The Best Burgers in Austin

Three-quarters of a pound of charbroiled Angus goes into every handmade patty, and the kitchen cooks them medium unless you say otherwise — which tells you how seriously this Sixth Street bar takes the thing. Order the Amarillo Burger: roasted serrano chiles, jalapeño jack cheese, cilantro mayo. The wait at the back window is long and the room is dark. Both are part of the deal.

An Austin tradition since 1926, still cooking on Guadalupe across from the UT campus. The Large Kumbak Burger is the one to get — a griddled patty that has not needed rethinking in a century — and the fried pickles alongside it. Austin Food Magazine, updated August 2026, had the small cheeseburger at five dollars during weekday happy hour.

Burger Restaurant | Dirty Martin's Place | Austin, Texas | Guadalupe | UT Campus | Cheeseburger | Bar | WingsDirty Martin's Place | Cheeseburgers | Milkshakes | Onion Rings | Fried Pickles | American Resturant | Austin, Texas | UT Campus | Guadalupe | Full Bar | Dog Friendly Patio | Catering | Wingshttps://www.dirtymartins.com/

Mo Pittle grew up in El Paso and built a kitchen where border green chile meets a Reform Jewish upbringing — burgers, burritos and latkes on one board. Get the Oy Vay Guey burger. In August 2026 the Airport Boulevard shop was running a monthly special that sent a dollar from every sale to Keep Austin Fed, which fights food insecurity in the city.

Home -Why JewBoy? Mo Pittle, born in Cleveland with ties to Philadelphia and Washington, DC was raised in El Paso, Texas. Not the first place you’d expect to find Jews, but they’re there. Growing up among the Homeboys, he became affectionately known as “El JewBoy.” A few decades later, it now describes the burgers you’re about […]https://jewboyburgers.com/

Charcoal is the whole argument on this stretch of Burnet Road, where the patties have been grilled over it since 1971 and you can watch the flames from the door. Order the double cheeseburger with onion rings. It is also the backdrop to Matthew McConaughey's "alright, alright, alright" in Dazed and Confused, which the town has never quite let it forget.

South Lamar's most restless kitchen keeps exactly one burger on the board and asked thirty-nine dollars for it in August 2026. The aged wagyu burger arrives under spicy tomato pork jam, fried beer cheese and pickled squash — nearer a plated course than a sandwich. Do it once, at the bar, with a glass of something odd.

Odd Duckhttps://www.oddduckaustin.com/

Named for Phil Clay, Amy Simmons' partner at Amy's Ice Creams, who died in February 2003. The Burnet Road original shares its lot with Amy's, on the site of the old Allandale post office and gas station. Burgers there are named for zip codes and neighborhoods; The Violet Crown is the bleu cheese one, with grilled onions and a jalapeño cheese bun to carry it.

Hand-formed Angus chuck, smashed to order, sold from a walk-up counter on Cameron Road with nothing decorative attached to it. The double smashburger is the move. Austin Food Magazine, updated August 2026, had it under seven dollars at any hour of the day — which is more or less the entire pitch.

Out on FM 969 in far East Austin, a Lao American kitchen does the one thing nobody else in town is doing with a patty: builds it from Lao pork sausage. The Lao'd Smash Burger stacks it with jeow bong aioli slaw, rice-fermented pickles, bacon and American cheese. CultureMap named the room a Restaurant of the Year nominee in February 2026.

Lao'd Bar - Austin, TX...https://laodbar.com/

Open since 1987 near Hyde Park and the university — and the burger is the draw, not a side effect of the beer list. The Mushroom Swiss Burger brings sautéed mushrooms and melted swiss over a fresh, never-frozen patty. Its own site flags an Austin American-Statesman pick from September 2025 for the best Austin burger under ten dollars.

Dry-aged Black Angus is the house currency at this West Second Street steakhouse, and eight ounces of it go into the VanHorn's Cheeseburger with caramelized onions and dijonnaise. It runs on the lunch, brunch and dinner menus alike — which a room like this does not have to do. CultureMap listed it among Best New Restaurant nominees in February 2026.

VanHorn's - Austin, TX...https://vanhornsatx.com/

Chef-owner Rene Ortiz runs a globally minded Southern menu on Holly Street, and the Plancha Burger is the quiet star of it — American cheese, special sauce, pickles, challah bun. Nothing clever, done properly. CultureMap put the restaurant on its Tastemaker nominee list in February 2026 for the dessert program, so leave room for the end of the meal.

Aldrich Street got its own branch of the Austin-born chain in August 2026 — CultureMap reported the doors already open ahead of an August 23 grand opening, and this is one of only two Hopdoddys running a Boozy Breakfast menu. Order the El Diablo, the fiery end of a board that also carries a Wagyu Smash and a bison Roosevelt burger. Mueller Lake Park is a walk away.

Best Burgers in Mueller | Hopdoddy Burger BarHopdoddy is now open! Enjoy craft burgers, hand-cut fires, shakes, boozy shakes, and a full bar.https://www.hopdoddy.com/locations/mueller

Built by hand in 1946 by Andy and Goldie Harris with their partner Glen Teter, and owned by Jearl Ledbetter since November 1979, the Barton Springs Road walk-up has outlasted nearly everything around it. Get an old-fashioned hamburger, thin and buttery — then a chocolate soft-serve cone from the same window. The frozen custard is what keeps the line moving.