We all love burgers that are cooked on the grill or on the stovetop, but have you ever considered how to cook burgers in the oven? Well if you don’t have the time to stay and watch your burgers, your grill is buried in the snow, or you just don’t feel like standing at the stove, why not try cooking your burgers in the oven? But how do you prepare them, what is the temperature, how long do you cook the burgers, and is there anything different you need to do? You will find out that information here, so read on.
Baking Hamburgers in the Oven?
Oven-baked burgers can be juicier and more tender than cooked via other methods because the oven allows heat to be evenly distributed without drying it out. Does that mean you can use a different lean-to-fat ratio of beef?
You can always use a different lean cut such as ground round or ground sirloin to cook your burgers in the oven, and still get a great burger. The burgers pictured here were cooked in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes turning halfway through, and they are 90/10 ground beef!
They came out very juicy and flavorful and with just a bit of crust. The burgers were cooked on a baking pan/cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. We also sprayed the pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. You will see that the burgers were baked directly on the baking pan. This allowed the meat to remain in its juices and there wasn’t much that came out during the cooking.
We cooked the burgers at a higher temperature for a shorter period of time. This will provide a nice crust but keep them juicy on the inside. We did flip the burgers about half-way through, but don’t know that it was absolutely necessary. We added the cheese about 2 minutes before taking them out of the oven.
To cook burgers in the oven, many recommendations say to use a 350 to 375-degree oven for about 25 minutes. Due to the variance of ovens, you may need to experiment to see how it works for you. Also, you can, of course, use the traditional 80/20 ratio for your burgers. You will just get an even juicer burger due to the extra fat in the meat. This is what gives the meat its flavor.
Use a Baking Rack or Broiler Pan
Another method of how to cook burgers in the oven is to use a baking pan/cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (to catch the drippings and make for easy clean-up) and an oven-safe cooking rack inserted on the sheet. This creates a grill-like environment where the heat will surround the burgers and the fat will drip down the grates.
To prepare the ground beef, form your burgers into patties and place them on the rack. Be sure to season each side with salt and pepper or your favorite seasonings of choice. Put the burgers in the oven for about 8-10 minutes and then flip and bake for another 8-10 minutes. The temperature can vary but start with a 400-degree oven.
You can also cook your burgers in the oven using a broiler pan. It is essentially the same as the rack on a baking sheet because you are creating that grill-like environment. You are using the broker pan just to bake in the oven. You aren’t going to actually broil the burgers.
Can You Cook Frozen Burgers in the Oven?
If you don’t have the time to get the burger patties prepped but you have a bag of frozen burgers, you can cook frozen burgers in the oven just as well and you don’t have to defrost them first. Just remember because they are frozen it will be a bit longer cooking time.
As talked about in our article on cooking frozen burgers be sure you are using burgers that are quality meat. You always want to read the box or bag to know exactly what you are getting. Just because you are buying frozen burgers doesn’t mean they should be anything less than made with good 80/20 ground chuck or a leaner cut of meat.
Use that same baking sheet and line it with aluminum foil. Spray it lightly with cooking spray. Put the burgers on the sheet and cover it as a tent with aluminum foil. If you are looking to get that same char crust on your burgers that you would get on the grill or stove, preheat your baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then add the burgers.
You can also cook your frozen burgers in the oven using the wire rack/baking sheet method and the broiler pan method. You just won’t tent the burgers.
As with waiting to season frozen burgers when cooking on the stove or grill, you don’t want to season the burgers before you put them in the oven as it will just roll off the frozen patty. After the burgers are in the oven for about 5 minutes, go ahead and season the top side of the burger. Then after flipping about halfway through, season the other side.
Keep in mind that just as with cooking frozen burgers on the grill or stove, it will take longer to cook the frozen burgers in the oven. Depending on the thickness of the burgers, it could take up to an hour with the temperature at 350 degrees.
Use a meat thermometer to check the burgers after about 30 minutes and adjust your cook time accordingly.
How Long to Cook Burgers in the Oven?
You want to use a temperature of 400 degrees for the oven-baked burger and your cooking time should be about 20 minutes total depending on the thickness of the burgers, so adjust accordingly. You want to make sure your burgers are cooked to an internal temperature of 160 degrees to ensure no bacteria is still present.
Since ground beef is made from different cuts of the cow and is mixed in a meat plant, the bacteria are then throughout the meat. The various cuts of meat used to grind beef in addition to the fat that is added to the meat to create the various lean-to-fat ratios touch many surfaces in a plant. This is why you always want to be sure to cook your burgers to an internal temperature of 160 degrees to ensure any bacteria is cooked off.
If you want to have your burgers pink or rare, then you have to grind your own burger meat from cuts like chuck and brisket. Grinding your own burgers ensures you have no issues with possible bacteria as you know your kitchen surfaces are clean.
You can also have your meat ground by a reputable butcher. Any good butcher should be able to do this for you. But be sure to ask them about their standards on grinding meat. You have a right to know.
Conclusion
How to cook burgers in the oven is easy and a great alternative to the grill or stove when you don’t have the time to devote to staying with the burgers or you don’t want a lot to clean up afterward. You also don’t need to have the rack/baking sheet or a broiler pan for it to work. Cooking burgers in the oven straight on the baking sheet with aluminum foil give them that cooked in a skillet on the stove type of outcome.
You will get great, juicy, flavorful burgers right out of the oven. Any of the methods we talked about will work great. It all depends on what you have available to work with.
Let us know what you use and how your burgers come out. We love to hear about your burger-making experiences.
Below is a Pinterest-friendly photo . . . so you can pin it to your Burger Board!
