2025 Team Registration Policies

Team Structure: Teams will consist of one (1) head cook and two (2) additional team members. No more than three (3) team members will be allowed in a team space at any one time. All minors must be accompanied by a guardian.

Team Sites: Each team will be provided a 16x16' space (the width of two parking spaces) to set up their cook site. All trailers, grills, tents, tables, chairs, generators, and equipment must fit within the allotted space. 

What to Bring: Teams will be responsible for providing ALL of their own grills, tables, cooking utensils/supplies, fuel, ingredients, and power source/generator (if you need one). Texas Burger Bash will ONLY provide the following items: (2) pounds of ground beef per team, (6) containers for turn-in purposes (two per category), and space for your team to cook.

Grills/Cooktops: Teams are allowed to cook on any apparatus they prefer. Keep in mind that you might want/need a flat-top grill for the Smash Burger portion of the competition. Open fires (for charcoal or wood grills) are permitted. Each team with an open fire must have, in their cook site, a 10 lb fire extinguisher. A contained fire apparatus (propane grill, propane flat top, pellet grill) are allowed. Each team MUST provide a grease catch pan for each grill/cooktop. Each team is responsible for all grease collection and disposal. 

Food Safety**: All burgers must be cooked to food safety rules found at the end of the rules page. Please review the food safety rules before cooking in the competition. All entries immediately become the property of Texas Burger Bash and will not be returned to individual teams. 

Load-in: Teams may check-in and set-up their cooking site starting at 8:00 AM on the day of the competition. A mandatory cook’s meeting will start at 10:15 AM and all set-up must be completed by the time the cook’s meeting starts. 

Load-out: Teams are responsible for removing all trailers, grills, tents, tables, chairs, generators, equipment, and TRASH by 5:00 PM on the afternoon of the competition. Each team is responsible for getting checked-out by event staff prior to the Award Ceremony at 5:30 PM. Teams who have not been checked-out by 5:00 PM will be ineligible to receive an award. 

Mandatory Cook’s Meeting: There will be a MANDATORY cook’s meeting at 10:15 AM at the main judging tent. Teams must be represented by at least one team member. All containers and ingredients will be distributed at this meeting. The rules and judging format will be covered and questions will be answered. ALL COOKS MUST BE PRESENT TO COLLECT THEIR TURN IN CONTAINERS AND COMPETITION MEAT AT THIS MEETING. 

Categories: Teams will have the opportunity to compete in 3 possible categories. These categories might change or increase from year-to-year. For 2023, they will be as follows:

Smash Burger - The classically thin, pressed burgers that highlights your ability to make a simple, yet dynamic flavor palette. The winner of this category gets free entry to next year’s event. Texas Burger Bash will provide one (1) pound of ground beef that must be used for the patties - your team will provide the rest of the ingredients.

Chef’s Choice - Anything goes… No ingredients are off limits. You select the meat (or lack there of) and let your imagination and creativity run wild! Each team is responsible for providing 100% of the ingredients for these entries. Your team will provide ALL of the ingredients for this category.

Cover Burger - Make your interpretation of the burger that belongs on the front cover of the magazine.  The winner of this category will have their burger on the front page of our website for a full year. Texas Burger Bash will provide one (1) pound of ground beef that must be used for the patties - your team will provide the rest of the ingredients.

Entries: All entries will consist of two (2) individual, identical burgers for judging. Each team will be provided with one (1) pound of ground beef for the Cover Burger and the Smashburger categories. All other components of the burger entry will be provided by the cook team. Each entry must consist of two identical burgers for judging. All entries will be presented in the provided containers with NO garnish present in or on the container. Entries should have NO distinguishing marks or identifiers to mark a certain container. Each cook team must provide all components of their burger entry for the Cooks Choice category. 

Turn-in’s: Each team will be assigned a “Flight” (A or B). These flights will determine the exact time of your turn-in for each category. Teams will be penalized points for each minute they are late to their designated turn-in (clocks will be synchronized at cook’s meeting). Turn-in times will be as follows:

1:00 Smash Burger

2:00 Chef’s Choice (Anything Goes)

3:00 Cover Burger

5:30 Awards Ceremony

Judging Format: Texas Burger Bash is a blind judging event. Judges will not know which team an entry came from and teams will not know who will be judging their entries. Each entry will be judged in a single round. Each judging table will consist of 6 judges. Each entry will be presented to two tables of judges. All scores will be totaled from the two tables of judges. Points will be compiled for teams with multiple entries for consideration in the Grand Master Award. 

Judging Criteria: Each entry will be given a score from 1-10 in the following areas:

Appearance - 30%

Taste - 50%

Execution - 20%

**Ground Meats: This change does not apply to ground meats, including beef, veal, lamb, and pork, which should be cooked to 160 ºF and do not require a rest time.

**Poultry: The safe cooking temperature for all poultry products, including ground chicken and turkey, stays the same at 165 ºF.