Best Burgers

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualified purchases linked in this post.

Dairy-Free/Nut-Free/Gluten-Free option

Skill Level: Beginner

Yield: 4 (1/4 lb.) burgers

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 10-15 minutes

Equipment Needed:

• Chef's knife

• Cutting board

• Large mixing bowl

• Grilling spatula

• Serrated tomato knife (optional)

The Recipe:

This recipe is adapted from a recipe from the website 3 Boys and a Dog

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs (see tips below for gluten-free options)

• 1 1/2 teaspoon ketchup

• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

• 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

• 1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1/2 small yellow onion, minced

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)

• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or more to taste)

• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (such as Lawry's)

• Hamburger buns and desired toppings, for serving

Procedure:

1. Oil your grill grates using a folded paper towel with a little olive oil (see photo in tips).

2. Preheat grill to medium-high.

3. Add all ingredients to a large bowl. Use your hands to mix all ingredients together until just combined. Do not overwork the beef as it can become tough.

4. Divide beef mixture into 4 equal pieces.

5. Form each piece into a ball using both hands, making sure they all look about the same size (adjust as necessary).

6. Keeping your thumbs in the center of each ball, push down with your thumbs as your use your fingers to stretch the patty outwards, much as you might do if you were forming a pizza crust. Your goal is to form a symmetrical patty that does not have any cracks along the edges, that has an indentation in the center (see photos in tips section below).

7. Place patties on the grill with the indentation facing up. Grill for about 5 minutes.

8. Use spatula to check the underside of one of the patties. It should have defined grill lines and should lift easily off the grill grate; if it sticks it's not ready.

9. If patties are ready, flip them over, turn the grill heat down to medium, and close the grill.

10. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then check the underside for grill marks and easy removal from the grill grates. If they seem ready, add cheese (if desired) to patties at this point.

11. Close grill and turn heat down to medium-low; let cheese melt for 2-3 minutes.

To Serve: These burgers are great with any of your favorite toppers (I like cheddar or pepper jack cheese/lettuce/tomato/onion/pickle/ketchup/spicy brown mustard). I usually like serving burgers with a green salad, pasta salad or tater tots.

Adjusting for your diet: To make these burgers gluten-free, omit the breadcrumbs and substitute breadcrumbs made from gluten-free bread or gluten-free crackers as a binder. Be sure to check the label on your Worcestershire sauce to make sure it's gluten-free, some are not. You could then serve these burgers without the bun or even wrapped up in a big piece of iceberg lettuce to make a lettuce wrap.

Tips:

• Here are a few photos to help visualize a couple of the steps above:

Oiling the grill grates.

Forming the burger patties.

Grilling the first side.

Grilling the second side.

• If you're feeding a crowd, this recipe could easily be multiplied by 2, 4, etc. to yield more burgers.

• I like to wear a food-safe latex glove when I mix everything together, mostly because I don't love getting ground beef underneath my fingernails :)

• I buy 80/20 ground beef for this recipe, I think when burgers are too lean they get a little tough.

• You can buy Italian bread crumbs, but it's just as easy to make them yourself! I save the ends of my bread loaves in the freezer and once I accumulate a bag of them, I throw them in the food processor and process until they form fine crumbs. Then, I store the crumbs in the freezer where they will keep for about 3 months and I will have bread crumbs on hand. To make Italian bread crumbs, I just add about 1/2 tsp. of Italian seasoning per 1/4 c. of bread crumbs and combine.

• I've shredded my own cheese for this recipe as well as used pre-shredded and I haven't noticed a big difference in taste. I've also used pre-shredded Mexican cheese and thought that worked just fine as well, so I'd say use what you have on hand.

• If you like to make cheeseburgers, cut cheese pieces into smaller pieces, about the size of half a playing card. This way you can piece them together on the individual patties, since no two patties will be exactly the same size/shape.

• There are so many topping ideas for burgers! I love lettuce, red onion (sometimes I'll do pickled red onion), tomato (use a serrated knife to slice a tomato for easier tomato slices; see photo in the story), ketchup and spicy brown mustard. My husband is a die-hard fan of Plochman's yellow mustard. Occasionally I will make a sweet "pub sauce" that tastes great on burgers of all types, too!

A serrated knife makes tomato slicing a snap.

• I like layering some of my toppings underneath the burger patty (lettuce and pickles in particular); I think it helps keep everything together better than if you try to jenga everything on top of the burger.

• I highly recommend toasting your hamburger buns, if you're serving them. I cut the buns in half and slather them with butter, then my husband reports that he lets them sit on the upper rack of the grill for a few minutes while the cheese on the burgers melts. This allows the butter to start melting (and as an added bonus...maybe a drop or two of melted butter hits the top of your burgers as they're finishing up...). Once the burgers are done, he moves them down and grills them for about 1 minute on top of the grates where the burgers were grilling. You could easily toast them without the butter as well, I just love butter :)

I heart butter.

Toasting those buns!

The Story:

I love a good burger in the summertime. What's better than sitting on the deck, sipping on something cold and delicious, and sinking your teeth into a tasty burger?!

The burger mix, before mixing.

I tried a few different burger mixes before I settled on this one. Although it does have a few ingredients, it comes together super quickly and considering the only ingredients you are chopping are the onion and garlic, the prep is pretty minimal.

LTO, the classic burger toppings. If I'm making these for a crowd, I'll get a whole bunch of these sets ready and line them up on a tray/platter for guests to easily grab.

Like tacos, I think one thing I love about burgers is how customizable they are. If you make burgers while entertaining and have a bunch of topping/sauce options available, everyone can make their own burger just how they like. Avocado, hot sauce, a fried egg...the possibilities are endless :)

Happy tasting!