Need to know how to grill frozen hamburgers without turning them into hockey pucks? Here is our how to on the subject. We have all been roped into grilling for a large crowd where fresh burger patties aren’t an option so here is how to get the most out of those frozen hamburgers.
If your shopping for frozen burger patties take a second to look at the ingredient list on the package. 100% beef patties will not have and ingredient list at all or just list beef. The burgers we are using for this article are the Boulder Burger Company -1/3 pound Angus Beef Patties. (pictured below) The fewer ingredients on that list the better.
When you remove the patties from the package sometimes you need to split them apart. We like to use a regular kitchen knife, just slide it between the patties and twist.
To grill frozen hamburgers right your going to have to set up your grill with a high heat zone and a section off the heat with no flame or hot coals at all. These will flare up and make a mess of the grill, but on the plus side it makes for great grill photography.
Heat the hot section of you grill to a high heat
How to grill frozen hamburgers, Step 1:
Place the frozen hamburger patties off of the heat and close the lid for 5 minutes to defrost them. After 5 minutes the patties should be soft and pliable. Now add your seasoning to the top, in this case we are using the Weber Gourmet Burger seasoning. I like to press the seasoning into the burger with my spatula on this side, so it doesn’t fall off.
Barbecue Sauce Mop and Bucket Set Just Grillin
15 inch 100% cotton mop
2 cup bucket with plastic liner
Flip your burgers onto the heat over the flame and season that side.
If your burgers are not already seasoned out of the package, we always recommend adding some seasoning even if it is only salt and pepper.
Step 2:
From here on out grill with your lid open. We do this not only to monitor the flare-ups but also to let the smoke out. To much smoke and the burgers will have a harsh bitter taste to them.
Grill the hamburgers until the juices begin to form of the top of the patty, moving them out of major flare-ups when needed. Typically this takes 4 our 5 minutes
Grill on this side until the juices coming out of the top are running clear. This is the part where you will get the majority of you flare-ups. Move the burgers to the no heat zone if the flames get out of hand.
As the burger juices begin run clear on each burger move those patties off of the heat until they are all cooked. The biggest mistake people make when they grill frozen hamburgers is to keep grilling them until they can not see any juices left on the patties. Those juices will keep coming out until that burger is completely dried out, you just need to know when to pull them.
You can make a decent burger with frozen patties but fresh beef will always be better.
Mike
aka Sultan of Sizzle
I have been blogging about and selling grilling tool for over 12 years. A Certified Food Safety Professional, KCBS member, award winning writer and have over 10 years experience in the food service industry.
“I have experienced some of the best food this country has to offer and nothing is better than the food that comes off my own grill!”
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Tried this and they came out much better than usual. Thanks
Good morning, I purchased these burgers at Stop and Shop. The worst FROZEN BURGER EVER. IT SHRINKS . SO IF YOU LIKE YOURS WELL DONE ,SMH . YOU’LL HAVE MORE BREAD THE TASTE O DONT LIKE.
It wasn’t a review of the burgers, but thanks for your comment.
Thank you Mike! Very helpful information and I’ve already seen better results with my frozen burgers!
I’m a bit unclear on your directions. So 5 min in hot grill off flame with lid closed. Then flip onto flame for 4 to 5 min with lid open. Then flip again keeping on flame until the juices run clear, about another 4 to 5 min?
Every year our small town has a town day and me and my crew cook 3,000 burgers for the party. For food safety we can ONLY use FROZEN burgers. We put them on the lp gas fired bbq frozen solid as a rock. ( for food safety) when you see blood and some juice come to the top and you can see the bottom side around the outer edge has turned or started to turn gray it is time to flip. When the juice on the top is clear we check them for their internal temp to be sure they are done. They are kept hot in bot beef broth. We use 1/3 pounders and many people tell us every year they are the best burgers they have ever had. The grill we use is called an EVENT GRILL and it does a great job BUT IF you get one BE SURE ! you buy it about 60 days before you need it. When we got ours I did a training night and we found out the grill HAD NO HEAT ! We took it to the local lp gas place and they looked at it and told us first the burners were no good, the inside diameter of the gas hose was way to SMALL AND the gas regulator was to small. They fixed it for us and now it really cooks ! BUT if you get one TEST IT FIRST it may need to be fixed !