How to keep hamburgers from falling apart on the grill

For amateur burger fans around the world, the most common problem when cooking them is the patty. Even if you go ham on your burger, chances are you get a dry, flaky beef crumble. This makes your hamburger almost inedible to a fault.

If you have burgers falling apart, there are a few possible causes to that. Problems like bad ground beef, low cooking temperature, overworking your meat, and starting temperature are the usual suspects. You need to work these factors out to get yourself a nice, juicy hamburger.

Not sure which one is the problem? Let’s take a look at each one and see which part you’re fumbling right now. We only make the best hamburgers here, so we’ll make sure yours are awesome too.

1. Your Ground Beef Is Bad

If you’re asking “why are my burgers falling apart”, chances are it’s the ground beef that you use. Having good ground beef and ingredients in your patty is essential to perfect burgers. Sure, taste preferences differ but you need to get a good starting point.

A common problem is choosing beef. Some people pick ground hamburger for their patties, which is a no-no. Why?

Ground beef “hamburger”, by definition, is any beef coming from different parts of the cow. The problem is that every muscle group of the cow has a different cooking time, depending on fat content. Ground hamburger results in a dry, easy to char product.

Another problem is the ingredient list. Some people who make hamburgers have a tendency to add too much in their patties. They add soy, marinates, liquid seasoning, and even salt long before making the patty.

All the extra ingredients either add too much moisture to the patty, which will make it fall apart. Some also use binders like breadcrumbs or eggs. While it is a matter of preference, these can create drastic changes on your burger.

Fixing Your Ground Meat

When buying ground beef, always go with fresh ground beef chuck or short ribs. Ground beef chuck has a good lean-to-fat ratio in it that allows for proper searing without drying. Short ribs are the same but are more expensive, but have that extra beef flavor that we all love.

Always go with 80-20 ground beef in the coarse grind, which means 80% lean and 20% fat. This is enough to seal all the juices and the flavor in without making it dry. Too lean and you’re risking a dry, crumbled consistency while too fat can make it super greasy.

The coarse grind is also useful for keeping the patty together. Fine ground beef creates meat particles that are too small. The proteins will mash-up, creating a gooey, sticky piece of meat that shrinks and dries when consumed.

Don’t add binders, extenders and extra liquid ingredients. Use dry herbs and powders if you want to add an extra dimension to your hamburger. If you want that classic American burger, salt, and pepper right before you cook it is the trick.

2. Your Cooking Temperature Is Too Low

Some people cook their burgers on too low heat and this is common enough to cause an issue. When you cook with too low a heat, you’re not cooking your patty. You’re thawing or sweating out the burger, pulling out the moisture in it.

Crucial heat for the burger is crucial to do two things:

• Create a crust
• Jumpstart the Maillard reaction

Why would you want these on your hamburger patty? A crust creates a level of crunch that locks in all the juices and flavor in your meat. This crust brings out a lot of the smoky flavors and the well-developed taste of the proteins.

The Maillard reaction in meats, however, is the bomb. To many, it’s everything in their meats, including steaks. Why?

Maillard Reaction refers to the chemical change where proteins and sugars, when heated, develop. These add flavor complexity in the meats and forms new aromas.

Until this reaction occurs, your meat will have far less flavor than it can have. It also creates delicious browning in your meats.

Fixing Your Cooking Temperature

When you’re cooking your patties, start with high heat. All you need is around 3 – 4 minutes per side for the burger to cook and then flip. Do the same with the other side of the patty.

Limit the flipping to stop any sort of further protein breakage. If you want to confirm if you cooked your patty right, touch the surface of your patty. It should be bouncy and firm to the touch.

3. You “Overwork” Your Burger Patty

A common misconception about beef patties is they need a tight push. Many beginner hamburger enthusiasts try to do too much with their ground beef. This is the worst thing you can do.

Why?

The center of the patty will start evaporating juices in the center. This will create large amounts of steam, which will then try to come out. With a very tight patty, you can expect the excess steam to break your burger apart.

Handling Perfect Patties

It’s hard to overwork your burger not unless you do a very tight press on it. Even then, you need to make sure that you press your burger right. Here’s how you do it.

With your palms, cup 4 – 6 ounces of meat on your hands and create a ball. Sculp it into a disc by flattening two opposite sides.

Here’s a pro-tip that can give you a great, juicy burger every time. Create an indentation or a volcano in the middle of the patty instead of letting it be a flat disc. This helps regulate your burger’s moisture content and help steam dissipate without bloating inside.

It’s also crucial to let your burger patty rest for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness. This lets the burger seal all the juices inside and lets the proteins on the crust bind together. Much like how you need to rest a steak, resting burger patties lets you have a juicy but firm result.

4. Your Burger Meat Is Not Chilled

If you have a burger patty and it’s still breaking apart, one of the most possible reasons is the meat’s temperature. One of the major problems of ground beef is that it breaks apart when at room temperature.

Why?

Ground beef does not have a lot of room to stay together because it’s in smaller particles. Unlike chicken or pork, beef has a lot of moisture and it can break apart if you don’t remove most. Because you still need the juices in the meat for flavor, you can’t dehydrate it too much.

What can you do about it?

Chilling Burgers Before Cooking

Before you start cooking your burger patties, it’s best to start them chilled. You don’t want to start frozen because that will burn out the outside of the patty before it thaws. Excess ice crystals can also make the patty break apart once melted.

Right before the cooking process, chill the burgers in the freezer for a good 20 minutes. If you’re thawing from frozen, let it sit in the refrigerator. You want your beef patty to be firm, not soggy.

To help it stay together, you can use a sheet of wax paper to support the patty on the bottom. This will also allow you to do a soft stack until you’re ready to eat the burger.

Some Burger Breaking Apart Myths Busted

There are common misconceptions that people have when their burgers fall apart. This can be a problem because they’re not addressing real issues. Here are a few takes.

One common myth is your body heat can make the burger sag and fall apart. This is not true and even impossible in terms of biology.

The core body temperature is at 97.7 to 99.5 F (36.5 to 37.5 C), with the skin at 91.4 F (33 C). The melting point of beef fat is 97 to 113 F (36 to 113 C). This means your body heat can’t alter any of the physical composition of the patty itself.

What makes your patty soggier, however, is time. Any oil melts at room temperature, so if your patty stays out too long, it will start falling apart. This is the reason why you want to chill your patty first and cook it as soon as possible.

Another misconception is the use of binders. Many tips online will tell you to use eggs or other binders if your burger is breaking. This comes from meatloaf or meatball recipes where egg holds the beef.

Binders like eggs are not great for burgers.

Why?

You’re not making a meatloaf. You also only use the egg to homogenize the meat with the breadcrumbs in meatballs. This should not be the case in burgers.

Also, binders use liquid to create a seal for the ground beef itself. It adds back unnecessary moisture into the patty and changes the flavor profile of the burger. The crust will have the taste and consistency of a meatball, which can be rubbery.

Burgers falling apart is a common problem that can have many reasons. From the ground beef to low cooking heat to overworking your patties to not chilling your beef, it’s easy to get your hamburger patty wrong. With the right guide, you can get all the elements of your burger in the best order they can be.

Now that you know what to do, get out there and try these quick fixes out for yourself. You want to have the juiciest, best burgers that are not falling out of your hand. There are many ways you can do this, so keep checking for more tips.

Did you like the article? Please, share it on social media or share your comments via the contact form. Thank you!

How do you stop burger patties from falling apart?