What if you could make hamburgers for your whole family in a matter of minutes, without dirtying your stove or having to light a grill?
That’s the beauty of this game-changing recipe from Molly Stevens and her latest book, “All About Roasting.” I’ve been a huge fan of Molly Stevens ever since I bought her braising book (“All About Braising”) and, I’ll confess, that when the roasting book arrived (I was lucky enough to get a press copy) I dropped whatever it was I was doing and immediately tore into the pages. The recipes and pictures of glorious roasted meats all screamed out to me (I’ve got like 20 recipes bookmarked already) but the one that intrigued me the most was the one for roasted hamburgers.
The very concept of a roasted hamburger probably offends the traditionalists among you who think of a hamburger as that sizzled and seared flat patty of meat that sits, crisp and golden, on a bun. That’s certainly the way it’s done at most places famous for their burgers–from Shake Shack on the east coast to In-N-Out on the west coast.
But at home, cooking burgers indoors is a hassle. You don’t have a flattop where you can plop the patties neatly in a row; most likely, you have a skillet or two and when you fry up your burgers, you’ve got grease stains all over the stove and a big pile of goo in your pan to clean later. Yuck.
Which is why the roasted hamburger recipe is so genius: for starters, the process itself is neat. You simply flavor the beef (mine came from Lindy & Grundy, my new favorite butcher) with some salt and Worcestershire sauce:
You shape your patties and put them on a wire rack over a tray lined with aluminum foil and sprinkled with salt, to catch any drippings so they don’t burn and smoke up your oven:
The wire rack allows heat to go all around the burger so, in its time in the oven, the outside can still turn golden while the inside stays moist (as Molly points out in her recipe, these burgers shrink less than stovetop burgers do, and are therefore more juicy).
The next great thing is that you can use a probe thermometer with these burgers to cook them with absolute precision:
Into a 475 degree oven it goes and you just cook them until the burger is between 130 and 135 for medium-rare:
Just as its getting close, you top the burger with cheese and put it back in the oven for the cheese to melt. Trying to recreate the Spotted Pig burger, I topped mine with blue cheese (also from Lindy and Grundy):
Back in the oven they go until the cheese melts (just a minute more) and there you have it. A perfectly cooked burger with very little mess. And you can make as many as you need all at once. All hail Molly Stevens! She’s made burgers at home a no-brainer.
Recipe: Roasted Hamburgers
Summary: A revolutionary hamburger recipe from Molly Stevens’s latest book, “All About Roasting.”
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for lining the pan
- 2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
- 6 toasted hamburger buns, English muffins, split focaccia, or slices of other favorite bread
- Your favorite hamburger toppings: sliced Swiss or cheddar cheese (I like blue cheese!), sliced tomato, lettuce, sliced onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, etc.
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 475 degrees (450 degrees in a convection oven). Line a heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spread a thin layer of salt over the surface of the foil to absorb any drippings and prevent the oven from smoking. Arrange a wire rack so that it sits at least 3/4 inch above the surface of the pan.
- Break the beef into 1- to 2-inch lumps with your hands and drop into a mixing bowl. Season with salt, Worcestershire, and a generous amount of black pepper. Mix gently, using your fingertips to break up the meat and incorporate the seasonings. Over-handling the beef will make for tough, dry burgers.
- Divide the meat into 6 portions. Molly Stevens likes to eyeball even portions and arrange them, before shaping, on a large plate. “This way I can add a little here and remove a little there until I have 6 equal-size lumps to start with.” If you have a kitchen scale, you can use that too: have it so each burger weighs 5.3 ounces. [My method was just to grab a hunk of meat and shape it willy-nilly.] Lightly shape the beef into disks about 3 1/4 inches across and about 1 inch thick. Set the burgers at least 1 inch apart on the wire rack.
- Roast the burgers for 10 to 16 minutes, checking on them either with an instant-read thermometer (the quickest way) or by cutting into one to peek. For medium-rare, look for 130 to 135 degrees; for medium, 140 degrees. (If you’re mad enough to like your burgers medium-well, take it to 160 degrees; but WHY WHY WHY?!). If adding cheese, top the burgers with cheese when they are about 2 degrees away from being done to your liking and return them to the oven for 1 minute to melt the cheese.
- Transfer the burgers to buns, English muffins, split focaccia, or favorite bread and garnish as you like.
Quick notes
Make sure your oven’s clean before roasting anything at such a high temperature, otherwise it’ll smoke.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time:
Diet tags: High protein
Number of servings (yield): 6
Culinary tradition: USA (General)
My rating
more of a meatloaf sandwich but I really like and its really tasty, for everyone who says they cant cook burgers inside slide your rack all the way up and broil them you gotta watch them the whole time but that’s how you get a firmer burger and that charr taste indoors, it will smoke a little though….
People, meatloaf has egg and a filler like breadcrumbs or oatmeal. THAT’S what makes it meatloaf, not the cooking method.
