Buy An 80/20 Mix Of Ground Beef
A burger can be seasoned a hundred ways to Sunday, but it means nothing without a solid foundation. For a juicy, flavorful burger, skip the extra-lean ground beef patty blends and use ground beef with a higher fat content.
Ground beef with an 80/20 mix is the best for grilled burgersthis means a mix 80 percent lean beef and 20 percent fat. The 80/20 ground beef you would buy in the supermarket is usually ground chuck, which is great for burgers.
Raichlen actually prefers mixing ground chuck and ground sirloin to create his own mix of 80 to 83 percent beef and 17 to 20 percent fat
I opted for 80/20 ground chuck because its easily available in most supermarkets, but dont be afraid to ask your butcher to grind your own blend or grind a higher fat-to-beef ratio.
The Keys To Making The Hamburgers
Type of Beef To Use
First of all, be sure to use ground beef that has a lean-to-fat ratio of 80/20.
You want to have this percentage of fat to help keep the texture moist. Not to mention, the little bit of fat will add a little extra flavor to your burger.
If you use ground sirloin that has a typical 90/10 ratio, your grilled hamburgers will most likely turn out dry and crumbly.
Seasoning
Now that you know the best type of ground beef to use, it is time to add a little flavor to your homemade hamburgers.
Instead of going overboard with seasonings that over power the taste of a grilled burger, we prefer to keep it simple.
A little minced garlic and onion adds a delicious, yet subtle flavor to your burgers.
But the true secret seasoning that makes these grilled hamburgers the best ever is Worcestershire sauce!
The sauce adds a hint of savory and sweet flavors along with a distinct tang that makes your mouth water as you take each bite.
In fact, these burgers are so delicious that ketchup, mustard, or A-1 sauce is not even necessary!
Forming the Patties
Now that you have the ingredients, you must know that there are a couple of secrets to making the best homemade grilled hamburgers.
First of all, just like when making meatloaf, you do not want to overmix the meat.
Mixing your ingredients too much is a very common mistake that can really make hamburgers turn out with a tough, dry texture.
Just mix the ingredients until incorporated and then form the patties.
Want Sultry Smokier Burgers
McKee-Clark adds, Gas and propane grills take all the guesswork out for you since you can precisely control temperature. Charcoal grills are much harder to maintain a specific temperature, but oh boy, is it worth it to get that sweet, sweet smokey flavor!
For charcoal grilling, definitely use that meat thermometer.
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Elevate Your Sauce Game
A good sauce brings the entire meal together, but instead of using a typical bottle of ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise, make a creamy and tangy combination. A mix of ketchup, mayonnaise, honey, relish, salt, and apple cider vinegar. This is our familys secret sauce and it dramatically elevates these juicy beef burgers to gourmet levels.
Let The Flavors Mingle
Leave the meat mixture in the refrigerator for several hours to allow all the flavors to mingle. To form patties, wet your hands a little to keep the meat from sticking to them. If you make patties ahead of time, stack them on a plate separated by waxed paper and cover with plastic wrap before you put it in the refrigerator.
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When To Grill With The Lid Open Or Closed
Part of how to cook burgers on a gas grill is the lid do you keep it open or closed? There are definitely two schools of thought when it comes to this conundrum. Grill lid open or closed which is best and what should I do? Well, a little bit of both actually.
When cooking burgers on a gas grill with the lid open itwill take longer for the burgers to cook. You are losing heat when you open thelid, just like when you open your oven door. The temperature will go down.
However, leaving the lid open does give a darker sear on the burgers so you may want to give it a try. It is similar to searing on the stove. You are cooking it quickly to get that browning reaction on the outside. If you want to brown, but not necessarily that dark char then go ahead and close the lid.
Once you have that sear on your burgers you want to thenmove the burgers to the lower heated portion of the grill and close that lid.If you continue to leave the lid open, the food will continue to cook but itwill take longer and you then lose that juiciness in the burger you worked sohard to get!
If you decide to leave the lid closed from the beginning itwill allow heat to build which will make the burgers cook more quickly. If youare staying by the grill when cooking, which you should anyway, and keeping aneye on the burgers you can close the lid. Do this if you want to get theburgers done a bit more quickly.
Best Beef For Hamburgers
Lets talk about the best kind of beef for burgers. My favorite kind of ground beef is organic grass fed beef, because its sustainable and it has the most flavor.
Theres nothing like grass fed beef burgers. Theyre juicy, flavorful, and worth the extra money. Costco happens to sell grass fed beef in a 3 pack, which is the most cost effective way to purchase it.
