How To Make The Perfect Burger Every Time
It seriously only takes mere minutes to make restaurant-quality hamburgers from scratch. Prep your work space and ingredients before getting started and youll be whipping out hot plates from your home kitchen in no time!
Heres how:
- Use your hands to thoroughly combine until the mixture is very smooth.
- Set out a baking sheet, lined with wax paper or foil, to hold the patties. One at a time, gather the patty mix and press firmly into patties of your desired thickness. You typically want hamburger patties to be slightly larger than the buns theyll be served on since theyll shrink a bit in the cooking process.
- Place the formed patties on the baking sheet. With thick patties, press a dent in the center of each patty, so they dont puff up while cooking.
- You can stack the patties with sheets of wax paper between layers if needed.
- I love using a cast-iron skillet for getting that drool-worthy caramelized sear on the burgers.
Final Tips For Making Beef Patties From Scratch
- Final reminder on how to season hamburgers Season the inside and outside of ground beef patties. Not just the outside!
- Dont overmix the ground beef gently combine the ingredients and form discs.
- Cook raw ground beef patties as desired on the grill, with a sous vide machine, or in a cast-iron skillet.
Is It Better To Cook Burgers In The Oven Or On The Stove
Its up to your personal preference! Baked burgers are a great, nearly hands-off cooking method that wont fill your kitchen with the smell of frying beef.
Pan-fried burgers, on the other hand, have the benefit of a tasty sear from the cast-iron skillet. And, if its hot out, cooking burgers on the stove-top wont heat your house as baking burgers will.
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Tools To Make Perfect Burgers
Tap the links below to see the items used to make this recipe.
- Bowl to mix ingredients together This mixing bowl set has the size you will need to mix all the ingredients together for this keto burger recipe.
- Sheet pan to put uncooked burgers on This sheet pan is nonstick and warp resistant and would work great for transporting your burger patties to the stovetop or grill.
- Pan for cooking on the stove Nonstick, this pan comes with a lid and is the perfect choice for cooking these burgers on the stovetop.
- Meat thermometer A must for perfectly cooked burgers!
Tips For The Best Burger Patties:
- Prepare buns and toppings first and cook burger patties last.
- Use refrigerated Ground Chuck Beef grind your own or buy it ground, but 20% fat is ideal.
- Do not overwork your meat.
- Shape the patties 1 wider than the bun since they shrink on the grill.
- Make an indentation in the center to prevent it from plumping up in the center.
- Season patties generously with salt and pepper just prior to cooking. Salt changes the structure of proteins and toughens burgers. Do not salt the ground beef before forming into patties.
- Once on the grill, let patties brown and sear well before flipping and do not press down on the burger.
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Can I Toast My Hamburger Bun In A Skillet On The Stove
Absolutely! Just get a little hamburger grease on the bun or slather it with some butter. Toss your greased bun in the skillet with the burgers at the end of cooking. Allow the bun to cook a couple minutes then check. It should toast right up!
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Gourmet Topping Ideas For Burgers
- A fancy cheese like gruyere, feta, or blue cheese crumbles
- Red cabbage and carrot slaw
There are so many ways to cooking beef burger recipes once your patties are formed. Grill, sous vide, air fry burgers, cook them low and slow in the slow cooker, or cook them in a cast iron skillet. Learn more about sous vide hamburgers in The Home Chefs Sous Vide Cookbook.
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Steam Vegetables For Patties
1. Start by steaming the veggies in a pot, steamer or cooker. Pour 2½ to 3 cups of water to a pot or steamer/ cooker / Instant pot. Place a trivet or a rack inside and bring the water to a boil on a medium heat. Here is a picture of my pot/steamer with a trivet.
2. Meanwhile rinse all the vegetables. Here is what I used 250 grams potatoes 2 medium carrots 6 to 8 french beans ½ to ¾ cup green peas . You can also use cauliflower if you like.
3. Peel and chop potatoes to 1 inch pieces. Chop both ends of the beans & discard. Chop them finely about ¼ inch pieces. Add all of them to the steam basket. If you use fresh peas, add them too at this stage. Place it in the steamer and cover. Steam until half done for about 5 to 7 mins from the time water comes to a rolling boil.
4. While those steam, peel and chop 2 medium carrot. When the potatoes are half cooked, add the carrots and peas. If using cauliflower you can also add ¾ cup florets.
