How Long To Grill Burgers
It is grilling season, so we have decided to guide you on how long to grill burgers. There are also many foods that you could cook on the grill, but we will focus on burgers.
When you talk about grilling season, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a barbecue, and then there is the lingering thought of the delicious mix of burger patties, vegetables, and bread.
There are many ways to cook a burger, and you can do it in any appliance you want. However, no appliance can match the result that you get when you cook a burger on a charcoal grill.
You get this amazing brown color and beautiful grill marks. You also put some smoky flavors into the burger, making it taste more authentic and taste delicious.
Burgers are very easy to cook, and you can make them in minutes if you have a decent grill. It is also very easy to mess up if you do not know the basics of grilling burgers.
So here we will start by focusing on the timing of grilling a burger at a specific temperature. That way, you will know how to proceed with the other steps and make the best burgers for a meal.
How Long Should You Grill A Burger In General?
There are many different burgers types, and you can change whatever you like into the flavor you want. Use ingredients that can make the best-tasting burger on the table at dinner.
While this is beneficial, you can also get confused with how long you should cook each of them. So, there is no universal timing to grill a burger and get the same results in general.
You will also need to consider the thickness and kind of meat that you are cooking. The balance of fats with protein content also largely affects the longevity of cooking the burgers on the grill.
For a 1-inch regular burger, you need to grill it for at least 4 minutes to get to rare doneness. While this is good enough, the internal temperature can still be unsafe to eat with bacterias in it.
If you want to make sure that there are no bacteria inside the meat, you need to cook it to medium. This cooks the meat further in the middle, which kills the bacteria properly inside it.
There is a general temperature recommended to make sure that the burger is safe from any food-borne illnesses. We will discuss that later on to see how you should cook the burgers.
We will also make a simple guide on making different types of burgers so you will see the proper balance of the types of meat that you usually have when you are cooking your burger.
How Long To Grill Turkey Burgers
Turkey burgers are pretty popular, especially when you have a lot of leftovers from thanksgiving. It is very easy to mess up this kind of burger and result in a bland and dry texture.
You need to learn some techniques to make your turkey burgers more flavorful, which we will discuss later on. So let us first figure out how long you should grill them.
The best way for turkey burgers to be cooked is to throw them on the grill. When making them, stick with thinner patties do not necessarily leave the middle of the burger raw.
1/2-inch thick turkey burgers will cook fast, but they will also pack more flavors than those thicker ones. They are easier to manage and cook since you can add more flavors to them.
Since you will be cooking thin turkey burgers, you need to cook them at high heat. The outsides will have nice grill marks on them, while the insides are cooked perfectly with a pink middle.
For this thickness, turkey burgers should be grilled on high heat for at least five minutes with the grill lid closed. After five minutes, flip them over and then grill them further for 5 minutes.
Remember to always keep the grill lid closed so that you do not let the heat escape. This will also help with evaporation, and so you will leave the turkey burger patties with juicy insides.
Heat the buns while you are finishing up the burger and of course, let the cooked patties rest before serving them. This will also help in keeping the juices inside the meat when cooked.
It is important to let the patties rest since turkey meat does not have too much fat. Compared to pork burgers, there are no fats that will help keep the meat juicy when cooked.
How To Make The Perfect Turkey Burgers?
There is a common misconception that turkey burgers are the most tasteless burgers. There are no fats that help lock the juices, tenderness, and flavor inside the turkey burgers.
However, you can prove your friends wrong by making turkey burgers the right way. First, do not stick with the common turkey meat only and use other ingredients to enhance the flavors.
For me, when making turkey burgers, I mix ground turkey meat and Italian turkey sausage. Add seasonings to the mix, and you will have the juiciest and most flavorful turkey burgers.
Get Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, and some black peppers to put in the burgers. You can also add a little bit of salt if used to reasoning the burgers before grilling them.
Remove the Italian turkey sausages peel, mix them in a large bowl, and the other ingredients. Use your hands to mix them well, and then make 1/2-inch thick patties from it.
Place the patties on a foil baking sheet and then refrigerate them. You can also cook them right away, but it is important to leave them in the fridge when you are not cooking them afterward.
The turkey burger patties can also be kept in the freezer. You can store them in the freezer for up to three months, and the flavor, texture, and overall structure of the patties will still be great.
Once you plan on cooking the patties, you can let them defrost in the fridge overnight. Bring them out the next day, and they will be ready to be cooked for the perfect turkey burger meal.
How Long To Cook Ground Beef Burgers?
If you are cooking beef burgers, they cook differently compared to turkey burgers. They have much more fat in them, so you can cook them faster than turkey.
They contain a lot of protein and are perhaps the most flavorful type of burgers. You can also mess them up easily, so be careful whenever you cook beef burgers on a high-heat grill.
Once you preheat your grill to a high temperature, you can start cooking the beef burgers by brushing each side with a thin layer of oil before putting them on the grill and cooking them.
The burgers should start to produce a nice golden brown color on the sides after a couple of minutes. You should look for a slight charring on the bottom of the burger before flipping it.
For an average ground beef burger, you need to cook it for a shorter time than turkey burgers. Three minutes on one side will be enough for the beef burgers so you can flip them afterward.
After flipping the ground beef burgers, cook them with the grill lid closed for another 4 minutes. This will give the burgers medium-rare doneness, and you can go further if you want well-done.
If you are using cheese on top of the ground beef burgers, you need to cook them for 3 minutes. Again, make sure that the grill lid is closed to help keep the juices and melt the cheese.
Let the burgers rest for at least 5 minutes before serving them so that the juices will develop inside the burgers. Serve them with tomatoes, lettuce, and other common ingredients.
How To Make The Perfect Ground Beef Burgers?
Once you know the proper ratio of lean meat and fats inside the burgers, it will be easy to make a restaurant-grade burger at home. So read on as we take a look at how to make one.
No matter how many pounds of ground beef you purchase, you need to keep in mind that you will need a decent amount of fats inside the burger patties to keep the burgers juicy later on.
For a great and juicy burger, make them with 80 percent lean meat and the other 20 percent for fats. Mix them well together in a bowl with no other ingredients yet, as you will add them later.
That way, you will be able to preserve the beefy taste of the patties. Making the patties themselves is a little different with turkey burgers, as you will need to make thicker patties.
So again, use your hands and form the patties with at least 3/4 inches in thickness. Once you made the patties, use your thumb and make a dent in the patties’ center.
Season the patties on both sides and then refrigerate them or cook them right away. The dent in the center will help you later when cooking to make sure the middle cooks with the sides.
Conclusion
You need to know some specific things when timing the grilling period for each type of burger. You need to consider the content of the burgers themselves to know the time.
Just remember to always grill the burgers at high temperatures to create nice grill marks on them. The insides will cook after a few minutes, and you do not need to look after them always.
Keep the grill lid closed to maintain even heat and cook the burgers into the middle. Serve them with the best side dishes you like and enjoy the juicy, flavorful burgers!
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