Why You Should Start Baking Your Hamburgers In The Oven

Hamburgers are a cookout classic. The taste of a grill top burger is singular: rich, slightly charred, and perfectly beefy. However, this cooking method is less than convenient, causing both a mess and requiring frequent attention while cooking. For this reason, many home cooks save the dish for special occasions or outdoor cookouts. This needn't be the case, however, as there is a simple (and convenient) solution to your burger woes, and it can be found in your oven. Though baking burgers in an oven may seem blasphemous to some grill masters, if executed properly, an oven-baked burger can be just as tasty as a grill top patty.

Baking your patties is much less hands-on than grilling. All you need to do is form your patties and then place them on a pan in a preheated oven and cook until done. No flipping, checking, or charring required. It also calls for less clean-up than grilling your burgers as opposed to your outdoor grill or stove top, as these methods often use multiple dishes and leave a surplus of grease spots behind. To prepare your burgers for baking, simply line your baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a wire rack over the pan. Your burger patties will cook on the rack, leaving the excess grease to drip onto your foil. Once cooked, you need only remove the foil or paper and give your rack a quick wash. No stove top stains to deal with, just a batch of tasty burgers.

Though baking burgers can yield some tasty results, you'll want to keep a few pointers in mind when implementing this cooking method. For starters, you'll want to avoid cooking your burgers directly on your baking sheet, as beef patties tend to produce a lot of oil while cooking, and baking your burgers on a flat surface will cause the fat to pool around your beef. Instead, place your burgers on a wire rack so that the fat can drip down onto the baking sheet. Now, this is less of an issue for lean beef or beef alternatives such as turkey or chicken which are both low fat. However, grates also help to cook your meat more evenly.

In terms of temperature, you'll want to set your oven to 375 or 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook until your beef hits an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If you're cooking poultry, your patty should hit at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. In terms of flavor, a baked patty might not be able to achieve the same charred taste as a grilled burger, but you can always season your patty for maximum flavor. Mixing in ingredients such as onion, Worcestershire sauce, or even liquid smoke (to imitate that smoked flavor) can help to beef up your burger's taste. Next time you make a batch of burgers, bake away.