Used 1/2 Angus burgers. Added garlic & parsley, A1 & the L&P. Used (2 ea) feta, Swiss & American. Toasted ‘Talianio brand Italian soft hamburger buns. Turned out fab! Clean-up was breeze too!
Hi! I googled “cooking burgers in the oven” and found this recipe. I made it yesterday for my husband and I and they are the best burgers I have made! I always find recipes that say to put onions and all kinds of spices in the meat but these came out so great with just salt, pepper, and worstershire. I used local beef and they were the juiciest, yummiest burgers ever!! thanks!
I am trying this today. To season the hamburger I mixed 1 lb sausage with 2 lb beef.
Doing this recipe tonight. The only changes are No blue cheese and cook until medium well at 155 degrees. No one in my house wants to see red in there hamburger.
Tremendous success with this recipe – love the salt in the pan trick. I do it the Oz way and cook bacon and onion rings on a flat tray in the oven as well. When the burgers, bacon and onion are cooked, I take them out. Then reuse the bacon tray for eggs and toast the opened english muffins all in the oven. So little mess for a family of 5 and the oven really doesnt get very dirty.
Now I don’t have to try to grill in the winter cold.
I do not recommend trying this with a glass backing dish.
I substituted equal parts garlic salt and table salt. Very good! Only problem… I used high fat hamburger that I needed to use or lose. Every smoke alarm in the house went off multiple times. I will try again, but with lower fat beef. Thanks!
The smoke alarm thing goes away if you use a broiler pan. (I have a friend who sets the grease on fire by using an open pan at broiler level-fun with gas and why I thought it through.) My Mom made oven hamburgers back in the late 60’s when I was a kid, when low fat burger was only available by special request of your butcher. We have a smaller broiler pan the fits in the sink.
e coli is why why why you would cook to 160 degrees!
Worked out great, thanks!!! Found a new way to make my burgers!!! Hate grilling outside!!!
Why Why Why because raw burgers are gross!!
. . . and the oven. Might be worth it for a number of diners–I have used the oven broiler before.
Getting ready to prepare meals for the overflow homeless shelter this winter and wanted to offer burgers instead of the usual soups and cassseroles. I don’t have the patience to pan-fry 40 burgers, so I may do this instead! Thanks for the directions.
That’s so nice of you!
Why 160? Because most commercial ground beef is filthy.
and all the grease drains to the bottom of the pan if you use a rack!
This is a wonderful recipe!!! I loved that I didnt have sizzling burgers on my stove top while I was trying to cook sides and the clean up was super easy, not to mention according to my husband and daughters, these were the BEST burgers I’ve ever made…loved the recipe! Thanks
Great solution for a small apartment with no ventilation. Tried this last night and the burgers were perfectly juicy in 15 minutes and the smoke alarm never went off once. Perfect winter solution when’s grilling just isn’t feasible. Top quality meat doesn’t need charring to be full of flavor anyway.
gonna make these tonight in our toaster oven!
These were AMAZING! So juicy and delicious! Although I love the taste and crisp from a grilled or fried burger this I could live with, especially because of the light cleanup.
This is my new go-to recipe for fixing burgers. So simple to pop them in the oven and let them cook while I prepare a couple of sides. Easy enough to do on a weeknight, with almost no clean up! Thank you!
Wow, this worked perfectly. I’ve never made a successful burger at home…until tonight. Thank you!
and all the grease drains to the bottom of the pan if you use a rack!
What about doing this from frozen Bubba burgers?
revolutionary? genius? my mom made these when i was a kid since i can remember….& im 42! normal everyday things & how to go about doing them is always amazing to modern-day rich hipsters. ill check out the molly stevens book though. sounds interesting.
Well aren’t we picky!! A lot of us don’t have grills and can’t afford them!
Its -10 F where I am currently and craving a burger. I know your post is 3 years old but no way in hell-o am I grilling . I’m not a fan of lame people. Yes in the warmer months I’m outside grilling, but in the middle of winter no thank you
This method worked great, thanks!
I’m sorry so many people have posted disparaging comments without trying the recipe. This recipe produces some of the most flavorful, juicy burgers that I’ve ever eaten. Frankly, I’m not known for being a great cook, and my family accepts my dinners rather than appreciates them. The first time I made these, and then every subsequent time, the universal reaction was shocked delight. Everybody starts with a stoic expression – prepared to eat them out of politeness – and then happy wonderment spreads over their features. And absolutely everyone says, “Wow! These are really good!”
Thanks so much! My apt setup limits how to cook food, and using this method meant I had a delicious burger minus kitchen splatters and greasy-smelling hair, clothes, and everything else in the room.
So trying this!!
I have never commented on a cooking site before, however have to say this recipe is brilliant and beats stove top hands down…no mess, juicy burgers, and cooked perfectly as per directions….wow…just wow
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