The best hamburger recipes are made with nothing more than beef, salt and pepper. I’m talking the ones you get from good steakhouses and diners. A great crust on the outside, juicy, beef and tender on the inside.
Homemade hamburgers are made for piling on toppings of choice. So don’t let anyone tell you what should and shouldn’t go on your burger!
Hamburger recipe
In my youth, I learned how to make hamburgers from a celebrity chef who insisted that you needed breadcrumbs, egg and seasonings for a truly great burger. And that’s how I made it for years, thinking that was the right way.
After multiple trips to the States (sorry Australia, but no one does burgers like America!), too many burgers, and watching countless cooking shows, meeting chefs, caterers and restauranteurs, I’ve been converted to the right way.
A great beef hamburger patty requires nothing more than beef.
No flavourings other than salt and pepper. Just a nice fatty beef mince – even from the supermarket.
Best Hamburger Patties
The secret to a truly great homemade hamburger recipe is to use beef that’s nice and fatty. Ideally, a good quality ground beef / mince from a butcher, but nowadays, supermarkets sell very good quality beef too.
When it comes to cooking with meat, here’s a big takeaway from this hamburger recipe: fat = flavour. If you mix pork fat into lean beef then cook it up, you’d swear you’re eating pork.
Thus, the big secret is revealed. The very best burgers you’ve had are made with nothing more than fatty beef, salt and pepper. That’s the way it’s done at all your favourite burger joints and diners (McDonald’s aside, because who knows the secret spices in those burgers??).
Tip: Dent the Hamburger Patty
If you’ve ever had your burgers shrink into little domes, you’ll love this little tip.
Dent the surface of the patty using your fingers. You’ll still get some shrinkage, but substantially less. Great tip I picked up from Bobby Flay!
What to put on Hamburgers
As a food blogger, it’s sometimes hard to resist making food look crazy irresistible. I confess to being a sucker for this, and such is the case with the first hamburger recipe I published, pictured below, with that mouth watering runny yolk and golden crispy bacon.
Truth be told, I never order burgers fully loaded. Because classic hamburgers done right are crazy delicious as they are, and also for practical reasons – whose mouth is big enough to shove THIS in????
For me, if you’ve got a big, juicy hamburger patty topped with melted cheese, all you need is a big dollop of a condiment of choice (relish, ketchup, mustard, mayo), lettuce, tomato and pickles.
Everything else is optional.
Though as an Aussie, excluding beetroot from the list of “must haves” may be considered a blasphemy!!! – Nagi x
PS I’m a sucker for hamburgers on the BBQ, but ironically, I usually make them on the stove because it’s easier midweek.
More Burgers, Sliders and Sandwiches
-
Chicken Burger – juicy seasoned chicken breast steak with the lot!
-
Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken Burger – chicken marinated in a homemade flavour bomb Peri Peri sauce
-
Cubanos – The famous Cuban roast pork sandwich from The Chef movie
-
Pastrami Sandwiches – Rye bread piled high with homemade pastrami. EPIC!
-
Veggie Burger – Meatless made amazing. Puts those doughy bricks at the shops to shame!
-
Browse all Burgers and Sandwiches & Sliders recipes
How to make hamburgers
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Hamburger Recipe
Ingredients
Hamburger Pattie
- 800g - 1kg / 1.6 - 2 lb ground beef (mince), 20%+ fat (Note 1)
- Salt and pepper
- 3 onions, peeled and sliced into rings
- 2 tbsp oil
- 4 - 8 slices cheese of choice, I use Swiss (optional)
Hamburger
- 4 soft hamburger buns, lightly toasted
- Lettuce, tomato slices
- Ketchup, mustard, relish, sliced pickles
On the side
Instructions
- Separate beef into 4 equal portions. Use hands to lightly form into patties the size of your buns (mine are about 10 cm / 4") - don't press hard, light fingers = soft juicy patties (see video for how I do this).
- Season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Make a dent on one side (stop burger from become dome shape and shrinking when cooking).
