Why Are My Burgers Falling Apart and How to Fix It? | Best Burger Guide (2024)

For amateur burger fans around the world, the most common problem when cooking them is the patty. Even if you go ham on your burger, chances are you get a dry, flaky beef crumble. This makes your hamburger almost inedible to a fault.

Ifyou have burgers falling apart, there are a few possible causes tothat. Problems like bad ground beef, low cooking temperature,overworking your meat, and starting temperature are the usualsuspects. You need to work these factors out to get yourself a nice,juicy hamburger.

Notsure which one is the problem? Let’s take a look at each one andsee which part you’re fumbling right now. We only make the besthamburgers here, so we’ll make sure yours are awesome too.

1. Your Ground Beef Is Bad

If you’re asking “why are my burgers falling apart”, chances are it’s the ground beef that you use. Having good ground beef and ingredients in your patty is essential to perfect burgers. Sure, taste preferences differ but you need to get a good starting point.

Acommon problem is choosing beef. Some people pick ground hamburgerfor their patties, which is a no-no. Why?

Ground beef “hamburger”, by definition, is any beef coming from different parts of the cow. The problem is that every muscle group of the cow has a different cooking time, depending on fat content. Ground hamburger results in a dry, easy to char product.

Anotherproblem is the ingredient list. Some people who make hamburgers havea tendency to add too much in their patties. They add soy, marinates,liquid seasoning, and even salt long before making the patty.

All the extra ingredients either add too much moisture to the patty, which will make it fall apart. Some also use binders like breadcrumbs or eggs. While it is a matter of preference, these can create drastic changes on your burger.

Fixing Your Ground Meat

Whenbuying ground beef, always go with fresh ground beef chuck or shortribs. Ground beef chuck has a good lean-to-fat ratio in it thatallows for proper searing without drying. Short ribs are the same butare more expensive, but have that extra beef flavor that we all love.

Always go with 80-20 ground beef in the coarse grind, which means 80% lean and 20% fat. This is enough to seal all the juices and the flavor in without making it dry. Too lean and you’re risking a dry, crumbled consistency while too fat can make it super greasy.

The coarse grind is also useful for keeping the patty together. Fine ground beef creates meat particles that are too small. The proteins will mash-up, creating a gooey, sticky piece of meat that shrinks and dries when consumed.

Don’t add binders, extenders and extra liquid ingredients. Use dry herbs and powders if you want to add an extra dimension to your hamburger. If you want that classic American burger, salt, and pepper right before you cook it is the trick.

2. Your Cooking Temperature Is Too Low

Somepeople cook their burgers on too low heat and this is common enoughto cause an issue. When you cook with too low a heat, you’re notcooking your patty. You’re thawing or sweating out the burger,pulling out the moisture in it.

Crucialheat for the burger is crucial to do two things:

• Create a crust
• Jumpstart the Maillard reaction

Whywould you want these on your hamburger patty? A crust creates a levelof crunch that locks in all the juices and flavor in your meat. Thiscrust brings out a lot of the smoky flavors and the well-developedtaste of the proteins.

The Maillard reaction in meats, however, is the bomb. To many, it’s everything in their meats, including steaks. Why?

MaillardReaction refers to the chemical change where proteins and sugars,when heated, develop. These add flavor complexity in the meats andforms new aromas.

Untilthis reaction occurs, your meat will have far less flavor than it canhave. It also creates delicious browning in your meats.

Fixing Your Cooking Temperature

Whenyou’re cooking your patties, start with high heat. All you need isaround 3 – 4 minutes per side for the burger to cook and then flip.Do the same with the other side of the patty.

Limitthe flipping to stop any sort of further protein breakage. If youwant to confirm if you cooked your patty right, touch the surface ofyour patty. It should be bouncy and firm to the touch.

3. You “Overwork” Your Burger Patty

Acommon misconception about beef patties is they need a tight push.Many beginner hamburger enthusiasts try to do too much with theirground beef. This is the worst thing you can do.

