These Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers take 5 minutes to prepare and taste so much nicer than the shop bought ones… better still, you know exactly what’s in them!
Hands up who loves a good burger! I love beef burgers – they taste fab and are a great choice for a barbecue…but so often I find the shop bought ones, well, a little disappointing – even the expensive fancy ones.
There is often that slight artificial taste going on – plus have you ever read the back of the packet? Shop bought burgers are often chock full of weird and wonderful sounding added ingredients… sodium metabisulphite, dextrose, ascorbic acid, textured soya protein, triphosphate, monosodium glutamate, smoke flavouring, hydrolysed soya and maize protein, barley malt extract …mmm yummy!
As part of my focus on eating more healthily, I have been trying to avoid processed food – especially the ones with long lists of ingredients I can neither spell nor pronounce. So lately I have been working on creating a great tasting burger that is homemade, but still totally easy peasy to make and these Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers is what I have come up with.
The ingredients for my Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers are as follows… good quality beef steak mince, an egg, some grated onion and garlic, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, some salt and pepper and that’s it. Nothing weird and unpronounceable – I love knowing exactly what is in them!
And it takes literally 5 minutes to put all that together in a bowl, mix everything together and shape into burger shapes. Plus they are totally kid friendly – my kids loved these – I only added a small amount of cayenne pepper, so they weren’t spicy at all. (Though if you love spice, do add more!)
Of course you don’t have to even have to add that many ingredients into your burger, if you don’t want to – just good quality minced beef would do – though I would advise adding a little salt and pepper – just to bring out the flavour of the beef a little.
The great thing about homemade burgers is you can play around with the flavourings to make the exact flavour of burgers you like the best.
Other delicious things to add to burgers are: rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, chilli, cumin, paprika, turmeric, mustard…
And don’t limit yourself to beef mince – try lamb, pork, chicken or turkey mince, for a change!
These Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers are fab cooked in the grill or on the barbecue. And don’t worry too much about cooking them all the way through (unless you, or the people you are cooking for, need them cooked thoroughly for health reasons).
After all, you wouldn’t cook a steak till it was completely cooked through (well I wouldn’t anyway!), so no need to cook these burgers until they are dry and tough – a little bit pink and juicy in the middle is much tastier.
(Though obviously make sure chicken and turkey burgers are thoroughly cooked – no one likes rare chicken, nor the effects of food-poisoning!!).
These Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers can be served in buns with all your favourite toppings, or why not have them with homemade chips?
You could try them with my delicious Sweet Potato and Smoked Paprika Chips or my Easy Peasy Homemade Oven Chips. If you want to be super good, just eat one of these burgers with a massive plate of salad and feel smug for the rest of the day 🙂
Wine-wise, I would go with something big and red and gutsy with these beef burgers – Cabernet Sauvignon (from somewhere like Australia, South Africa or Chile), Argentinian Malbec or South African Pinotage all work well.
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Easy Peasy Homemade Beef Burgers
Ingredients
- 500 g good quality beef steak mince
- 1 red onion grated
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 egg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Burger buns, chips and salad to serve
Instructions
- If you are cooking these on your barbecue, get your barbecue all ready to start cooking.
- If you are cooking under the grill (broiler), preheat your grill to medium-high, leaving your grill tray in the grill so the bars get nice and hot (this will help stop the burgers sticking – if you have problems with this, you could also lightly grease the bars with oil).
- Combine all the burger ingredients in a bowl until they are really well mixed together – I find it easiest to do this with my hands (but don’t go too mad or you will make the burgers tough).
- Shape the mixture into 4 burger shapes.
- Grill or barbecue for 4-5 minutes on each side, depending on how well cooked you like them. I usually find 4 minutes on each side on a fairly high grill is just perfect.
- Serve in buns and/or with chips and a big plate of salad!
Notes
- Suitable for freezing. (For best results, separate layers of the burgers with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. This will stop the burgers sticking to each other and allow you to separate them easily after freezing, so they defrost more quickly.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Cliona says
This looks delicious!! So simple yet so tasty, perfect! #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Cliona – they really are very easy to make and so much more delicious than the shop bought ones…plus healthier too – win win! Eb x
Anton Rickard says
Super burgers, thank you…
I use to fry mine using Jamie Oliver’s recipe, never again, under the grill, no need for fridge sitting!
