The Best Classic Burger Recipe – Perfectly seasoned juicy homemade hamburgers. This easy recipe only needs a few ingredients.
How do you make a great burger?
I’m a firm believer that a truly great hamburger doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. You only need a handful of seasonings and some good ground beef. The beef you use for burgers makes all the difference.
What type of beef is best for burgers?
A lot of my recipes call for lean ground beef. Not this one! The best beef for making hamburger patties is 80% lean and 20 % fat ground beef. You really need the fat in the meat to make juicy flavorful burgers.
The Best Hamburger Recipe
*Note: The full printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.
- Add 80% lean ground beef to a large bowl.
- Add Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper.
- Mix with your hands until well combined.
- Divide the beef into fourths.
- Use your hands to form 4 hamburger patties ¾ inch thick.
- Use your thumbs to make an indention in the middle of the patties.
- Grill over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side.
- Serve on hamburger buns.
- Top with your favorite traditional burger toppings (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, etc.)
How to make a great Cheeseburger.
This burger recipe makes awesome cheeseburgers! Just add a slice of cheese to the top of each burger patty about 1 minute before they are ready to come off the grill. This will give the cheese enough time to melt. I highly recommend sliced provolone cheese on these.
What should I serve with hamburgers?
Watch the step by step recipe video for The Best Classic Burger below.
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The Best Classic Burger Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds 80% lean 20% fat ground beef or ground chuck
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Optional: 4 slices of cheese
- 4 hamburger buns
- Optional: hamburger toppings - lettuce tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to 375 degrees F (medium-high).
- In a large bowl, add the beef. Sprinkle evenly with the Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Use your hands to mix the ingredients until they are just combined.
- Divide the meat mixture into fourths. Take ¼ of the meat mixture and use your hands to press it into the shape of a hamburger patty that is about ¾ inch thick. Make an indention in the middle of the patty to prevent bulging in the center of the hamburger as it cooks. Repeat with the remaining meat mixture, making 4 hamburgers.
- Place the burgers on the grill. Cook 4-5 minutes on the first side. Flip the burgers over and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, until the burgers have reached the desired doneness.*
- If adding cheese, lay a slice of cheese on each burger patty about 1 minute before taking the burgers off the grill, so the cheese has a chance to melt.
- Serve the burgers on hamburger buns with optional hamburger toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Check out all of my great ground beef recipes.
My kids love this recipe. They call them Dad’s burgers. “Dad’s burger are the best”
I modify down to 1lb and serve as quarters.
Love these. Too big of a patty for me, but will modify for my preference.
The best burgers ever!
I made some of these tonight. They were one of the best burgers I’ve had. Not smothering the ground beef flavor, just adding a mix of flavors to it. I had to fry them tonight, too cold out to BBQ. Can’t wait to try some that way. Thanks!!
I’ve used your recipe so many times I figured I should leave a rating! Excellent burgers, my whole family loves them. Thanks! 🍔
Made this yesterday and it was delicious! My sister in law raved about it. Nice juicy. Cooked on a pan. Thank you for this!!
Best recipe ever….
Great recipe! Easy and everyone loves it
This recipe is my go-to when I have a taste for a homemade burger! My family loves the burgers so much that I have to double the recipe!
Will this recipe freeze well? Thanks
Yes, I freezes well when you freeze them raw… wrapped in wax/parchment paper.
I made these hamburgers this evening, and they were very flavorful and juicy. Next time, though, I will cut down on the black pepper. This is just my preference, and others may not agree. I made these on my newly purchased indoor grill, and I will do so again!!
Perfect seasoning for my little family.
The flavor was spot on! Delicious, juicy burgers. I didn’t have a grill so I used my air fryer.
I will make our burgers this way from now on. They were perfect!! My husband had eaten 1/2 of his in no time, he NEVER does that.
Awesome thanks
Good job
very good
Awesome I did it great burger
I added a tsp of onion pow as well. Kids loved it and so did I. Perfect recipe no matter the event.
Fantastic burger recipe!
Loved Worcestershire burgers yum
I had students fix this in class. It turned out great!
Made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious! The flavor was spot on, will definitely be my go-to recipe for burgers now. Thank you!
