In less than 5 minutes you can make ground beef patties for burgers. This recipe makes 4 half-pound patties. Finish your homemade hamburger patties by making grilled burgers, sous vide, smoked, or in a cast-iron skillet.
Let’s make the most juiciest burger recipe ever…
Table of Contents
Ingredients
You just need a few things to make ground beef patties for burgers.
- Delicious ground beef (try wagyu beef or 80 lean / 20 fat ground beef)
- Seasonings. In this simple hamburger patty recipe, you’ll see salt and pepper. You could add a dash of garlic powder, too.
How to make burger patties from ground beef
Step 1. Add ground beef to a large bowl.
Break it up gently with hands or a spoon.
Add the salt and pepper to the ground beef. Mix seasonings with the ground beef gently until integrated.
Step 2. Separate the burger meat into four 8-ounce thick patties.
Form a ball, then flatten the burgers into disc shapes, a little bigger than the burger buns they’ll go on.
Push down the center of the burgers, if desired, to make a 2-3” indent.
Add an additional sprinkle of salt and pepper to the outside of the burgers, if desired.
Finish hamburger patties any way you’d like. I usually make a big batch at a time, and freeze some for making sous vide burgers later.
Meal prepping tip: it’s better to vacuum seal burgers from frozen. Learn more in this guide on how to vacuum seal meat.
For a classic burger, top with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and your sauce of choice.
Gourmet topping ideas for burgers
- A fancy cheese like gruyere, feta, or blue cheese crumbles
- Sauteed onions and peppers
- Caramelized onions
- Sautéed mushrooms
- Tzatziki sauce (like in this sous vide lamb burger recipe)
- Red wine caramelized red onions
- Make it a “farm burger” and top with sous vide pork or sous vide bacon
- Sous vide onions
- Sous vide bacon
- Red cabbage and carrot slaw
There are so many ways to cooking beef burger recipes once your patties are formed. Grill, sous vide, air fry burgers, cook them low and slow in the slow cooker, or cook them in a cast iron skillet. Learn more about sous vide hamburgers in The Home Chef’s Sous Vide Cookbook.
More easy ways to season ground beef patties
The basic salt and pepper tastes just great in these ground beef hamburger patties. But, if you’re a spice-aholic like me, here are more seasonings you can add:
- A super light sprinkle of ultra-powerful ultra-powerful black garlic sea salt.
- Texas-style bbq salt.
- For campfire burger vibes: liquid smoke and hickory smoked black pepper.
- For an enhanced flavor, add some worcestershire sauce and garlic powder.
- Adding spice blend that’s on the spicy side? Add a little brown sugar to balance out the heat.
If you really want a good burger with surprisingly juicy flavor, check out how to finish hamburgers with a mayo sear.
Like pizza? Try my smoked pizza or this taco-inspired ground beef pizza.
Homemade Burger FAQs
Using this hamburger patty recipe is a good start, because there aren’t a lot of ingredients. When you add in other ingredients, you’re adding in other variables to the burgers which can make burger meat fall apart. Also, using ground beef that is too lean (95% or above) doesn’t have enough fat content in it to stay together easily.
No, homemade burgers don’t need eggs to bind them. Other ground beef recipes like these low carb meatballs need eggs to help bind the ingredients because they have additional dry ingredients like bread crumbs and onions. Using this recipe to make beef burgers does not require any eggs. The few ingredients is why this is a very easy burger recipe.
I will try them with almost any topping – except peanut butter. Well, maybe I’d try that but I’ve seen it out at some of the best Portland restaurants, but haven’t ordered it! My husband Patrick swears the best burger patty recipe is a toss up between plain ol’ BBQ sauce and fried onions, or something with fancy cheese – like blue cheese or gouda.
If you have leftover hamburger meat from this recipe, use it on a leftover Philly cheesesteak pizza instead of cooking up coulotte or flank steaks for the topping. Make sheet pan beef tacos. Or make a taco style homemade pizza with store bought dough. Or use it to make the ultimate family favorite comfort food… add smoked mashed potatoes to make a shepherds pie.
So many tasty recipes with ground beef to try…
When we have a pound of ground beef and don’t know what to do with it, some of our favorite Italian dishes are baked rigatoni with ground beef or stuffed shells with meat. Or brown the beef and add it to a simple pasta sauce.