Eb Gargano says
So happy to hear that! I am honoured you prefer my burgers to Jamie’s 😀
Charlotte says
I love to make homemade burgers #tastytuesday
Eb Gargano says
Thaey are fab, aren’t they, Charlotte? Thanks for commenting 🙂 Eb x
Sarah James @ Tales From The Kitchen Shed says
Your burgers look delicious Eb, you can’t beat homemade, so much better than shop bought. I just don’t like the sound of all those additives. Thanks for sharing x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Sarah! Oooh yes, homemade is always the tastiest and I do like knowing exactly what is in my food! Eb x
jenny paulin says
yummy! I love a great burger and yours look amazing and I love that they are so easy and fuss free to make x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks, Jenny! Easy and fuss free is what I do best!! 🙂 Eb x
Alison says
Perfect, simple easy and tasty. What could be better
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Alison! That’s what I try to do 🙂 Eb x
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
I completely agree that you can’t beat homemade Eb, you know exactly what’s gone in it and, as you say, can pronounce all of the ingredients. Living in a vegi household beef burgers are clearly something we don’t buy, so I was astonished to see such a long list of ingredients which were in such a seemingly simple product. I imagine those long unpronounceable words will be in vegi burgers too!
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Well, not all those ingredients are in every burger, obviously – and there are some which have very few additions, but as you say – homemade really is the best! Then you can be quite sure what has gone into them. Yes, I quite imagine there are some very weird and wonderful ingredients in some veggie burgers – it’s probably worse actually than meat ones because many veggie burgers will be trying to recreate the flavour of meat without using meat – using all sorts of artificial ingredients in the process. Thanks for commenting 🙂 Eb x
Mandy says
So with you on the processed foods thing – ingredients lists are scary places! I’ll pass this recipe on to my husband as he’s been trying to nail the homemade beef burger for a while and an easy peasy recipe should suit him!
Eb Gargano says
Oh they really are, aren’t they? There are some very strange sounding things in the most ordinary of foods. I much prefer food where I understand all of the ingredients! Basically if my kids can draw a picture of it I’m happy! (I wonder what would happen if I asked my kids to draw sodium metabisulphite or ascorbic acid?) Hope your husband likes my recipe. For me the onion, garlic and cayenne just enhance the beef the right amount – bringing out the flavour and complementing it rather than masking it. Do let me know how he gets on! Eb x
lianne says
This look so much more appetising than my homemade burgers. Will be trying this recipe next time! #cookblogshare
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Lianne – hope they turn out well for you – let me know how you get on! 🙂 Eb x
Midgie says
Do love homemade burgers, they are a great option for BBQ’s with friends esp ones with allergies! Daddy Peacock is our resident burger maker – his favourites are either mexican beef (mince & fajita seasoning) or Pork (mince & sage & onion!). These look fab have pinned for later! #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
Oh yes, I imagine when catering for friends and family with allergies, homemade is definitely the way to go…Oooh yes I like the sound of Daddy Peacock’s burgers. Especially that Mexican one!! I came up with my own homemade fajita seasoning recently, using cayenne, lime, garlic, cumin seeds and fresh coriander – I bet that would be amazing mixed with beef mince and turned into a burger! I could serve that with my Mexican salad – mmm…that’s it you’ve lost me to happy dreams of food 😉 Eb x
Honest Mum says
Yummy! My Dad makes his own burgers too and this has brought back childhood memories. They are so superquick aren’t they. We make our own meatballs too. Love this recipe and the stunning photography as usual. Thanks for linking up to #TastyTuesdays x
Eb Gargano says
They are really quick to make and so much tastier than the shop bought ones! I still haven’t quite cracked a meatballs recipe I’m happy with…I’m such a perfectionist when it comes to flavours! All that wine training – it’s given my very fussy tastebuds!! But I will keep working on it. I will blog about it once I’m happy! Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Corina says
I love making homemade burgers – they are definitely so much tastier than the ones you can buy and as you say, it’s good to know what they’ve got in them. We often just like them fairly plain but with a little onion and crushed garlic in.
Eb Gargano says
Totally agree Corina. I really like to know what’s in my food. Food labels scare me sometimes. Onion and garlic work so well with beef – I like the cayenne just for a little tingle of heat – it’s not spicy, just rounds out the flavour a little bit. But I agree, if you’ve got good quality beef it doesn’t need a lot added. 🙂 Eb x
Hayley @ Snap Happy Bakes says
This sounds like a great homemade burger recipe. Thanks for sharing 🙂 #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Hayley 🙂 Eb x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Since the first time I made my own burgers I have not bought pre prepared ones again. Even my kids prefer mummy’s burgers! These look and sound delicious. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Kirsty, homemade are just so much nicer, aren’t they? Eb x
Karl says
Not so sure on the onion, apart from that delish
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Karl! The onion adds a really subtle but delicious taste to the burgers that isn’t over-powering or too ‘oniony’ at all. That said, if you are not an onion fan, then just leave them out – the burgers will still taste good!! Eb 🙂
Tommyo says
When freezing them you could put a sheet of parchment in between the top and bottom so you can separate them to thaw faster?
Eb Gargano says
Yes – that is a really good tip! I should have put that in the instructions. I will do so now. Thanks for the suggestion. Eb 🙂