Hamburger
Serves 4–6 Time 20 minutes Ingredients 9 Steps 11
A hamburger is a variant on a sandwich involving a patty of ground meat, usually beef (known in the United Kingdom as a beefburger), or a vegetarian patty. A slice of cheese on the patty makes it a cheeseburger, a common variation in the United States. It is popular in the United States.
Ingredients
- 500 g (1.1 lb) minced / ground beef
- Herbs and spices (optional; see suggestions)
- Cheese (optional; see suggestions)
- Vegetables (lettuce, sprouts, tomato, onion etc; optional)
- 1 hamburger bun per burger
- You can add a pat of butter or some cheese to the center of each burger before cooking.
- You can use almost any type of minced (ground) meat to make hamburgers, including pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, bison, venison, ostrich, or even a meat substitute such as Quorn. Some variations of hamburgers call for mixing different types of meat (e.g. ground beef and ground pork).
- Optional additions to burger patties prior to cooking include: black pepper, chili, Worcestershire Sauce, soy sauce, basil, oregano and parsley, minced garlic or garlic powder, onion flakes or diced onion, mustard, olive oil, cheese, butter, hot sauce, kosher salt, bread crumbs, and crushed crackers.
- Depending on the quality of your local beef, for example, you may wish to add some beef stock to improve the flavour. If you add any liquids, mix the ground beef well then squeeze out the extra juice when forming patties.
Steps
- Shape ground beef by hand into 4–6 patties from 500 g (1.1 lb) beef.
- If adding optional ingredients, season outside or mix into beef before forming patties. Mix minimally by hand; overworking makes mushy meat.
- Pan-fry or grill patties 4–5 minutes per side for burgers that are not too thick. Ensure cooked through: cut one open to check insides are browned, or insert meat thermometer in center; under 71°C (160°F) is undercooked.
- Rest several minutes before serving.
- Serve on bun, optionally with relish, sliced pickles, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, ranch dressing, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and/or onions.
- Do not over-mix meat; burger becomes tough, dense and dry. Mix in herbs or spices by hand, sparingly. Season outside of patties.
- Optional: smoke burgers on grill. Smoking before grilling seals in juices. Smoked burgers look red and glazed outside, browned inside.
- Press raw patties much thinner than desired finished burger, since edges shrink toward middle during cooking.
- Bring meat to room temperature before cooking.
- Add salt right before cooking patty.
- If burgers fall apart, add egg yolk, use lean ground beef (too lean is dry), and avoid mixing the meat.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Hamburger” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-05-20, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Lounge Burger with Bacon.jpg by Burgerlounge, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.