What Herbs to Put in Beef Burgers

Have you ever wondered what to put in burger meat besides, you know, meat? Just one or two burger mix-ins can take your hamburgers to a whole new level!

These are simple ingredients that add flavor or improve consistency. Hamburgers are usually more about the ingredients you add to your meat patty and bun.

But if you make your burger patties out of ground beef and maybe some seasoning, you're missing out on a lot of fun.

The beauty of working with ground meat is that you can add lots of good stuff directly into the patty, making those flavors even more integral to the burger.

These mix-in ingredients can make hamburger recipes more exciting. They'll also work with salmon burger patties, turkey burgers, and even your own homemade vegetarian patties if you make those.

What to Put in Burger Meat

You can use any of these ingredients alone or in combination with your meat. In addition to tasting better, many of these mix-ins will also help stretch your hamburger meat budget. They also make lean ground beef taste much better.

What can you add to burger meat? Any ingredient that's wet enough to withstand some cook time on high heat. Examples of things that won't work: dry ingredients like dried herbs or ground peanuts.

These can top a burger, but they tend to kind of incinerate, lose flavor or break up the patty when you try to cook them in with it.

These mix-ins will also work with ground turkey and other beef substitutes, and can really enhance their flavors.

Note that you can make these in advance and then freeze them. Take a bun, your garnishes and condiments, and your frozen burger patty to work and you can have a delicious homemade burger as a make-ahead freezer meal.

Bonus Tips

• Cook burgers in a cast iron skillet. This is another way to enhance the flavor of hamburger meat. Cast iron cooks more evenly, seals in juices and lets you sear meat as much as you want. It's also easy to clean and it makes everything taste better.
• Grass fed beef is worth every penny. There's some controversy over its supposed health benefits, but it definitely has better flavor than grain fed.
• Add compound butter. You can also make a burger more exciting by spreading a compound butter on the bun for added flavor.

Ingredients to Add to Burger Meat

If you can't find these ingredients at a local store or you prefer to order online, we have linked to most of them here.

1. Egg

Adding an egg to every pound of beef improves both the consistency and the flavor, and keeps it from falling apart on the grill. Check out our barbecue tips, if you're thinking about grilling your burgers.

2. Bacon

Mix some finely chopped, uncooked bacon in with your ground beef, form your patties and grill or fry it all up.

3. Onions

Instead of adding onions to the burger after it's cooked, you can chop up onions and mix them into the patty. This also has the advantage of cooking the onions, which reduces any rankness. If you don't have fresh onions on hand, you can also add chopped onions.

4. Bread Crumbs

Since your hamburger's already going to be served on a bun, bread crumbs don't add much in the flavor department. Their real function is to add a bit of dryness to your beef mix, which is excellent when it's paired with a wet ingredient. It's also useful as an extender.

Trying to cut carbs? You can use crushed pork rinds as a substitute for bread crumbs.

5. Worcestershire sauce

Worcestershire sauce adds a nice tang to beef, and raises the juiciness level, too. If you find it's making your patties too wet to stick together well, throw in some bread crumbs.

6. Garlic

Chopped fresh garlic kneaded into beef patties is wonderful. You can also use bottled chopped garlic or just sprinkle garlic powder in with your meat to get some of that garlic flavor. A garlic press can make garlic chopping much easier.

7. Grated or shredded cheese

Grate or shred some cheese – any kind you like – and knead that into your burger patties. The cheese and the beef flavor each other as they cook, and you know how good beef and cheese taste together.

You can buy shredded cheese packages. Blends with cheddar and mozzarella work well. Any cheese that would be good on a cheeseburger will taste good.

8. Barbecue sauce

Whether you use an old family recipe or store-bought, barbecue sauce cooks wonderfully into burger and becomes just another note in the overall flavor. It's very different from adding barbecue sauce to the burger after it's cooked.

9. A-1

Naturally, A-1 steak sauce is great added into hamburger patties. Its texture is similar to that of barbecue sauce, and it becomes more subtle when used this way as opposed to being poured over the patty later.

10. Chopped peppers

Chop up bell or jalapeno peppers and work them into your patties. Habaneros or poblanos will give you a lot of spice in each bite. Ortegas and bells will add a nice mild flavor.

11. Hot sauce

Tobasco and similar hot sauces (our favorite is Tapatio) also add a delicious touch to hamburger patties.

12. Soy sauce

Don't waste your time with ordinary soy sauce. Eden Foods Shoyu Sauce is traditionally brewed and aged, and that gives it more full-bodied flavor than other brands. It's wonderfully salty and mellow. If it makes your mix too wet, add breadcrumbs or…

13. Peanut butter

Yes, I am serious! Think beef satay! Peanut butter, especially peanut butter without added sugar, adds a salty-sweet flavor to beef. This is great topped with diced green onions and a slice of pineapple.

14. Fresh cilantro

While dried green herbs don't perform well as mix-ins, fresh herbs like cilantro can withstand some time on the grill. For rare and medium burgers, you can mix cilantro into your patties for a wonderful fresh green flavor.

Note that if you plan on cooking your burgers well done, you might want to press a layer of herbs into the top of them after you've done all your flipping rather than adding them into the meat mix.

15. Other green herbs

Fresh thyme, basil, mint and other herbs will also work in a hamburger patty.

16. Carrots

Shred some carrots and mix those into your burger mix. This makes for an odd but fascinating sweet flavor that most people either love or hate. If you're a carrot fan, give it a try.

17. Sour Cream

Mix in some sour cream to give your hamburgers a richer taste with a slight tang.

18. Sundried tomatoes

Sundried tomatoes hold up nicely under cooking and give your hamburgers a slightly sweet, acidic flavor.

19. Citrus juice

If you enjoy citrus juice sprinkled over a steak, try adding a little into your meat patties. It's also great to sprinkle it over the cooking patties as they near the end of their time in the pan or on the grill.

And you don't have to stick to lemon juice – lime and even orange can be delicious. Pineapple, too, if you're doing a pineapple and teriyaki burger.

20. Pico de gallo or Salsa

A delicious pico de gallo cooks wonderfully into hamburger patties, adding some spice and zest. You can also make your own salsa and add that.

21. Pepperoni/Salami

Just like bacon, any other meat can be mixed in to add spice and texture to an ordinary hamburger. Pepperoni and salami can add some nice spice and texture.

22. Marinara Sauce

A good marinara, spaghetti or pizza sauce adds a nice zesty tomato flavor to your hamburger patty. We love Paul Newman's Marinara sauce.

23. Mushrooms

Chop up some fresh mushrooms and mix them in with your meat to add a rich flavor and hearty texture.

Create Your Own

You can mix any of these ingredients together to form your own. Just consider what goes together:

• Soy sauce, peanut butter, garlic and lime juice for a Thai flavor.
• Cilantro, chopped peppers, onions and sundried tomatoes.
• Cheese, bacon and egg.
• Mozarella cheese, marinara sauce and pepperoni make a pizza burger. Include mushrooms and onions if you like, or saute and add those on as toppers.

Have fun!

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Source: https://snappyliving.com/better-hamburgers-with-mix-in-ingredients/

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