Learning how to make ground beef tasty is an important skill that will come in handy once you master it. It doesn’t take a lot to make a delicious hamburger or any other ground beef recipe so stick with us to learn all the tricks and tips to making a superior homemade ground beef recipe.
Making your own hamburger at home or any other ground beef recipe allows you to control the freshness, quality and flavor of the dish.
Once you decide to make your own delicious hamburgers, you’ll never want to go back to buying pre-packed beef patties.
Here are some of the main steps you can take to improve the quality and taste of any ground beef recipe, so stick around to find out more!
1. Grind Your Own Meat
Instead of buying pre-packaged beef patties or ground beef, you can take one extra step in the preparation process and grind your own beef. This way you can get much tastier ground beef with better quality and flavors in comparison to the pre-packaged meat.
The secret to selecting the right cuts of meat is to look for pieces of beef that have some fat around the edges. If you go with a piece of meat that’s too lean and has little to no fat on it, your burgers won’t be as tasty and juicy as they would be if you go with a combination of around 80% lean meat vs 20% fat.
To make ground beef, you will need to have a meat grinder, although some food processors are pretty good at grinding meat, especially if they have the right attachment available.
Alternatively, you can ask your local butcher to help you select the right pieces of meat and grind them for you at the spot. That way you’ll make sure you have freshly-ground beef without going through the trouble of selecting and grinding it yourself.
How to Make Ground Beef at Home
If you decide to make your own ground beef, using a meat grinder or a food processor, here’s what you need to know to get everything right so you can prepare a tasty and flavorful dish.
Skip onto the herbs and spices section if you decide to go with pre-packaged ground beef.
Here are a few tips you can use to make ground beef tasty and easy to prepare:
2. Choose the Right Cuts of Beef
You want to select the right cuts to put in your ground beef blend. Some of the most common cuts used include short rib, chuck, ground round, sirloin, etc.
We recommend consulting your butcher to see what they have on hand and what they’d recommend. Depending on the dish you’re preparing, they’ll be able to advise you on which cuts would work best.
3. Chill Your Meat Ahead of Time
Cut up the meat into more manageable pieces and chill it for 10-20 minutes in the freezer or until it’s solid and firm. (not frozen) This will make it easier to grind it up smoothly and not have it stick to the sides and clog the grinder.
4. Add the Right Spices and Herbs
Although you might reach for the salt right away, adding salt too early will make your meat dry and crumbly. Instead, try leaving it off altogether and compensate with other spices, or add a pinch right before you cook or grill the meat, so it can keep its moisture.
There are a ton of other spices, herbs and sauces you can add to your ground beef to make it tasty, so in the end if you go with the right combination and spice your dish well, you might not even miss the salt at all.
Here’s what you can use to add flavor to your ground beef dish:
- Black Pepper
- Garlic
- Dry onion soup mix
- Fresh cilantro, basil, thyme and other herbs
- Citrus juice
- Worcestershire sauce
- A-1 steak sauce
- Hot sauce
- BBQ sauce
- Soy sauce
- Sriracha sauce
- Peanut butter (yes, even peanut butter)
5. Add Fillers
If you’re planning on making hamburgers with the ground up meat, here’s how you can make them even tastier and improve their texture and flavor.
Aside from using the right spices, which we already covered, it’s important to add the right fillers so you can make the burgers juicy and tasty.
Some of those fillers include making a panade (a simple mixture of milk and bread) that can keep your burgers supple, tender and tasty. The same filler can be used to make meatloaf and meatballs.
To prepare a panade you need a ratio of 2 tbsp. of starch (bread, breadcrumbs, crackers, potato or rice), 2 tbsp. liquid (milk, yogurt, cream, water) to each pound of ground meat.
Other fillers you can use for your burgers or other ground beef recipes include bacon strips, bacon crumbs, egg, chopped up onions, shredded cheese, carrots, sundried tomatoes, chopped peppers, etc.
6. Pre-form Your Patties
Once you grind up your meat, pre-form your patties right away. Use waxpaper in between patties so they don’t stick together.
7. Cooking the Meat
Now that you’ve prepared your patties, let’s go over to the cooking part of the process.
Here are some of the main steps you need to take to prepare tasty and flavorful burgers.
- Divide your meat into 4 oz portions (tennis ball sized portions) if you haven’t pre-formed your patties
- Heat up your grill, frying pan or cast-iron skillet
- Once heated up add olive oil
- Season patties with salt and pepper
- Cook for about two minutes on each side
- Use a thermometer to make sure the meat is cooked to 160-165°F
Once the meat is cooked, toast your buns on the hot pan for half a minute and start stacking your burger with ingredients of your choosing.
Enjoy!