Growing up, grilled hamburgers were the quintessential BBQ food. Every pool party served them. When our boys were knee-deep in sports, burgers were the team party food. I think just about everyone has at least one summer memory that has a burger somewhere in the mind.
We were pretty lazy regarding our patties. The giant sleeve at Costco worked just fine for us since we were burning through them. Every camping trip always had a burger night, having friends over for a pool day meant burgers. Burgers, burgers and more burgers. Truthfully, I was burned out on them.
Then, magic happened. Mark wanted burgers one night for dinner and announced that he wanted to make the patties ourselves. I sat up straighter, wait. What did you say? Oh gosh, the pressure is now on high to make a good and juicy patty that doesn’t shrink up and become a meatball. Alrighty, I can give this a try.
We tried a few different recipes with mixed results. Some that claimed to be “the juiciest ever” were shockingly dry. Like sandpaper dry.
We struck gold with this one. It’s really juicy, versatile and doesn’t require a lot of obscure ingredients. You probably have everything, except maybe the evaporated milk, in your kitchen right now. Add chopped bits of bacon for bacony goodness in every bite. Let me tell you, subbing in ½ pound of ground sausage makes one tasty patty! You can swap out the spices to theme the patty with the cheese. The possibilities are as wide as your imagination.
Don’t let the evaporated milk scare you, we’ve subbed regular milk and even half & half with success. In fact, I always use milk and don’t even use the evaporated milk anymore. I couldn’t get small enough cans to justify the waste.
Let’s make some patties!
Grab a large bowl and beat one egg in it. I do it this way so there is one less dish to wash. Add all the rest of the ingredients and get mixing with your hands. Messy, but it really is the best way to everything all mixed together.
The recipe makes 8 patties. Maybe you’re good at eyeballing eight equal patties; I am definitely not. So, if almost equally sized patties are what you’re after, break out your handy-dandy food scale. The recipe as it is will give you eight 5-ounce patties. Sometimes the last one is a little light, as low as 4.75 ounces but that’s okay. I declare that one mine.
After you’ve patted and formed your perfect patties, it’s time to fire up the grill.
Grill five minutes per side and flip until done. Assemble and enjoy!
The patties freeze well if a batch of 8 are too many for dinner tonight. Line a small baking tray with parchment paper. Place patties on parchment and flash freeze for 45 minutes. Fold wax paper around patties and freeze in freezer safe container or plastic bag until ready to use.
Juicy Hamburgers
Recipe Credit: All Recipes
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
- 3 Tablespoons cream or milk
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 Cloves minced garlic
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat grill on high. Mix all ingredients together with your hands in a large bowl. Form into eight patties.
Grill five minutes per side, or until done.