Gourmet burger recipes from Sip Bite Go to check out…
- Smoked burgers
- Onion smash burgers
- See how to make hamburger patties step by step
- GUIDE: how long to grill burgers
- Sous vide burgers
- Mayo seared sous vide burgers
- Sous vide lamb burgers
- Smoked bacon wrapped burgers
- Bacon wrapped burgers
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Final tips for making beef patties from scratch
- Final reminder on how to season hamburgers… Season the inside and outside of ground beef patties. Not just the outside!
- Don’t overmix the ground beef – just like when you make smoked meatloaf, you just want to gently combine the ingredients and form discs.
- Cook raw ground beef patties as desired on the grill, with a sous vide machine, or in a cast-iron skillet.
More Tasty Grill + Smoker Recipes
- Smoked mac and cheese
- Smoked cream cheese
- Smoked brisket flat
- 321 ribs
- Beer can chicken on the smoker
- Smoked wings
- Smoked tomahawk steak
- Traeger tri tip
- Smoked turkey breast
- Whole smoked turkey
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- Smoked onion rings
- Traeger smoked ham
- Smoked whole chicken
- Smoked jalapeno poppers
- Smoked corn on the cob
- Traeger beef ribs
- Smoked leg of lamb
- Smoked shrimp
- Grilled chicken wings
- Grilled skirt steak
- Flank steak marinade
- Grilled potato wedges
- Smoked pulled pork
- Want more? See my lineup of easy smoker recipes
See my favorite smoker tools and seasonings in my Amazon Storefront.
Meat thermometer recommendations
Every home chef needs a reliable meat thermometer to cook food perfectly.
On Sip Bite Go, you’ll often see me using:
- Meater thermometer – a fancy wireless thermometer that connects to a phone app – gifted to me from a Traeger partnership.
- ThermoPro digital thermometer – which has a wire that connects the thermometer to a display box outside the oven/grill.
It’s like being psychic! The great thing about either of the thermometers above is that I don’t have to take the food out of the oven to know the temperature.
How to use ‘em… What I do is stick the digital thermometer in steak, pork, chicken, whatever… Then put the food in the oven, on the smoker, or grill.
While the meat cooks, it reads the temperature so I know exactly what temp meat is as it’s cooking. Without having to take it out and check. It’s really difficult to overcook food when you know exactly what temp it is inside!
Taste the difference of beef patties made from scratch
Hey foodies, I’m excited for you to dabble in your own DIY hamburger recipes. They’re easier to make than you’d think! To see what I’m cooking next, find me on Instagram @sipbitego. And subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel for my best recipes.
Simple Ground Beef Patties For Burgers Recipe [Sip Bite Go]
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef (wagyu or 80/20 blend)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Add ground beef to a large mixing bowl. Break it up gently with hands or a spoon. Add the salt and pepper to the ground beef. Mix the ground beef and seasonings until integrated.
- Separate the burger meat into four 8-ounce patties. Form a ball, then flatten the burgers into disc shapes, a little bigger than the burger buns they’ll go on. Push down the center of the burgers, if desired, to make a 2-3” indent. Add an additional sprinkle of salt and pepper to the outside of the burgers, if desired.
Video
Notes
- Seasoning the inside and outside of ground beef patties makes sure they’re packed with flavor throughout.
- Don’t over mix the ground beef – gently combine the ingredients and form discs.
- This ground beef recipe works for any burger cooking technique. Cook ground beef patties as desired on the grill, with a sous vide machine, or in a cast-iron skillet.
Janell Sieber says
Delicious hamburgers recipe
Uche says
Will use this recipe every time I make beef patties. Please send response to my email. Thank you,
CindyH says
I’ve made hamburgers for so many years with all kinds of spices, but this recipe with simple S & P is by far my favorite. So simple that I never thought to try it. Haha. I was in a hurry today so I searched up a simple burger recipe and found yours. Thanks!
Jenna Passaro says
Funny how that works out sometimes! I also love to add a million spices to things so I get it 🙂 Cheers.
david says
Don’t use wagyu, that’s an expensive cut of meat made for steaks and slow roast due to the high fat content, reducing it to make hamburger patties with an 80/20 balance is such a waste of the flavor.
Marie says
I don’t think that’s what they are saying. They said use wagyu OR 80/20. The fat content of the wagyu makes it juicy. I do however agree that it’s an expensive cut of meat. Which is probably why they gave the option 🤷🏽♀️
ashok says
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Giles says
Perfect for my son in law’s cookout.