Best Damn Air Fryer Burgers

Air fryer burgers are the perfect, quick and easy meal to satisfy any appetite. With simple seasonings and easy prep, these burgers are juicy, tender and loaded with flavor, without the hassle of firing up the grill or making a mess on the stovetop. Make 4, quarter pound burgers in under 15 minutes!

We absolutely love being able to use the air fryer to make quick and fresh hamburgers and cheeseburgers. They’re excellent for any occasion and the convenience of the air fryer is awesome.

Jump to:

• Fresh Ground Beef Burgers
• Easy Ingredients
• Easy Preparation
• Make Quarter Pound Burgers
• Chilled Meat Makes the Best Burgers
• Air Fry at 370°(F) for 8 Minutes
• Good Buns are Important
• Toppings Galore!
• Leftovers and Storage
• Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Fresh Ground Beef Burgers

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a delicious, freshly made burger. And of course, this starts with fresh ground beef. We’ve found the very best results come from ground beef that is 85% lean. This blend has just enough fat to maintain juiciness throughout the burger, and give us a nice tender texture with excellent flavor. We also like to form our own patties, as opposed to the pre-made patties. By making our own patties, we can blend the seasonings in to perfection, and get that nice savory texture you expect from a good burger.

Easy Ingredients

We’ll season our burgers with a simple blend of common ingredients including:

• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Black pepper
• White Pepper

While we only use ⅛ teaspoon of ground white pepper, it works so well to provide that little something extra that makes our burger special. It helps to further enhance the natural flavors of the beef and the other ingredients. A little goes a long way, which is why we only need ⅛ teaspoon per pound of meat.

If you are missing and one of the individual ingredients, don’t worry. This combination is a tried and true burger seasoning mix, but, you can adjust to your own liking with no problem. The most important ingredients are really the salt and a little black pepper. If you have a seasoning mix such as seasoned salt (Lawry’s is a good one), go for it! I also like to use steak seasoning mixes. Have you tried Montreal Steak seasoning? Wow, it’s excellent on not only steak, but burgers too!

Easy Preparation

Making air fryer burgers is really as simple as adding the seasoning mix to the ground beef and forming the patties. Once we’ve mixed our seasoning, add it as evenly as possible to the beef. Then, use your hands and fold in the seasoning mix. You don’t want to overwork the meat by squishing or mixing to a pasty consistency. Overworking it can result in a tough, rubbery texture. By gently working in the seasonings and forming the patties, we’ll get a nice and tender texture when cooked.

Make Quarter Pound Burgers

We’ll be making 4, ¼ pound hamburger patties that will only be about ½″ thick. We’ve found that this is really the ideal size and thickness for air frying burgers. Form the patties by shaping the meat into a ball shape, then press down with hand/fist to flatten them out. Also, use your thumb or a couple of fingers to indent the center of the burgers.  This will help to prevent the burgers from puffing up into a ball while cooking.

Chilled Meat Makes the Best Burgers

Another key to making the perfect burger is for the patties to hit the heat when they’re cold. Yes, unlike many other meats, burgers benefit from being cold prior to being cooked. Start with fresh ground beef right from the fridge, season and make the patties, then place them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. We’re not freezing the patties, but rather controlling the melting of the fat and moisture content. Even this little bit of time can help to get the best results for the cooked burger.

Air Fry at 370°(F) for 8 Minutes

Start by preheating your air fryer at 370°(F) for about 5 minutes. This is important as we want those burgers to sizzle when they hit the air fryer basket or tray. Once the air fryer is preheated, add the burger patties, set the air fry setting and air fry for 8 minutes. We also don’t concern ourselves with the burgers being rare, medium or well done. With burgers this size, we’re simply doing a nice even cooking throughout the burger to provide the most optimal results. Air fryer sizes and temps can vary from appliance to appliance, so if you find they still need another couple of minutes, just pop them back in. But, 8 minutes will usually be the ideal cook time. If adding cheese, add the slices of cheese during the last minute of cooking. This will help get that cheese nice and gooey and start the melting process.

Good Buns are Important

So now that we’ve made these delicious burgers, we need good buns. I love to use brioche buns. They have a shiny outer crust that’s soft to bite into and very savory. Pretzel puns are excellent too. They’re very full, soft and hold up well for any kind of burger. Toasting the buns adds that extra goodness too. If your air fryer has a toast feature, you can use that. If not, just smear some butter on the inside of the bun halves and place on a hot pan or griddle for a minute or two to form a nice golden crust.

Choose any particular bun to your liking, just make sure they’re soft and fresh. Buns of steel may be good for your workout, but not for your burger.

Toppings Galore!

Naturally, burgers can be served with any number of your favorite toppings. Of course, nothing beats the classic American burger with fresh iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes and raw onions. While the hamburgers are cooking, slice up some good tomatoes, layout some lettuce leaves and cut those onions (don’t cry too much) and have them all ready to go on a plate for everyone to pick and choose as they please. Ketchup and mustard are standards for a good burger as well. But, have you had mayo on your burger? Smear a little on the bun and it’s excellent. You can also use Thousand Island Dressing. Oh, and don’t forget the pickle slices. Oh my goodness biting into a fresh made burger with all those fresh toppings is so satisfying!

Leftovers and Storage

Your air fryer burgers are perfect to make and store for later. They’ll keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze them! For freezing, I’d recommend separating the patties with parchment paper and seal in plastic freezer bag. You’ll want to make sure to get as much air out of the bag as possible. Too much air can cause freezer burn. The burger will keep in the freezer for a couple of months. Freeze just the patties, not the buns and toppings.

You can use your air fryer to reheat the burger patties too. Use a low setting such as 350°(F) for about 5 minutes or until heated through. You can also microwave for a minute or two. Of course, if the grill is on, thrown them on a heated grill for a couple of minutes.

Print

Recipe