No grill
How do you make in oven
You can just fry them in a pan
My family (especially my son) loves these burgers, they have been our go to for a few years. Although my son likes restaurant burgers he will say nobody makes better burgers then his mom!
I don’t have a grill. I make my burgers and steaks on a cast iron pan. Love it.
This is a perfect burger recipe. The ingredients are simple and produce a tasty and juicy burger.
Best burgers ever . We make several and freeze so we always have .no burger take away again
The best burger I’ve ever made!
Great recipe! I can hardly cook and they came out delicious!!
Simple and easy. My type of recipe. I don’t know what seasoning salt is and we wouldn’t have your brand anyhow in Canada so I used Montreal Steak spice. thanks for the tip of indentation.
You can most definitely get seasoning salt in Canada, at every grocery store.
Hello,
Is there a specific seasoning salt you recommend?
thank you!
Lawrys is the best seasoning salt in my opinion.
One seasoned can you freeze some in a larger batch?
Yes u can , I just defrosted two tonight for dinner they were just as good
Yes you can freeze some in a larger batch
My daughter made hamburgers for dinner. We made a few adjustment to this classic burger. 1 teaspoon of seasoning salt instead of 1 1/2. Also, we used 85/15 meat and the flavor delivered the same results. We enjoyed the flavor. Thank you for the recipe.
These are amazing burgers. My son made them for us for supper and I have never enjoyed a burger as much as I did them.
Finally a juicy burger! Thank you all the burger was great.
Made these for an extended family dinner at my mother-in-law’s house. Everyone one enjoyed them so much. Both my husband and my mother-in-law have commented since that those burgers were some of the best ever! I wholeheartedly agree! I love the beefy taste that comes from no fillers, and seasonings that enhance the beef. Thanks for a terrific recipe. I wouldn’t change a thing!
How to you get 80/20 beef?
Ask your meat department. Ground beef is always marked on what percentage fat it is
Good burger but 1500MG of Sodium? Heck even the big mac with ‘cheese’ only clocks in at 1000.
I cut the salt in half and it still tastes pretty good to me.
1 1/2 tsp of salt is about 3525mg. If the recipe makes 4 burgers, that’s about 880mg per burger. So, less than a Big Mac. However, the recipe calls for seasoning salt which is about 2100mg for 1 1/2 tsp, which makes it about 525mg per burger. Also less than a Big Mac by almost half!
Ok, I’m not one to comment on recipes but this honestly was better than a $15 restaurant burger. Flavorful, moist, and cooked perfectly. The 80/20 meat did the trick I think – I’ve always used leaner and they came out too dry. The bad news is I don’t think my husband will want to go out for a burger ever again 😂. I made it with some garlic Parmesan fries that made for a perfect meal.
Yes Tracie, hopefully you liked the burgers because you did not cook them medium well. Any burger cooked beyond medium rare to medium destroys the whole essence of a gourmet burger: that is a fact – not opinion. You may as well just go to McDonald’s or In & Out. As soon as Amanda mentioned cooking her burger medium well you have to drop her out of a contender for legitimacy.
I tried many recipes…but this one honestly the best burger I have ever had 🙂
Hahaha@ I don’t think husband will ever want to go out for a burger again. That sounds like the perverbial good news/bad news!
This is my go-to burger recipe!
I almost made it to the half-century mark without making burgers from scratch – don’t know why but I think I thought they were too difficult for me. Anyway, these are so good and so easy. I use 1 lb of ground beef and make 1/4 pound burgers – the perfect size for us. And I discovered the other day, I was out of seasoning salt (!). I could have made my own, but being lazy, I used some Old Bay seasoning instead and we loved it. Thanks for a great burger recipe.
It really is perfect.
Excellent burgers! Made them tonight and were a huge hit! These will be my go to from now on.
My family and I love this recipe and have enjoyed it at grill outs many times. My question is how could the recipe be modified for either stove top cooking (maybe stove top grill pan) or oven baking? It’s 0 degrees in Chicago so we’re not grilling outdoors any time soon. Thank you!
An electric frying pan set at 375F produced burgers with a light ‘char’ on the outside, and juicy tender meat on the inside. Much simpler than the bbq, and a lot warmer, too!
This IS a great recipe! Thank you!!
Made these tonight and they were delicious! My kiddo inhaled hers too. Thank you for this recipe.
