How To Make The Best Burgers
Why This Is My Trusted Recipe
There’s nothing like biting into a juicy, tender cheeseburger where the meat is perfectly flavorful and all your favorite toppings are on it! I can’t tell you which toppings to choose but I can definitely help you make those burgers so delicious, the juices will be running down your hands. There aren’t any unnecessary frills to be found here – just real, tried and true results that I’ve loved serving time and time again.
These easy to make burger patties pretty much explode with juices and flavor from the very first first bite. There’s no need to overload the meat with a ton of seasonings either. You can easily bring out the natural flavor of beef with simple salt and pepper and infuse enough flavor to make the burger shine. There’s also an egg in the mix to hold everything together, giving the patties their signature shape.
Through many years, I’ve collected several tips and tricks from friends who are chefs and grill masters, from butchers, and simply enthusiasts who love good food. The best part is that every single tip is so simple that everyone can do it. All you need is a little patience and start prepping the burgers ahead of time!
Ingredient Notes
Ground Beef – Choose 80/20 good quality ground beef! This will give the burger a good amount of fat to make it tender and juicy. At the most, I recommend going up to 85/15 ratio. (I don’t recommend any more fat, unless you’re making smash burgers, but this is not that recipe!)
Egg – I started adding egg a couple of years ago and I did notice a difference in the texture. The egg is used for two reasons: as a binder and for moisture. Adding an egg really helps keep the ground meat from falling apart.
Salt and Black Pepper – These are simple seasonings, but when you add them inside and on the outside of the beef patty. So don’t be stingy with seasoning your meat mixture!
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
Best Burger Buns
The buns are as important as the meat and toppings! Even my kids talk about what the best buns for the burgers. I’ve tested every type of burger buns over many years and this is what I recommend:
- Pretzel buns – these have been our family’s favorite buns for burgers for years not just because of the flavor and because they are soft but do not soak up the juices as easily.
- Brioche buns – these are a solid second choice because they give a wonderful touch of sweetness to the overall flavor of the burger. They are also nicely soft and delicate.
- Potato rolls, sesame rolls, or plain white buns – these work well also but I find the texture and flavor to be good enough as well if that’s the preference.
How To Cook The Best Burgers
Set aside some time for preparation of the burger patties and letting them set it the refrigerator:
- Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl but make sure to mix it quickly and thoroughly. The main idea is to work fast so that the heat from your hands don’t start to melt the fats. That is also why it’s good to refrigerate burgers before cooking.
- Shape the patties as quickly as you can and lay them out on a parchment paper covered metal tray.
- Remember to season the outside of each patty with salt and pepper as well.
- Cover air-tight and refrigerate for 2-4 hours prior to cooking.
- Use your fingers or the back of a soup spoon to make a well in the center of each patty about half way deep. You can do it through the plastic wrap to work cleaner but still wash your hands.
- When the pan is preheated, add the patties to the hot pan and cook for 5-8 minutes per side. The timing will depend on how well done you want them.
- Remember that 1/2 lb. patties will take a couple minutes longer to cook than 1/3 lb. or 1/4 lb., but all depend on thickness of the patty itself.
- Let the cooked patties rest on a plate for about 5 minutes prior to serving. Keep them warm by loosely tenting with foil.
Safe Temperature: The FDA recommends that hamburgers should be cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F. If you choose to cook them to a lower temperature, be sure you’re using the freshest and best quality beef or even making your own ground beef!
Customize Your Burger Patties
There are a few ways to make your burgers more fun and add flavorful ingredients right into the meat mixture:
- Cheese – you can play around with grated cheeses you love and add 1/2 to 3/4 cup to the meat mixture.
- Herbs – to add some herb flavor to beef you can use fresh parsley. You can also use a combination like rosemary and garlic or basil and parmesan cheese.
- Chili peppers – to make it spicy, you can add some diced chili peppers like jalapenos, habaneros, serrano, or other spicy chili peppers you like.
- Onion – you can add some fresh minced onion to the burger patty mixture or even caramelized onions.
Lyuba’s Top Tips for the Best Burgers
Season inside and out. Season the ground beef when mixing it with the egg. After you shape the patties, season each patty on both sides with some more salt and pepper.
Refrigerate before cooking. The most important tip that most cooks emphasize is to cook cold burger patties. You don’t want to let the fat in the meat mixture melt before the burgers are cooking to have the juiciest texture. So it’s best to handle the meat as little as possible, shape the patties as quickly as possible, and refrigerate shaped patties for 2-4 hours before cooking.
Do not disturb. Do not touch the patties after you place them on the cooking surface until ready to flip. Fight the urge to readjust or move them around.