I personally love the grass fed beef from Butcher Box. This is an affiliate link as Im part of their affiliate program, because I love their sustainable, organic meat!
Every great burger needs some fat content, as the fat is what makes them tender and juicy. I normally use the 80/20 ratio of 80% lean ground beef and 20% fat, and the burgers are perfect every time.
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The Best Hamburger Patties
What makes this absolutely the Best Hamburger Patty Recipe?
These burgers offer a rich and meaty taste, with a punch of zesty herbs that can be customized with your preferred flavors. A few simple key ingredients help to consistently create juicy hamburger patties, no matter which cooking method you prefer.
And while youll love the terrific savoriness of these homemade hamburgers on their own, they are excellent for loading with your favorite toppings to create truly one helluva great burger. This is sure to be your go-to recipe for easy burger patties from scratch!
How Long To Grill Hamburgers
- After about 5 or 6 minutes, or until you see juices start to collect on top of the patty. I like to call this burger sweat . This is a sure sign that the meat is cooking through in the middle, which pushes the juices to the top. In addition, you will see the edges start to brown. Once the juices and browning show up, flip the burgers and grill an additional 3 minutes on the other side. Times depend on heat of the grill, so wait for the juices to tell you how long.
- As for our disclaimer, the USDA recommends 160 degrees for all ground beef. Don’t take a chance, use a good instant-read thermometer like the Thermapen and check the USDA’s latest recommendations and our handy meat temperatures chart. If you are an iPhone owner, check out our free MeatTemps app to look up the correct internal temps for meat. If you are making cheeseburgers, now is the time to slap the cheese on and close the lid just long enough to melt the cheese.
- Remove the burgers from the grill and let them sit for about 5 minutes while you toast a few buns on the grill!
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How To Form A Perfect Patty
The two most important rules of burger making are to keep the meat cold and avoid overworking it. Its easy to violate both rules while forming patties, but it can be avoided with care and attention. For starters, keep your beef in the refrigerator until the moment youre ready to form the patties . When you keep the fat as cold as possible, it will rapidly expand when it hits the heat of the grill, creating delicious flavor pockets inside the patty.
Start by wetting your hands with cold water to keep the meat from sticking to your warm hands. Then, cup the portioned beef in your hands to form a lightly-packed ball. Be careful not to overpack it, which can lead to a dense burger. Then, press the ball down into a disk thats roughly one-inch thick and just over three inches wide. You can use your thumbs to smooth out the edges. To form the patties like a restaurant chef, use a tool to create perfectly formed patties. You can press the beef down using the lid of a large sour cream container or a peanut butter jar lid lined with plastic wrap.
Before you pop the patties back into the refrigerator, press a small indentation into the center of the patty. Creating a dimple helps the patty cook more evenly on the grill. If youre planning to cook the burgers inside on a skillet, make a doughnut hole in the center of the patty instead.
Which Ground Beef To Use For Grilling Burgers
Ground chuck is the most popular ground beef to use for burgers. The higher fat amount gives great flavor and keeps the burger moist while not being overly expensive.
Maintaining a 15-20% fat content is the perfect targetin a ground beef to make a great moist grilled burger. Ground meats can be mixed for different flavors even combinations like beef and chorizo, beef and ground pork or different types of ground beef. Just keep the fat content in that 15-20% sweet spot!
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Whats The Best Way To Grill
Burgers like high heat. This helps form that exterior crust. Cook them on the non-dimpled side first over direct heat. Once a crust develops, flip them over and cook on the other side. Do not press down on the burger. When you do this, youre beating up that poor burger and pressing all the juices out.
How To Smoke Burgers
Preheat your grill. Then, set the temperature to 225 degrees F. Make sure you have topped it up with wood pellets of your choice.
When the grill has reached the correct temperature, place hamburger patties on the grill.
Cook for about 1 hour at 225 degrees F until the internal temperature of the burgers, measured in the middle of the thickest part, reaches 165 degrees.
Once the hamburgers reach 165 degrees, turn up the grill to 400 degrees F. Slide open the flame broiler slider using tongs, and now you can sear your burgers over an open wood fire. This gives the burgers a lovely char on the outside and the grill lines. Don’t go anywhere! This step goes fast!
