How to Cook a Hamburger in a Frying Pan

By eHow Food & Drink Editor

Rate: (34 Ratings)

Ah, an American classic. This makes about four juicy burgers.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Hamburger Buns
Heavy Frying Pans
Mixing Bowls
Spatulas
1-2 minced scallions
1 lb. ground beef
2-3 button mushrooms cut into fourths
1 tsp. red wine vinegars

Prepare Patties

Step1

Put minced scallions and chopped mushrooms in bowl.

Step2

Add red wine vinegar.

Step3

Add ground beef to bowl.

Step4

Mix everything together with your hands.

Step5

Flatten the beef into four patties that are 1/2-inch thick and 5 inches in diameter.

Cook Patties

Step1

Set stove-top grill or burner to medium-high.

Step2

Preheat nonstick frying pan. The pan is the correct temperature when a drop of water dances on its surface rather than sticking to it.

Step3

Place patties in the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Step4

Flip patties and cook for another minute, and then add sliced cheese to the tops of patties if desired.

Step5

Cover pan and allow burgers to cook for a final 2 minutes. Cook 3 to 4 minutes for well-done burgers.

Step6

Remove hamburgers from pan and place in hamburger buns.

Step7

Add condiments and toppings such as ketchup, mustard, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, red onions and pickles.

Tips & Warnings

The vinegar, mushrooms and scallions add a nice taste, but you can make the beef patties without them if you like.
Use 85 to 90 percent lean beef. Ultralean beef will fall apart in the frying pan.
If the hamburger/vegetable mixture does not stick together well, add 1 tsp. vegetable oil to the mix.
A larger spatula makes it easier to flip the patties. Always use a plastic spatula on nonstick surfaces.
Cook burgers well to avoid any chance of E. coli poisoning. Elderly people, children and pregnant women are at particular risk for problems with E. coli.

Comments

macgyver said

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on 1/9/2008 I've found that following this how-to with just 1/4" patties which should be cooked a shorter time.
There is still blood pouring out of the burgers being just around med rare.

For those that don't like pink inside, in this case stick a bandaid on it and send back to the field to graze, cause I want my meat well done.
There's only one type of meat I'll eat which I don't mind having pink inside but I won't go into that here. :) :P LOL

I recommend adding 1 to 2 mins for the first side (then add cheese if you like) and the same for the other side this gets it med well to well done.
Add an additional min per side if the patties are frozen.
For a better tasting burger use A1 steak sauce, plain yellow mustard or combo of the two (mustard seems to taste better for me anyways).
Spread thin over each side before putting into the pan. Note mustard does tend to splatter like grease does at higher tempetures, its recommended when cooking greasy foods such as burgers use a screen or cover if avaliable.
I usually don't cover just cook it open air cause the water keeps the splattering down

I graduated catering we had to do short order stuff as well also my stepfather who cooked for everyone in his house growing up from the age of about 13yrs old for himself and 10 other siblings 2 died at birth 13 total bros/sisters, yes he had a big family!) he cooked them similar as I do.
For a well cooked burger 8-10 mins total time is good, not 5 mins like this how-to says. Whoever wrote that one must like semi-raw meat or dont know much about cooking food.
you can add water before the burger, put in more as it boils off if you dont have oil to keep it from sticking it also makes the burger a bit softer, keeps it from falling apart when you goto flip it and also keeps the grease and mustard from splattering too much not to mention helps reduce the fat content after cooking drain the fat/water away a healthier burger.

This was cooked on a aluminum electric frying pan on the burger setting of 320 degrees.
I know that copper pans do better and ever better for heat distribution with gas vs electric but that's all i have to cook with lol. for example a lightly greased copper pan over gas will cook scrambled eggs much better and even (no clumping burning etc if kept stirred till done) then if you cooked them on an electric burner as would a burger come out better.

Hope this helps someone out there :)

Anonymous said

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on 4/13/2007 1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Set stove-top burner to medium-high.

3. Preheat nonstick frying pan. You can add a little olive oil if you would like. The pan should be quite hot.

4. Place burgers in pan and sear for 1-2 minutes on side one.

5. Flip burgers and sear for another minute or two on the other side.

6. Transfer the burgers to a wire rack set over a shallow baking pan (or place them on foil). Place in preheated oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes depending on thickness. This should bring them to an recommended internal temperature of approximately 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Vary the time to achieve your degree of doneness.

7. Remove hamburgers from oven.