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy based skillet or BBQ over high heat. Add onion and cook until wilted and caramelised. Season with salt and pepper, then remove.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil until smoking. Add patties and cook for 2 minutes until deep golden with a great crust. Do not press! Flip carefully, cook for 1 minute then top with cheese (if using). Cover with lid and cook for further 1 minute until cheese is melted.
- Meanwhile, toast the cut side of the buns lightly.
- To serve: Spread base of buns with sauce / condiment of choice. Top with lettuce then tomato, then hamburger patty. Pile over onions, sliced pickles, then more sauce/condiments. Top with lid of bun. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Originally published 2016 with this recipe. Recipe updated and improved in May 2018.Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
This inflatable cone (the alternative to the plastic Cone of Shame) – he loves it. It’s like an inbuilt pillow. He’s been like this for hours! (Yeah, he ain’t cute when he sleeps!)
“Oh contrair” (sp!?)…I think The Doze is dead cute in peaceful slumber…even one pearly fang exposed. Soft cones, best invention ever. Hope vets get on the bandwagon and ditch those punitive plastic monstrosities in favour of the softies.
Thanks for upholding burger purity! Those obnoxious, but perhaps uber-tasty giants (see Rachael Ray’s 8″ high, five pound creations) are just too unwieldy for normal humans. Gimme the beef, a few tried and true condiments, touch of veg (I agree, beets…pickled…DO belong in there and/or pickled red cabbage) and a good but soft-ish bun… Heaven!
Pearly fang exposure – BA HA HA!!! And I’m so glad you agree re: burger purity! Runny yolk, bacon and all those other towering burger creations are TOTALLY impractical!!
I, for one, love those big pictures. I can see every juicy bit. So good to hear Dozer is doing well. I’m liking that pillow. We hope to get another dog so I’ll keep it in mind. I’ve never had a dog that hasn’t had to wear the cone of shame at some point.
It worked SO WELL Martha! Stupidly, I didn’t plan in advance so I had to pay retail at the pet shop, but you can get much better value ones online!
Love that you are redoing some of your classic recipes. This hamburger is drool worthy! Would love to be Dozer for just one day!! That’s the LIFE! Take care Nagi.
Thank you!! I like it too 🙂 Gives me a chance to add videos and redo photos! N xx
Looks fabulous and the pictures are, well, picture perfect! However, these old senior eyes are having a real problem with the tiny print on your blog. Wonder if I’m the only one?
Oh Linda, I didn’t know! Have you tried increasing the text for everything on your computer? There should be a setting that makes the font bigger on everything! 🙂
Come on Nagi. Let those IT folks reduce the size of your images. They have tools just for that. We don’t need to be looking at the old stuff.
Hey!! I redid everything in this post! 🙂 And there are tools that can run across my entire site but the images get smushed and you lose loads of quality, whereas I can make photos the same size with the quality much better if I do it outside my website 🙂 Thus – decision to redo my favourite recipes, and then auto smush the others 🙂
I tried this tonight and it was delicious! However, I HAD to have missed something! Every single one completely fell apart. So we had chunks of cheeseburgers instead of a patty. Any thoughts??? I am baffled!
Egg? It’s the uptime food-glue! 🙂 N x
Nagi, fully agree with your way of making burgers, have been doing it like this for years.
Less is better and good meat tastes fantistic on its own.
I also had a few times the burgers became “sloppy Joes” and contributed it to the consistency of the meat. Not enough fat? don’t know for sure. But “massaging” the patty (a little) longer, without compressing it, sort of melts the fat biding it better. No need for the eggs, apart from one on top of the burger. Great recipe….
Do you mean they fell apart??? I had some friends worried about that when I told them about this recipe but I swore the meat holds together if they pat it together with light fingers and they always reported back with success!!!
Sorry, not your recipe burgers. But happend sometimes many moons ago. So don’t feel guilty.