Why?

Thecenter of the patty will start evaporating juices in the center. Thiswill create large amounts of steam, which will then try to come out.With a very tight patty, you can expect the excess steam to breakyour burger apart.

Handling Perfect Patties

It’shard to overwork your burger not unless you do a very tight press onit. Even then, you need to make sure that you press your burgerright. Here’s how you do it.

Withyour palms, cup 4 – 6 ounces of meat on your hands and create aball. Sculp it into a disc by flattening two opposite sides.

Here’s a pro-tip that can give you a great, juicy burger every time. Create an indentation or a volcano in the middle of the patty instead of letting it be a flat disc. This helps regulate your burger’s moisture content and help steam dissipate without bloating inside.

It’salso crucial to let your burger patty rest for 5 to 10 minutes,depending on the thickness. This lets the burger seal all the juicesinside and lets the proteins on the crust bind together. Much likehow you need to rest a steak, resting burger patties lets you have ajuicy but firm result.

4. Your Burger Meat Is Not Chilled

Ifyou have a burger patty and it’s still breaking apart, one of themost possible reasons is the meat’s temperature. One of the majorproblems of ground beef is that it breaks apart when at roomtemperature.

Why?

Groundbeef does not have a lot of room to stay together because it’s insmaller particles. Unlike chicken or pork, beef has a lot of moistureand it can break apart if you don’t remove most. Because you stillneed the juices in the meat for flavor, you can’t dehydrate it toomuch.

Whatcan you do about it?

Chilling Burgers Before Cooking

Beforeyou start cooking your burger patties, it’s best to start themchilled. You don’t want to start frozen because that will burn outthe outside of the patty before it thaws. Excess ice crystals canalso make the patty break apart once melted.

Right before the cooking process, chill the burgers in the freezer for a good 20 minutes. If you’re thawing from frozen, let it sit in the refrigerator. You want your beef patty to be firm, not soggy.

Tohelp it stay together, you can use a sheet of wax paper to supportthe patty on the bottom. This will also allow you to do a soft stackuntil you’re ready to eat the burger.

Some Burger Breaking Apart Myths Busted

Thereare common misconceptions that people have when their burgers fallapart. This can be a problem because they’re not addressing realissues. Here are a few takes.

Onecommon myth is your body heat can make the burger sag and fall apart.This is not true and even impossible in terms of biology.

The core body temperature is at 97.7 to 99.5 F (36.5 to 37.5 C), with the skin at 91.4 F (33 C). The melting point of beef fat is 97 to 113 F (36 to 113 C). This means your body heat can’t alter any of the physical composition of the patty itself.

Whatmakes your patty soggier, however, is time. Any oil melts at roomtemperature, so if your patty stays out too long, it will startfalling apart. This is the reason why you want to chill your pattyfirst and cook it as soon as possible.

Anothermisconception is the use of binders. Many tips online will tell youto use eggs or other binders if your burger is breaking. This comesfrom meatloaf or meatball recipes where egg holds the beef.

Binderslike eggs are not great for burgers.

Why?

You’re not making a meatloaf. You also only use the egg to hom*ogenize the meat with the breadcrumbs in meatballs. This should not be the case in burgers.

Also,binders use liquid to create a seal for the ground beef itself. Itadds back unnecessary moisture into the patty and changes the flavorprofile of the burger. The crust will have the taste and consistencyof a meatball, which can be rubbery.

Burgersfalling apart is a common problem that can have many reasons. Fromthe ground beef to low cooking heat to overworking your patties tonot chilling your beef, it’s easy to get your hamburger pattywrong. With the right guide, you can get all the elements of yourburger in the best order they can be.

Now that you know what to do, get out there and try these quick fixes out for yourself. You want to have the juiciest, best burgers that are not falling out of your hand. There are many ways you can do this, so keep checking for more tips.

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