5. Cover and steam all of these just until fork tender and not mushy.
6. To check prick a potato with fork and it should go in easily meaning they are perfectly cooked.
How To Form Perfect Hamburger Patties
We like 5 to 6 ounce burgers theyre big, but not overwhelming. A kitchen scale can be useful for dividing the meat.
Heres a trick have you ever had a burger puff up in the middle while it was cooking? Before cooking, add a dimple to the middle of each burger. This stops it from puffing up in the middle and keeps things uniform.
One more thing, theres no need to mix the salt and pepper into the meat. Just season the top and bottom .The more you fuss hamburger meat, the tougher it will become when cooked. By the way, we season our burgers liberally.
Check out these over-the-top burgers: Queso Blanco Hamburger or our Denver Hamburger.
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Rule : Leave No Crust Behind
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
The whole goal of smashing is to develop a nice, deeply browned crust, so it’s important that you scrape it all up intact. Once again, a sturdy metal spatula is your friend. I find that flipping the spatula upside down to help scrape the crust off is pretty effective. If your crust is properly developed and your burger properly smashed, it should spend very little time on its second sidejust enough to finish cooking through and to allow cheese to melt , about 30 seconds or so.
Rule : Smash Early And Smash Firmly
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
I have a thick, flat, sturdy metal spatula specially devoted to the task of smashing burgers. You’ll need one to do this properly. Form four to five ounces of meat into a puck about 2 inches high, season liberally with salt and pepper, and place it on the preheated skillet, then smash down on it with the spatula, using a second spatula to add pressure if necessary. Then just cook without moving until a deep brown crust develops. This’ll take about a minute and a half.
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Best Stovetop Burgers Recipe
Once we learned how to make burgers on the stove that were juicy, perfect, and easy every time, this has become our go-to stovetop burgers recipe.
I love that you can cook cheeseburgers year round regardless of a grill! These ridiculously delicious hamburgers are delicious and cooked to order every time!
If youre a true hamburger or cheeseburger lover, then you NEED this Stovetop Burgers Recipe. Get ready to sink your teeth the BEST PAN FRIED BURGER you have ever tasted!
See all the tips and tricks below for making it absolutely perfect every time. There have become a reader favorite recipe and we love them too!
Once you know how to make stovetop burgers, youll be able to make them in any seasonno grill needed!
Burger Guide
How To Grill Veggie Burger Patties
These veggie burger patties can be grilled in a preheated oven at 180 C for 20 mins.
Prepare a baking tray with a parchment paper. Place the veggie patties on the baking tray. Drizzle some oil over them. Bake them for 20 mins checking them halfway. Adjust the baking time as needed until crisp. These wont turn golden. If you want them golden, toast the crumbs in a pan first, cool & use for breading.
You may also want to check this chicken burger recipe on the blog.
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Why Put A Thumbprint In A Burger
As mentioned above, adding a small divot to the middle of a burger patty helps circulate air around the burger, preventing it from shriveling up while it cooks. This means that the burger will cook more evenly and wont bulge up in the center. In fact, creating a dimple is one of the top burger tips we got from a restaurant chef.
How To Make Hamburgers
If you have a great hamburger or cheeseburger recipe, youll be legendary at home and in the neighborhood for sure! This simple technique ensures burger success every single time, whether you use a grill or the stovetop!
- MIX:
- Mix beef, grated onion, and Worcestershire sauce together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
The FoodSafety.gov recommends cooking ground beef to a temperature of 160°F . Let them rest a few minutes before serving with condiments, toppings and a toasted bun!
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Can I Make Baked Burgers With Different Meats
Definitely! Use the same ingredient proportions and directions as listed above, but slightly change the cooking times and temperatures. For chicken burgers and turkey burgers, bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the patties reach 165°F.
You can even bake vegetarian burgers in the oven. For a chickpea burger, bake the patties at 350°F until the center reaches 160°F, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Now that youve mastered cooking burgers in the oven, learn how to grill burgers perfectly every time.
Secret Ingredients For The Best Juicy Burger Recipe
With grilling season in full swing, what better way to celebrate than with the perfect juicy burger recipe? This one is simple. Good juicy burgers are not about complexity.
What does make this juicy burger recipe special is two secret ingredients. Can you guess what they are?
Olive oil and Worcestershire sauce! Who knew? Its almost like a burger marinade, but they go in with the meat.
Surprisingly, I actually like to use relatively lean ground beef for making the best juicy burgers. Mainly its because the organic brand that I like comes in these ratios. It actually doesnt matter, as long as the meat you use is nice and fresh.
