how to cook burgers on gas grill

If you are looking for a nice and easy guide on cooking burgers on a gas grill, this is the right place you've landed on.

We all love the grilled marks on the burger when cooked on a grill. Besides that oddly satisfying pleasure, there are multiple advantages of grilling. One of the best things about grilling is that it's a social activity; everyone gets along and spends some moments together. Another benefit is that grilling burns off the fat which is not the case while preparing on a pan. Since grates have some distance between them, the excess drips off the grates. Grilling also preserves some of the integral nutrients such as riboflavin and thiamine. Using a gas grill is always preferable over charcoal or a wood grill because it is said by the doctors that using a charcoal grill may cause cancer as the burning process leaves cancer-causing chemicals. Also, there are environmental reasons why you should not burn wood or carbon we all are aware of.

For a well-cooked, juicy and crispy burger we need to check out some of the essential stuff such as the right method, texture, time, temperature, safety aids, tools required, and last but not least, some of the additional tips for a perfect grilled burger recipe.

Check out: Top 15 Best Gas Grill Reviews 2021

Things Required

A gas grill, ground beef with 20% fats (beef with 10% fats tends to dry out), a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, a teaspoon of garlic, 2 tablespoons of minced onion, buns, butter, a teaspoon of olive oil, seasoned salt and other sauces, veggies, and toppings as per requirement.

Maintaining the Texture

Keep the meat cold and shape the patties quickly before cooking, this will make sure that the fats don't bind up with lean beef and the burger doesn't dry up. Also, shape up your patty evenly according to that of the bun. The patty need not be perfectly round but evenly spread across the burger. Then spread your seasoning over the ground beef and cover it with a thin layer until it sticks to the ground meat, do not press, place it gently and flip it upside down. The appropriate thickness of the patty is 1 inch and in width, 1 inch larger than the bun considering the shrinkage that happens during the cooking.

Time and Temperature

The time and temperature for a burger to cook largely depends upon the thickness of the patty and the temperature of your grill. Let's look at the types of burgers and the time and temperature required for them to cook in particular.

Rare burgers take 4 minutes to cook with a temperature of 125° F
Medium-rare burgers take 5 minutes to cook with a temperature of 135° F
Medium burgers take approximately 6-7 minutes to cook with a temperature of 145° F
And for Well-done burgers 8-9 minutes with 160° F

How to Cook Burgers on Gas Grill?

1. Mix the cold meat and other ingredients in a mixing bowl evenly, do it approximately for less than a minute. Maintaining the coldness of the meat is important else, the heat will melt and smear the temperature, resulting in a dense burger.

2. Shape the patty as discussed earlier on a tray, doing this with hands is uncomfortable for most people and the heat of your hands increases the temperature of the patty. Remember to make tiny holes all over the patty excluding the edges; this will decrease the inevitable shrinkage of the patty.

3. Heat the grill to 450 to 500° F. A simple hack to decide the appropriate heat – hold your hand above the grill, the moment when you cannot keep up more than a second, that's it!

4. Butter the buns – Apply butter all over the bun until they become golden and keep them ready near the grill.

5. Heat the patty on the grill to your desired type that we discussed earlier.

6. Flip the patty at least once. Make sure you do not press the patty as it will break the patty and force the fats and flavors out of the burger, which makes the burger dry and bland.

7. Just before 1 minute is left, add cheese and buttered buns to the burger.

8. After cooking, don't be in a hurry to serve right away! Wait for at least 1 minute before serving this makes the sauces seep perfectly all over the burger. This makes the burger juicier

9. You are now ready to serve the delicious burger with side sauces like cheese, mayo, or veggies like tomatoes, onions, etc.

Gas Grill Safety Tips

Ensure some of the basic safety aids to avoid any kind of unfortunate accidents which includes checking for any gas leakages, keeping the grill some distance away from any wooden or flammable articles, turning on the gas when the lid is closed, and always keep a fire extinguisher ready.

Must check: Best Portable Gas Grills 2021

Additional Tips

Apart from ensuring essential safety tips, make sure you clean the grill with a grill brush after every cooking session. Remove all the grease and fats residue on the grates. You don't want to ruin the taste of your hamburger! Then apply oil on the grates before cooking.

Use higher fat content meat as the ground; this will make the burger juicy and flavourful. Use the extra-lean beef to layer the patty.

Many people have a bad experience with grilled burgers and the most common problem is that they burn the burger off so one of the essential things we need to look for is how not to over-cook the burger.

Place the burger at the hottest part of the patty which will make the edges crunchy.

The right time to flip the patty is when the juices start to gather on the top. Flip only once because too much flipping can disturb the juices inside the patty!