Cheers, Rein
Phew! 🙂 N x
It helps keep the burger together if you “pack” the meat a bit when shaping the patties. You don’t want to pack them too tight or you will get that funky texture like machine formed patties have but a little bit of pressure will make them just right texture-wise and keep them from falling apart. Then just flip gently and you should be good to go. You should only need to flip once and for the love of all that is holy please refrain from pressing on them with the back of the spatula.
Erika – you are speaking my language 🙂 N xx
looks fantastic! what kind of Parmesan grated or shredded?
Grated is best! 🙂 N x
qdo vc vier ao Brasil quero te ver
OMG!!! This is the best recipe ever, beef hamburgers with a beer and me alone on the sofa watching something I like. 🙂 Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
That’s fantastic to hear Boyan! Thank you for letting me know – N xx
Just made this for dinner. I am a vegetarian (but the rest of the family is not) and even I will have to admit that the burgers smelled really good when I was cooking these in my cast iron skillet. These held their shape really well and turned out to be very juicy inside (according to my husband). This will be my go to burger recipe from now on.
Thanks again Nagi, for a quick but delicious recipe 🙂
Glad your family enjoyed it Pakriti, thanks for letting me know! N xx
Hello, I would like to make this burger, but I have a question. Does the egg go in the beef pattie, cuz you say combine the beef burger ingredients.
Hi JJ! So you need to combine all the ingredients listed under the Beef Burger heading 🙂 Then there is also egg cooked separately and piled onto the burger! 🙂 N xx
OMG…these were so so sooo delicious,we had it tonight,my husband and my son finished their burgers in just 5mins(when im just about to start eating mine)???,both of them turned to ravenous mood ha ha ha.. thanks again..best burger!
HIGH FIVE! I’m so happy that you tried and enjoyed this Jemayma, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Ohhhhh….I know I know!! I have just NEVER gotten into beetroot on burgers! It slips out when you bite into it and stains everything red….. DON’T CRUCIFY ME!!! ?
These were incredible!! Thank you so much for this recipe. Everything about it:) I did mine on the BBQ and they turned out amazing 🙂
Hurrah! So glad you enjoyed it Laura, THANK YOU for letting me know! N x
Hi Ms. Nagi……… the pictures are awesome! would love to try these :))
what are the green thingies in the burger patties?
Hi Alma! Holy moly that’s a good pick up. I think some chopped parsley on the cutting board must’ve gotten stuck?? How odd! I mean, parsley or other herbs would not hurt to add but aren’t necessary!
Although I’m usually all about healthy meals I must confess that I am absolutely OBSESSED with burgers. There’s a thing called Burger Night in my house and truth to be told, it’s happening once a week #oops. I know, it’s bad. But baby it’s cold outside! haha. I’m not even the one making them, my husband does and he’s become so good at it that I don’t even dare making them myself anymore haha. I will tell him about the dent in the patties, it’s a great tip! I seriously wish I could reach to your burger through my screen and just devour it!!
These burgers do look fantastic.
Thank you Barbara!! 🙂
Damn Nagi….when I was a meat eater this is def the way I would have had my burger…AND the way I still make the burgers for my friends…except now I serve them super meaty and delicious veggie burgers…that I swear you will never know the difference!!!! And yes the dent is def the best kept secret!
When? I thought it was…..Cheagan??
I am sitting at my desk at work with a huge drool stain on my shirt……thanks Nagi 🙂 I so love your recipes!
BA HA HA!! You paint quite a picture Josie!!!! ❤️
Bacon, egg and cheese on a burger; so drool-worthy!
Can’t really go wrong! 🙂
OMG … I have NEVER seen such a drool-inducing burger in my life. And no, I’m not exaggerating. This is truely a want-to-dive-into-the-screen post.
YES to putting worcestershire and ketchup in the burger meat! 🙂
Thank you so much Helen!!! High praise coming from you!❤️
Naaaa, don’t dive in, just come BACK TO AUS and I’ll make these for you at your welcome home parteeeeee!!!!