With this juicy burger recipe, youd never guess they are lean. Mixing olive oil and Worcestershire sauce into the meat prior to cooking locks in the moisture and flavors amazingly well.
As for seasonings, I like to keep it simple with sea salt, black pepper, and a little garlic powder. Feel free to add other spices if youd like!
The salt is actually the most important from a flavor perspective. A good rule of thumb is to use one teaspoon per pound of meat. I first read somewhere that this was Julia Childs recommendation for meat, and shes right!
Of course, there is more to the best juicy burgers than the ingredients. The preparation is actually the most important part.
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Tip #: Baste With Butter
Of course, adding more fat to the hamburger patties will also help make them more juicy. If youre making burgers on the stovetop , start by dolloping a few tablespoons of butter into the skillet, then basting the patties with the melty goodness as they cook. If youre grilling, periodically brush the burgers with melted butter.
Check out our recipe for homemade butter burgers if you want to learn more about this method.
Common Questions On Burger Recipe
How to add spinach to patties ?
I use only baby spinach for our veggie patties. For this recipe you can use about 2 cups of fresh spinach. Remove the stalks and briefly saute them in a pan with 1 tsp oil until they wilt completely. Cool them and then fine chop and add to the boiled vegetables.
If you want to use large amounts of spinach, then follow this hara bhara kabab recipe where I puree the sautéed spinach.
How to use mushrooms for patties ?
Sometimes I am left with just a handful of mushrooms which are not enough to make anything. So the mushrooms go in these patties. Do not use a lot of them. About ¾ cup sliced mushrooms are good enough.
I sauté sliced mushrooms in oil until they wilt. Chop them to tiny pieces and add to the mashed veggies. Do not mash the mushrooms. We want the tiny bits of mushrooms in the patties.
How to make a mushroom topping ?
Melt 1 tablespoon butter and saute 1 tablespoon chopped garlic & 2 cups of mushrooms on a high flame just until the mushrooms wilt for about 3 to 4 mins. Sprinkle your favorite seasoning. Cool and top these on your lettuce. We mix it with burger sauce and then top it over the lettuce.
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The Best Way To Cook Hamburgers
Our favorite way to cook burgers is in a cast iron skillet or on a flat top grill. We heat it over medium heat, add some butter and cook the burgers 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Done.
If youre partial to grilling, go for it. If you feel like it, weve taken our cast iron skillet to the grill with us we just love the sear you get on the skillet compared to grates. No matter how you cook it, make sure you allow the patties to rest for a few minutes.
Just look at that moist, juicy and not too packed. A perfect burger.
What Are The Internal Temperatures When Cooking Beef
Internal temperatures for a ground beef burger are as follows:
- Medium Rare: 130-135°F
- Medium Well: 150-155°F
- Well Done: 160-165°F
*NOTE: The FDA officially recommends that hamburgers be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F to ensure all bacteria is killed. If you choose to do more of a Medium cook, be sure youre using the freshest beef or even making your own ground beef!
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Rule : Use A Good Stainless Steel Carbon Steel Or Cast Iron Skillet
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
The goal is steady, even heat, so you want to use a relatively thick pan and allow it to preheat for long enough that there are no hot or cool spots. I let my pans preheat over medium heat for a few minutes, pumping them up to high just before I add the meat. Don’t use a non-stick pan, as the high heat required for a good crust is damaging to non-stick coatings and can cause the coatings to vaporize. You don’t want to breathe that junk in.
Buns For Veggie Burger
You can use any kind of burger buns you like. This is a very old post on the blog I would then use the fresh baked whole meal sprouted flour buns from a nearby bakery. Recently I have moved out to the wholegrain sourdough breads and burgers.
Brioche bun, Sesame buns, Multigrain buns & ladi pav are some of the choices. Basically you can use any kind of burger bun that you like. The most important thing is you must really like the taste of the buns you use, only then you will enjoy the burger.
If you do not have any kind of buns, you can still make this recipe use thick slices of your favorite bread and make a sandwich burger.
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The Best Hamburger Recipe
*Note: The full printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
- Add 80% lean ground beef to a large bowl.
- Add Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper.
- Mix with your hands until well combined.
- Divide the beef into fourths.
- Use your hands to form 4 hamburger patties 3/4 inch thick.
- Use your thumbs to make an indention in the middle of the patties.
- Grill over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side.
- Serve on hamburger buns.
- Top with your favorite traditional burger toppings