Wonderfully juicy and tasy!
Can sea salt be used instead of seasoning salt?
I don’t buy seasoning salt, so I used roughly 50% onion powder 50% salt, slightly heavier on the onion. The burgers taste delicious.
Seasoning salt isn’t pure salt, so a straight substitution with sea salt (or table salt) may be a little too much salt.
I was looking for a simple recipe and this was perfect. The only modification I will make in the future is to lessen the salt. I found it to be a bit more salty than I am used to but I also have cut down on my sodium content. I used roasted garlic powder and it gave it a bit more flavor. Delicious and highly recommend. This will be my go to burger recipe from now on. Thank you so much.
Perfect!
We grilled these for New Years. They were a hit. Juicy and just the right amount of flavor! I will use this again.
It is the perfect recipe. The burgers taste so good. It is my second time making them using this recipe. Thank you.
Love these burgers. So easy, so delicious!
Hi can you please tell me if it’s safe to freeze them after making them
Easy recipe most ingredients on hand just follow the simple directions on this one and you will have a very tasty burger I added pepper Jack and cheddar cheese and tried for the first time Trader Joe’s Organic Sweet Spicy mustard sauce delish !
Try it, delicious
Awesome Hamburger! My hubby loved it!! Just enough seasoning and was juicy delicious.
Can I use pork instead of beef on this one?
Perfect proportion of seasonings. Thanks!
Made exactly per directions but with a tiny more garlic powder. Really delish & juicy! I’m used to eggs & bread crumbs in the recipes but this one was great w/o all the fillers. Really enjoyed it. Ty for sharing.
I made this for my grandpa and he love it
vous explique tres bien
So tasty! They came out perfect
What is “pounds”?
how much meat goes into the recipe?
A pound is exactly 16 ounces. In this case the recipe calls for 24 ounces of Hamburger meat. Its a measurment of weight used in The United States. Convert to grams/ Kilograms for Other worldly countries.
Pounds is the weight of the meat.
1 1/2 lbs of beef go into the recipe.
Made these for my grandson’s birthday and they were delicious!
This was delicious!
Hi , I want to make these burgers for my kids . Can I make them one day ahead and put them in fridge ?
Thanks .
Sure can
I used this recipe to make burgers for my boyfriend. He said they are best burgers I have ever made (after every time he ate one). Thanks for the quick and easy recipe. As another reviewer said “go-to burger recipe”.
Delicious I would not change a thing
go to burger recipe
I loved the recipe but l did add a tablespoon of bread crumbs and onions in the recipe
Do the bread crumbs help to hold it together? How about an egg or two?
We are going to our cabin and I want to make them n Thursday for Friday or Sat lunch. Can I prepare them on Wed?
I kid you not…add a slice of pineapple on the grill at the end just to shear it and place under the burger in the bun with favorite topping…you’ll thank me later 🙂
Amazing for such a simple recipe. My family loves trying different kinds of burgers and this is a favorite. Amazing flavor and so moist! Definitely try this recipe.
Question about making these ahead of time. I’m having two rounds of guests this weekend. Can I make a large batch of these on Friday night, refrigerate them and cook some on Saturday and some on Sunday? Or should I freeze the ones I’m going to cook on Sunday?
Very good. But I couldn’t listen.
Holy Moly!!! The BEST burger EVERRRR! FULL OF FLAVOR! I followed the recipe as directed and added a pinch more of spices because I was using 2.34lbs of 80/20 meat. (after I patted up the burgers I put them in the fridge for a hour b4 grilling) This will be my 2 go 2 hamburger recipe. Thanks a bunch, we enjoyed!
What kind )brand salt seasoning do you use?
I use Johnny’s salt
My husband i love the recipe. i make larger batch and freeze them.
Made these for my family tonight. Definitely a fantastic burger. Will definitely make these again. Everybody loved them.
So easy to make and amazing turnout! Can’t stop raving about it. 5 stars all the way!!
Amazing and great!
Usually, I don’t add anything to make a burger, but tonight I thought I would try something new. I’m glad I did. It was delicious and I’ll use this from here on. Thanks for your recipe.
These were great and fast!
Used 2 lbs of ground sirloin with the same measurements for the spices, and the burgers turned out really great! Very easy to put together. Made six very delicious patties. A total hit with the family. This will be my go-to burger recipe from here on out.
