How To Grill Perfect Hamburgers

Are you tired of the same old dry and bland burgers? With this tutorial on how to grill perfect hamburgers, you will learn everything you need to know about grilling amazing burgers that are juicy and bursting with flavor!

Being confident at the grill is not as difficult as you might think. Learning and mastering how to grill a hamburger is the most basic form of grilling you can do and it can also be the most rewarding.  

No more flipping or checking the hamburger every few seconds or serving hockey pucks to your family and friends. In this step by step guide I’m going to walk you through the easiest, most effective way to grill the perfect hamburger.   

The best hamburgers begin with the finest ingredients.  All you need to make the perfect hamburger is ground beef, salt, and pepper. I love to buy my ground beef at my local butcher, but your local grocery store should have good options too. My go to mix for getting perfect hamburgers is 80/20 (80% lean to 20% fat). This ratio tends to be the perfect balance of fat and lean, which will help achieve a moist and flavorful burger.

How To Make A Hamburger Patty

• Take one pound of ground beef and equally divide into 4 parts. 
• Next, loosely form the quarter pound (4 ounce) sized patties by hand.  Don’t overwork the meat when forming the patties to prevent dry and tough hamburgers.
• Then, season both sides of the hamburger patties with salt and pepper.
• Keep the hamburger patties refrigerated until you’re ready to throw them on the grill

How To Prepare Your Grill

From my experience, the best grilled hamburger is achieved through two avenues, smoke and indirect heat.  You may be asking, what is indirect heat? Indirect heat is when there is no heat directly below the food you are preparing. This is the easiest way to prevent over cooking the burger. The best way I’ve found to do this is to pile the lit charcoal on two sides of the grill, leaving the middle of the grill open. This will allow the hamburgers to slowly cook and absorb the smoke while grilling.

Next, it’s time to make some smoke. To do this, you will add a chunk of wood to the top of your lit charcoal. I prefer using wood chunks over wood chips because they make a better smoke and smoke for a longer amount of time. Your local grocery store or home center should have a variety of wood chunks for you to choose from. I’ve found that hickory pairs perfectly with a grilled hamburger.

• Should the grill vent be open or closed? This will vary depending on the grill to get the right temperature. The more open the vent, the more oxygen will get to the coals resulting in a hotter fire.
• Do you need to soak your wood chunks or chips? There isn’t any reason to soak wood chunks.  However, if you are going to use chips I recommend letting them soak for about 30 minutes.

How To Grill Perfect Hamburgers

Now it’s time to put the burgers on the grill! Make sure your grill is heated to 375°F as this is the optimal temperature to get perfect burgers. Once you place the hamburgers on the grill, close the lid and let the smoke and indirect heat do their thing.  Essentially, you’re baking the hamburgers on the grill.  

In the past, you may have had an inferno going in your grill, having to flip the burgers every two seconds to ensure they don’t burn to a crisp. Yikes!  Usually this method leaves the hamburger tasting dry and looking less than appetizing. 

The beauty of the indirect method is that there is no flipping and no rush. Allow the hamburgers to sit on the grill covered for 25 minutes.  After 25 minutes, when you open the grill, you’ll notice something you may not have seen when grilling a hamburger before, the color.  

What Does The Perfect Hamburger Look Like?

The hamburger should be glistening with a beautiful mahogany color. What you’re seeing is a combination of the smoke and indirect heat working together to create the perfect hamburger.  

The color comes from the circulating smoke inside the grill passing over and around the hamburger. The moisture comes from grilling the hamburger indirectly, locking the juice inside and creating a smoked outside. Now it’s time to take the burgers off the grill.  

Once you assemble the hamburger and take a bite, I promise you will notice an immediate difference compared to your past charred and dry burgers.  Now that you’ve perfected how-to grill hamburgers, you won’t want a hamburger any other way.

Tips

• Want to add extra flavor?  Try seasoning your grilled hamburgers with our all-purpose BBQ Rub.
• Want to use something other than ground chuck? Ground turkey is a healthier option that tastes great.
• Want to elevate the quality of the hamburger?  Use fresh meat from your local butcher, find organic produce at a farmers market, or use an artisan style baked bun.
• Should my grill lid be open or closed when grilling hamburgers? Closing the lid is best.  This helps the smoke to adhere to the meat which will add to the flavor and helps the hamburger to cook throughout.
• How do you know when to flip the hamburger?  Grilling your hamburger indirectly means you don’t have to flip your hamburger.  Not having to flip them leaves you with one less step to worry about and makes this a great method for grilling hamburgers.
• Is it okay to eat my hamburger with pink in the middle?  Yes, a grilled hamburger that’s pink on the inside can be safe to eat.  Make sure that the internal temperature has reached 160°F throughout.