Shake Shack: Recipes and Stories -- out this week from Clarkson Potter, and compiled by Randy Garutti and Mark Rosati, with an introduction by Meyer -- features the official recipe for the famous burger, complete with brand names for all the ingredients you'll want to use to recreate the dish at home. The new cookbook is the first that the burger chain has released. The one thing it does not reveal is the recipe for Shake Shack's secret Shack Sauce, so you'll have to find a Shake Shack to taste that flavor element.

Even so, as far as burger recipes go, it's a pretty detailed one, and it speaks to Meyer and Shake Shack's well-publicized emphasis on hospitality. We've reprinted the recipe with permission from Clarkson Potter below.

The Shackburger


Yield: 4

INGREDIENTS:
  • 4 hamburger potato buns
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 tablespoons Not Quite Our Shack-Sauce
  • 4 pieces green leaf lettuce
  • 8 ¼-inch slices ripe plum tomato
  • 1 pound very cold ground beef, divided into 4 pucks
  • ½ teaspoon Our Salt & Pepper Mix
  • 4 slices American cheese
DIRECTIONS:
  • Heat a cast-iron griddle over medium-low heat until warm. Meanwhile, open the hamburger buns and brush the insides with the melted butter. A soft brush is helpful here. Place the buns buttered side down on the griddle and toast until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer buns to a plate. Spoon the sauce onto the top bun. Add a piece of the lettuce and two slices of tomato.
  • Increase the heat to medium and heat the griddle until hot, 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Evenly sprinkle a pinch of Our Salt & Pepper Mix on top of each puck of meat.
  • Place the pucks on the griddle, seasoned side down. Using a large, sturdy metal spatula, firmly smash each puck into a 1/3-inch-thick round patty. Pressing down on the spatula with another stiff spatula helps flatten the burger quickly. Evenly sprinkle another big pinch of Our Salt & Pepper Mix.
  • Cook the burgers, resisting the urge to move them, until the edges beneath are brown and crisp, and juices on the surface are bubbling hot, about 2½ minutes. Slide one of the spatulas beneath the burger to release it from the griddle and scrape up the caramelized browned crust. Use the other spatula to steady the burger and keep it from sliding. Flip the burgers. Put the cheese on top and cook the burgers 1 minute longer for medium. Cook more or less depending on your preference.
  • Transfer the cheeseburgers to the prepared buns and enjoy.

Our Salt & Pepper Mix

INGREDIENTS:
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
DIRECTIONS:
We mix ½ cup kosher salt with ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper and use that mixture to season our burgers as they cook. You’ll see we call for a pinch or two of the mixture in every recipe.

ShackSauce


Yield: About ½ cup

INGREDIENTS:
  • ½ cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 3/4 teaspoon Heinz ketchup
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher dill pickling brine
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper
DIRECTIONS:
Long ago we threw away the key to the secret recipe for ShackSauce; but we promise to get you really close with ingredients easily found in your kitchen.

Reprinted from Shake Shack. Copyright © 2017 by Shake Shack Enterprises, LLC. Principal photographs copyright © 2017 by Christopher Hirsheimer. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.

Clarkson Potter

h/t Publishers Weekly

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Eric Vilas-Boas is a writer and editor at Thrillist. Follow him @e_vb_.