- Place patties on grill
- Cook for 1 hour until 165 degrees internal temperature
- Sear for 2 minutes and flip
Sear burgers for 2 minutes, then flip burgers, add cheese , and cook for 2 minutes more. That’s it. Serve on buns or wrapped in lettuce if you are on the keto diet or a low-carb diet, and add your favorite condiments and sides. Now enjoy the best burger you ever tasted.
- Add cheese on top
- Remove cooked burgers from grill with tongs
- Enjoy!
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Best Meat For Burgers
The long and winding road to burger glory begins way before its time to fire up the grill. The most important part of crafting the perfect hamburger is actually making sure youve got the right meat to get the job done.
When youre using a recipe to make a burger, youll normally be asked to use ground beef but if you see anything in the store thats simply labelled ground beef, its normally just code for some random collection of cuts that have all been mushed together.
We recommend you go with one of three more identifiable and consistent specific types of ground beef.
Your burger will only be as good as the meat that you choose, so choose wisely. Lean beef makes for dry burgers.
Flip Don’t Press Your Burgers
Once you put those patties on the grill, dont press them down. Pressing forces the fat and flavor out the burgers, which results in dry, bland patties.
However, feel free to frequently flip your burgers. Raichlen once believed it was best to let the burger be and only flip once during cooking, but he has since changed his tune and sites research that says it frequent flipping cooks a burger more evenly.
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What Makes The Best Hamburger
I have found that everyone has different schools of thought on what makes the best hamburger. Some prefer fewer ingredients making the quality of meat stand out on its own, others love added tons of spices and even zesty herbs.
Heres the main factor I found makes the best hamburgergood quality ground beef that is 80% lean and 20% fat. Honestly, you need the fat in the ground beef to give you a nice juicy burger. Its really the most important thing in my opinion.
Now as far as other ingredients, I prefer adding a few spices to give a little more flavor. However, I have a friend that when he comes over, I know he doesnt like any spices on his burger besides just a little sprinkle of salt and pepper, so I appease him and make them that way.
I do love adding some salt, garlic powder, and onion powder to mine but you can make yours however you would like.
What Meat Makes The Best Burgers
When choosing the best kind of meat for hamburgers there are different ideas out there, but our favorite kind is Ground Beef but make sure that it is 80% lean and 20% fat. You dont want to go any leaner than that because you will end up with a dry burger, and who wants that?
Another great meat option when making homemade hamburger patties is:
Ground Chuck Comes from the shoulder area of the cow where it contains more fat. The extra fat adds in some extra flavor and really stands out in a hamburger.
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Using A Charcoal Vs Gas Grill
The charcoal vs gas grill debate is long and storied, and they both have their pros and cons. Gas grills heat up more quickly, and its easier to control the heat by turning a knob. On the downside, they tend to have hot spots, so youll need to move the burgers around the grill to make sure they all cook evenly. A charcoal grill can infuse more smoky flavor into your burgers, but it takes longer to heat up and learning how to adjust the vents to increase or decrease the heat is a process.
In the end, any type of grill will make a delicious burger, so use the one youre most comfortable with.
The Secret To Juicy Hamburgers
The secret to the best juicy burger recipe is to use nice fatty beef! You want a good quality ground beef or ground chuck. If you can get it from a butcher thats always the best quality ground beef. Remember I said a fatty ground beef, that means it needs to be at least 80% lean 20% fat.
You may even hear some restaurants use 70% lean and 30% fat, but you may find it too greasy, so go with my recommendation.
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What Is The Ideal Meat For Burgers
The rule of the thumb is The Quality of your burger depends on the type of meat used. To cook the best burger ever, you need the best meat type. For cooking burgers, the ideal beef here is Ground beef.
Why? This is because the Ground beef is packed in so much rich flavor. It comes in types perfect for making hamburgers. Many of the processed Ground beef you find in the store are usually random cuts mixed with Ground Beef.
However, in selecting Ground beef, we recommend you go for the following types based on the concentration of fat content. Picking any of these types will give an idea of the Lean-to fat ratio and lets you know what cut the meat came from.
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Ground Chuck: The Ground Chuck is the richest of all Ground Beef types. This ground beef is cut from the shoulder and has a 15-20 percent fat content. The fat content provides a sweet spot when cooking your burger to prevent it from drying.
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Ground Rounds: What characterizes the Ground round is the fact that it is lean and tough. It comes with a fat content below 10 percent, which doesnt provide the best flavor for your burger.
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Ground Sirloin: This is the Ground beef type usually cut from the mid-section. With the Ground sirloin, you get a tasty beef section as it has a fat content of around 10- 15 percent.
