I was looking for tips on how to make the best burger at home. These were the top results and who I got them from. I used these to develop my own burger recipe.

By source

Source	Meat choice	Working the meat	Seasoning	Thumb press	Temperature of meat before cooking	Flipping	Checking doneness	Resting
Bobby Flay’s Burger tips	80% lean ground chuck	—	Salt and pepper only	Yes	—	—	Take temperature	—
10 Tips for Perfect Burgers	82% lean ground chuck, ground fresh	Don’t overwork, use wet hands	—	Yes	Cold	Only once	—	10 minutes
7 Pro Tips for Making the Best Burger Ever	80% lean, ground fresh. Grassfed is best	Don’t overwork, use wet hands	Salt at the last moment	—	Cold	Only once	—	—
The Burger Lab’s Top 10 Tips for Making Better Burgers	80% lean, freshly ground. Don’t use store-ground beef	Don’t overwork	Salt and pepper at the last moment	—	Cold	As often as you want	Take temperature	—
15 Tips from Chefs on Creating the Perfect Burgers	80% lean brisket, short rib, or chuck, ground yourself	—	Salt and pepper at the last moment	Yes	Cold	As often as you want	Squeeze the sides	5 minutes
My experience	90% lean meat	Don’t overwork, wet hands optional	Salt and pepper at the last moment	Yes	As cold as you can	As often as you want	Color of the juices	5 minutes

Definitions

Meat choice

Every source I saw recommended at least 80% lean meat (20% fat content). I’m sure this is the ideal ratio in order for a juicy burger. However, when I made a bison burger, the only choice I had was 90% lean (10% fat content). My burger turned out absolutely delicious, and it was not noticeably dry at all. For a restaurant, 80% may be the standard, but as a home cook, 90% lean worked perfectly fine for me.

Working the meat

Several sites mentioned how important it was to not overwork the meat. This has something to do with the protein structure that makes it tough the more you touch it. Seeing the evidence, I am convinced that the less you touch it, the better off your burger will be. In my experience, I gently mold each burger into a ball. Then, I flatten it to my desired thickness and mold the edges until circular. However, I’m not sure how important using wet or cold hands are. I use my regular, dry (and clean!) hands, and it seems to work out just fine.

Seasoning

Like with overworking the meat, working salt into the meat affects the proteins. This makes the burger dense and tough and is not the direction you want to go. Many sources say to use salt and pepper just before putting on the grill or skillet. In my experience, doing it this way has yielded good results.

Thumb press

I’ve read a few reasons of putting a thumb print in the middle of the patty while cooking. One reason is to keep the meat from shrinking in on itself, in order to maintain its shape. The other reason is to keep the middle from puffing up. They claim that a puffy center causes people to press down on the burgers, which drains the juices and dries out the center. The thumbprint in the middle is supposed to prevent that. However, this practice could just be one of those things someone came up with and everyone else copied. I do use this method, but I’m not entirely sure of it’s effectiveness.

Temperature of meat before cooking

Some sources say that your meat must remain cold right up until it is cooked. I’ve left my meat out for ~30 minutes before cooking and it still resulted in a great burger. I wouldn’t suggest leaving it out of the fridge longer than you have to, but I don’t think it’s necessary to be paranoid of the meat sitting on the counter for a little bit while you prepare other things vs. keeping it in the fridge.

Flipping

How often you can flip a burger is hotly debated in the burger world. People tend to be very passionate about which is the correct stance. Either they say flip your burger once and only once, or flip it as many times as you want. As a home cook that doesn’t make burgers very often, there is no way I can flip my burger once and have it be perfect every time. Therefore, I have no other choice than to flip it as many times as I need to until it’s done. And, luckily for me, it has always turned out just fine this way.

Checking doneness

As I don’t own a meat thermometer, taking the temperature is not an option. I check the doneness by gauging the color of the juices. I like my burger somewhere between medium-well and well done. Therefore, I tend to remove my burger once the juice is mostly clear. If you do have a thermometer, there are specific internal temperatures that indicate the level of doneness.

Resting

Although not all of the sources I saw mentioned it, resting is a common practice. All this entails is letting the patty sit before serving it or cutting into it. The idea is that it allows the juices inside to settle, so that they don’t all drain out when you bite into the burger. A 5 minute rest has worked well for me every time.

Other recommendations

There were a few other tips mentioned in order to make a great burger:

• Don’t add anything else to the burger: herbs, spices, breadcrumbs, etc. This will make it less of a burger and more of a meatloaf and I agree.
• It needs to be cooked on high heat. Some people say a using a grill will lose the juices, and cooking on a skillet it better. Personally, I’ve used a cast iron skillet with great results. However, I think there is an entirely different knowledge base needed to cook burgers on a grill.
• Don’t press the burgers while they are cooking. Doing this is said to drain the juices and result in a dry burger. I think this has become such widespread advice that people don’t mention it anymore, but I figured I would reiterate the point.