Do not press! Ever! Please, please, do not press the burgers. It breaks my heart to see people squeezing all those wonderful meat juices out. (Save that for smash burgers, they have way higher fat content)
If you’ve made my burger recipe and found a lot of good information here, PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below as well. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!
Homemade Beef Burgers Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs 80/20 good quality ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- salt
- black pepper
Toppings:
- American cheese
- Soft hamburger buns
- Other toppings of choice
Instructions
Prepare meat:
- Combine ground beef, egg, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl and mix. Mix it fast but mix it thoroughly.
- Shape the patties as quickly as you can and lay them out on a parchment paper covered metal tray. Remember that ground beef shrinks when it cooks so make the burger patties slightly bigger than the buns you plan to use.Tip: you can divide your meat into 8 oz. (1/2 lb.) patties which will give you 4 burgers, 6 oz. patties will give you 5 burgers and a sider, or 4 oz patties (1/4 lb.) that will give you 8 burgers. If you want to make sliders, they are typically 2-3 oz. so this recipe will give you 12-16 sliders.
- Season each patty with some more salt and pepper on both sides and cover the tray with plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for 2-4 hours before cooking. (If you need to, you can refrigerate overnight but make sure to cover the tray with plastic wrap air-tight.)
Cooking:
- Use your fingers to make a well in the center of each patty, about half way deep, before taking off the plastic wrap.
- Preheat a cooking pan over medium to medium high heat with a little oil. The pan should be hot when adding the burgers.
- Add burger patties and cook for 5-8 minutes per side, depending on how well you want them. Do not disturb the burgers while cooking.
- (Note that these are 1/2 lb patties, they will take a couple minutes longer than thin burgers to cook.)
- Take cooked patties out of the pan and let them rest on the plate for about 5 minutes before servings. Tent them loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil to keep warm.
- If adding cheese: place a slice of cheese on top of each patty 30-45 seconds before taking it off the pan. Toast the buns: to make the buns nice and toasty, preheat another pan, brush each bun with a little butter on the inside and place them in the pan buttered side down. Let them toast for a couple of minutes. Assembling: sauce always goes on the bun (personally I like to add sauce to top and bottom. Then, place a lettuce leaf over the sauce on the bottom (to catch burger juices) and then the burger patty. If you want to add more toppings you can place them under or over the burger.
Grilling Burgers:
- Clean and prepare the grill and make sure to preheat the grill first so it’s hot and ready. If using gas grill, set it to medium-high temperature but leave a cooler zone to the side.
- Spray each patty with some cooking spray before placing it on the grill. Remember to always grease the food not the grill grate. Place the burger patties over direct heat.
- Once on the grill, do not touch them again until ready to flip. Grill for 4-6 minutes per side, depending on how well you want them. Cooked for 4 minutes per side will be closer to rare and 7 minutes per side will be closer to well done.(If you want to tips and information about grilled burgers, check out our sister site!)
Video
Notes
- For medium-rare burgers – 130°-135°
- For medium – 140°-145°
- For medium well – 150°-155°
- For well done – 160°-165°
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
Figuring out which toppings are best on the burger is tough because everyone likes different ingredients. My top 3 toppings that I always have are cheese, bacon, and pickles. But there are so many more options:
Vegetables – tomatoes, lettuce, onion, ad pickles are your classic choices.
Other meat – bacon, prosciutto, ham, pulled pork, and pulled brisket are always popular.
Fried stuff – this could include fried onions, onion haystack, egg, fries, caramelized onions, and even shrimp.
Sauces – there are the classics like ketchup, mayo, and mustard that never disappoint. You can also go with BBQ sauces, hot sauce, creamy special sauce, teriyaki sauce, whiskey sauce, and any sauce you personally love.
Cheese – American cheese is the classic for a true burger but you can shake things up with absolutely any cheese you love.
No, it is not recommended to cook the patties from frozen. Make sure to thaw the frozen patties first and do it slowly in the refrigerator.
More Burger Recipes We Love
Burgers make great easy meals, you will also love my Chicken Burger, Salmon Burger, and Turkey Burgers!
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Categories:
4th Of July Recipes, Backyard BBQ Recipes, Beef Recipes, Burger Recipes, Father's Day Recipe Ideas, Lunch Recipe Ideas, Sandwich Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Thanks for this valuable information and thanks for sharing with everybody.
Jacqueline in Hollywood, Florida. I give you 10 stars!
Aw thank you, Jacqueline! I am so glad you like the recipe! 🙂
Fantastic! I had no idea about the egg, or seasoning inside. I also didn’t know about cooling and making a little well. Thank you Lyuba! –Dr. Tom
I am so glad you found it helpful!
what a delicious, Nice recipe. I will try this next Sunday at home. thanks for sharing.
I hope you like them, Aliza! 🙂
I just tried these burgers and they were so good! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome!