The goal is to have a tender, juicy burger that stays together and fits within the bun. Here’s what to know to get the perfect patty every time!
Temperature Matters
It’s common practice to bring meat to room temperature before cooking, but when making hamburgers, break that habit. Warm hamburger, combined with warm hands, will make the fat melt too quickly on the grill and leave you with a dry burger. Keep the ground beef refrigerated right up until it’s time to season and press into patties, then either grill immediately or cover in plastic wrap and put back in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Handle That Meat Mixture with Care!
Ground beef consists of both lean meat and fat. The goal is for the two parts to stick together once pressed. If the patties are overworked, the resulting hamburger will be dry and crumbly. The secret to a tender burger is handling the beef as little as possible: place the beef in a large bowl, and then gently fold any seasonings into the ground beef. Don’t spend more than 30-45 seconds mixing. To tell if the beef is mixed properly, Senior Editor Summer Miller recommends scooping a tablespoon of mixture, pressing it between your palms, and then turning your hand over. If the meat sticks, then it’s well mixed and ready to be pressed into patties.
How Big?
Hamburger patties will shrink a little when cooked, so make the patties one inch thick and one inch larger than the bun. Most buns are around three inches, so a four-inch patty is a good starting point. If new to patting out burger patties, remove the guesswork by tracing the desired sized circles onto parchment paper before shaping.
How to Shape Burger Patties
Senior Editor Summer Miller created a clever method for shaping burger patties: Start with a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Wet your hands to keep the meat from sticking, then place 5-ounce mounds of beef on the parchment paper. Press each mound gently in the center with the palm of one hand, while the other hand cups the beef and helps shape it into a circle. The end result should be a depression, or dimple, in the middle of the patty with a 1/2-inch lip around the edge. Because burgers puff up in the center when grilling (and shrink everywhere else), that indentation ensures the end result will be a perfectly flat hamburger!
Burger Recipes to Get Your Grill On!
Blue Cheese Burgers Grilled Mushroom Swiss Burger Jamaican Jerk Burger Greek Lamb Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce Hawaiian Pork Burger