These were incredible.
Best burger ever! I also added 1 teaspoon onion powder & brushed outside with oil so they wouldn’t stick to grill. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the extra tip!
We didn’t have Worcestershire sauce so I just used the other ingredients + a pinch of onion powder and a pinch of brown sugar. Pan-fried for about 8 mins and they turned out fantastic. Thank you so much! This made our week! Burgers are a must for quarantine.
the burgers have great flavor and there super easy to make! it’s our family’s new favorite dinner meal!
Best tasting hamburger I’ve ever had; granted I don’t do a lot of red meat, but with increased exercise, I needed protein, so I hunted down a recipe that was hopefully the best ever recipe, and I was NOT disappointed. My new fav!!!
I made these burgers last night and they were so delicious! My usually picky 4 year old devoured his entire burger so fast, and he usually isn’t too fussy about burgers. I used pink Himalayan salt instead of seasoning salt, only because I didn’t have any on hand, but they were still fantastic. Thank you for this simple, yet delicious burger recipe, I will definitely be using it over again and again. 🙂
They were so good! Easy to make and I got 5 burgers out of it. Yum.
I used this recipe to make burgers for my family this past weekend, and everyone agreed that they were damned tasty! The combination of the sauce and spices greatly enhances the flavor of the ground beef. Highly recommended!
Can I just pan fry them with the same results?
Yes. However you cook it does not lessen its goodness, I pan fried mine, next time I may grill it , preferably in daylight. It’s delicious!
I’ve only pan fried this recipe and everyone in my family loves it. It does take longer to cook though.
For 2.25 lbs of beef I used 2.5 tbsp of Worcester sauce, 1.75 tsp salt, 0.6 tsp pepper (and I forgot the garlic salt!) and it turned out delicious.
Be careful not to use garlic salt. The recipe calls for garlic powder.
This is the best burger recipe I’ve tried: simple ingredients that lend just the right amount of flavor to the ground beef, yet don’t overpower that classic burger taste. This is NOT ‘meatloaf on a bun’, folks!
I made this for my husband and myself today, and will be adding it to the rotation of meals I make for our farm crew during summer and fall harvests! Thank you😋
I’m trying with 85% hopefully it good
Grilled this burger, way too salty!
Add less salt then…
Hi Patti – try leaving the salt out of the mix, and instead salt to taste as you lay them on the grill.
Did you put in garlic salt instead of garlic powder?
Agreed! I’d probably go with half the amount of salt called for.
I put just a touch of salt since we aren’t salt users. I didn’t want to leave it out totally though. They were awesome! My husband said save that recipe👍
Can we fry this? How long?
Easiest, best tasting burger mix, hands down. SO easy.. you can’t mess this up! Truly! Perfect amount of seasoning.
I’ve been wanting to make a really delish burger for my whole family since my birthday is fast approaching. I’ll keep in mind to choose 80% lean and 20% fat ground beef for the pattie. This sounds amazing, but maybe there’s also a handcrafted restaurant that I can find just in case I wouldn’t be able to perfect this recipe on time.
At a minimum, 80/20 is the way to go. When I can find it, 70/30 is even better. As my butcher says, fat is flavor. Don’t scrimp on it. Pat Lafreida makes a brisket/short rib grind that is commercially available here in central Conn that is excellent.
Looks Delicious. !!!!
I loved your presentation .
Great Work . Thanks for sharing .
Your post is amazing . Your have shared this amazing recipe quite nicely that it sounds so easy to make.
Thanks !!
It sounds so simple but it sure does make a big difference! (I’m actually eating this recipe as I type this!) Good point about the 80/20 but I would add that ground CHUCK makes the best hamburgers. What I’m wondering is, if it’s okay to freese the other 3 patties (with the blended ingredients) since I only wanted one? Thanks Amanda 🙂
If your meat was already frozen, no don’t freeze again,but you can freeze the cooked Pattie and use when ready.
These were so good!!! My husband, kids and cousin said those were the best I have ever made. I only used a skillet for a last minute meal. I’m making them for the second time in the skillet. Too lazy to fire up the bbq pit but next time my husband is cooking and heats it up I will put these on it. These are winners at our house!
How did you only eat one?