Best Homemade Hamburger Patties

Learn how to make homemade hamburger patties from scratch. It’s so easy, and it takes just a few minutes to enjoy restaurant-quality burgers at home. I'll share my tips and tricks with you so you can make hamburgers like a pro for BBQs and dinners. The secret to juicy burger patties is choosing the best ground beef and knowing when and how to season it. No more dry patties that are falling apart!

Enjoy them on toasted brioche buns, pretzel buns, or dinner rolls. If you love cheese, these patties are also delicious on cheeseburger and gourmet grilled cheese.

Jump to:

• Best ground beef
• Perfect weight
• Perfect size
• How to keep hamburgers from falling apart
• How and when to season
• How to freeze them
• Best toppings for classic burgers
• Photo tutorial
• Related recipes
• Recipe

Best ground beef

The best tasting hamburger meat for cooking on the grill or stovetop is ground chuck with a fat percentage of 20%. That means 80% lean meat and 20% fat. The higher fat content ensures that the burger meat patties are super juicy and full of flavor. If you choose leaner meat, such as ground sirloin or ground round, the patties tend to be dryer. Although a medium grind holds more moisture in, finely ground beef, as it is widely available in stores and butcher shops, is just fine. 

Do you love cooking with ground beef? Then my ground beef recipes post is for you (31 dinner recipes!).

Perfect weight

Perfect size

That beef patties shrink while cooking is a normal process as juices and fat render. However, you want your cooked patties to be about the same diameter as your burger buns. You can achieve that by simply shaping them about 1 inch (2.5cm) wider than the burger buns. Depending on the size of your burger buns, they should be about ⅓ inch (0.8mm) thin. 

How to keep hamburgers from falling apart

• Don’t overwork the beef – It’s best not to knead the ground beef at all, just divide it into equal parts and shape it into thin patties.
• Keep the meat cold – Prepare the patties and store them covered in the refrigerator until you use them. They will keep fresh for 1 day. 
• Use wax paper – Shape the patties directly on 6-inch (15cm) wax paper. Not only is it great to have the paper between the patties so you can easily stack them without sticking, but it’s also great to transfer the burgers to the pan with the paper. 
• Cook over high heat – The high heat seals the surface of the meat faster without losing too much of its juices. It creates a flavorful crust that holds the juicy patty together.
• Don’t press down on the hamburgers with a spatula – Otherwise, they lose all their flavorful juices, making them dry and likely to stick. 
• Cook with a stopwatch and watch for signs – For the beginning, I recommend cooking with a stopwatch to ensure that you don’t overcook the meat. With more experience, you can tell when it’s time to flip a patty. The cooking time for 3.5oz (99g) patties cooked in a grill pan over high heat is about 90 seconds on the first side. As soon as the edges start to turn grey and juices release on top of the patty, flip it. Cook on the second side for another 30 seconds to cook them perfectly to medium-well. Note: Cooking times may vary depending on how much the patties weigh, how you cook them and what equipment you use. I suggest cooking a test patty and going from there. Make a note of the time so that you can replicate the results.
• Flip only once – If you turn them more than once, they will dry out and be easy to overcook.

How and when to season

Salt and pepper the shaped beef patties on one side just before placing them (seasoned side down) in the pan or on the grill, and then season them on the second side just before you flip them. Do not work breadcrumbs, eggs, Worcester sauce, or spices into the beef, because then it is basically sausage or meatloaf, but no hamburger. Treat hamburgers like steaks (they are basically steaks). To make burgers, you don’t need anything except ground beef, salt, and pepper.

How to freeze them

After shaping, wrap them (with having the wax paper in-between, top, and the bottom of the patties) in plastic wrap twice and place in freezer bags or containers. They freeze well for up to 3 months. Let them thaw slowly in the refrigerator overnight. Then cook as directed.

Best toppings for classic burgers

If you like your burgers simple and classic, you will need the following toppings:

• Lettuce
• Raw Onion Rings (from large onions) or caramelized onions
• Slices of Tomato (from large tomatoes)
• Ketchup
• Mustard
• Pickles

I usually put my burgers together in this order: bun, ketchup, lettuce, hamburger, tomato, onion, cucumber, mustard, bun. If you are in the mood for a fancier burger with gourmet toppings such as guacamole, try my pretzel burger!

Photo tutorial

Recipe