How to Keep Hamburgers on the Grill From Crumbling Apart

Create perfect hamburgers by preparing the beef properly in the kitchen.

You'll find hamburgers on the menu at almost all backyard cookouts. While hamburgers are a staple food at barbecues, they must be handled properly to ensure that they do not fall apart on the grill. Hamburgers can fall apart for a variety of reasons, such as as over-handing the meat, the beef fat content and the consistency of the patties. A crumbling hamburger does not look appealing and it can ruin a backyard barbecue.

Things You'll Need

• Lean ground beef
• Plate
• Plastic wrap

Instructions

1. Purchase quality beef. Avoid beef that has a very low fat content, since fat helps the burgers to stay together. Too much fat can cause the burger to shrink significantly, however. An 80-to-20 fat ratio works well for burgers. Inspect the grind of the beef. Finely ground beef can become too soft and mushy, which will make the burgers hard to work with. Meat with long strands of beef works best because it does not fall apart as easily.

2. Make the ground beef patties from thawed meat. Frozen hamburger contains moisture that will cause the ground beef to break apart.

3. Avoid handling the ground beef too much. Break the ground beef apart into the desired portions for your hamburgers instead of crumbling it first.

4. Place the ground beef in one hand. Press down on the middle of the burger and push it outwards to create a disc. Turn the burger as you press on it until you create a solid and uniform hamburger patty. Create a hamburger patty around 3/4 inch thick for best results.

5. Place the hamburger patties onto a plate. Cover the burgers with plastic wrap. Place the hamburgers in the refrigerator for one to two hours to allow them to firm up.

6. Take the plastic wrap off the burgers. Cook them using your desired grilling method.

Tips & Warnings

• Adding vegetables and liquid seasonings to the hamburgers can cause them to crumble easily.

• Press the hamburger meat into jar lids to create evenly round patties.

• Brush the grill grates with vegetable oil to keep the burgers from sticking.

• Always wash your hands, kitchen utensils and kitchen surfaces before and after handling raw ground beef to prevent food-borne illness.

References

• The New York Times; The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts; Jane Sigal; June 2009
• The Washington Post; A Perfect Burger, Top to Bottom; Tony Rosenfeld; May 2007
• Country Living; Perfect Hamburger Recipe; Mary Kate Frank
• Yes! You Can Grill: Problems with Your Grilled Hamburgers