Make delicious Instant Pot burgers that will be a hit with the whole family. Here’s a recipe for Instant Pot cheddar ranch burgers that is easy to make and cooks in about 10 minutes. No need to fill up the house with smoke by making burgers on the stovetop. No need to fire up the grill. In fact, there’s no mess at all. The burger patties are wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in the Instant Pot on top of the trivet. All that’s left afterwards is a delicious burger and a piece of aluminum foil that’s easily tossed away.
Why Make Burgers in the Instant Pot?
Making burgers in the Instant Pot saves a ton of time and a lot of cleanup. It’s also one of the easiest ways you’ll ever make a burger. No pans to clean up, so grill to setup and clean, no house full of smoke. The pressure cooking method of cooking hamburgers results in a delicious, juicy and tender burger you will love.
The Cheddar and Ranch Flavors are Perfect for burgers!
Since we’re using the pressure cooking method to make our burgers, we’ll fill up the meat with all the great flavor we can. One of the very best seasonings is is ranch dressing/seasoning mix. I buy them in 1oz packets at the grocery store and use them in many of my favorite recipes. Just a couple of teaspoons of the ranch mix along with some Worcestershire sauce and cheddar cheese, and we’ve got all the flavors we need. You can use grated cheese of you like, but I always find the tastiest is to but a couple of pieces from a block of cheddar, and then cut it into small cubes. When it cooks it melts directly into the meat along with the ranch seasoning to create an amazing burger!
Quick and Easy
No need to flip the burgers or constantly check on them, when making burgers in the Instant Pot, the patties simply get wrapped in foil and pressure cooked for about 10 minutes. Making 1/3lb burgers is the perfect size and you get 3 delicious, good sized, hearty burgers for every pound of meat. Easy to make a few for dinner or a few more for a gathering.
Adjust to Your Taste
This recipe can easily be adjusted to add more cheese or ranch flavor to you liking. For 1lb of meat (3 burgers), 3 teaspoons of the ranch mix and 3 oz of cubed cheddar cheese and 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire Sauce sauce are your standard recipe.If you want to add a bit more ranch or cheddar, go right ahead! It’s still going to cook the same in the Instant Pot.
*Please note: this recipe has been updated since originally posted to reflect updated cooking times. For 3 burgers, wrapped in foil and NOT stacked on top of each other, the proper cooking time is 10 minutes. If you are doubling the recipe and need to stack the burgers, the cooking time will increase. 6 burgers, stacked 2 deep will be 18-22 minutes cooking time.
Instant Pot Cheddar Ranch Burgers
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 15 mins
- Yield: 3 burgers
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Pressure cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef (80%-85% lean)
- 3 teaspoons dry ranch dressing mix
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
- 1.5 cup water (2 cups for 8qt size)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except water. Mix well with hands and divide and shape into 3 burger patties.
- Wrap each burger patty in foil, and place on top of trivet (not stacked on top of each other) in instant Pot with 1.5 cup of water (2 cups for 8qt pot) added to the pot.
- Secure lid and make sure seal is closed. Pressure cook for 10 minutes
- When cook time is complete, do a quick release of the pressure. Carefully remove patties and serve on you favorite burger buns.
I made this recipe with ground chicken but I’ve made many burger recipes with chicken instead and they’re always delicious. They were moist and I liked the IP method but there was absolutely no flavor. I keep wondering if the recipe should have been 3 TBSP instead of 3 Tsp. I couldn’t taste any of the seasoning whatsoever.
★★★
would you put in less water if you are using a 6 qt?
No
Could you cook these in parchment paper instead of foil? Trying to avoid aluminum.
Yes you can. Wrap them tightly.
I made these today using ground turkey (made into 4 parties) and they are amazingly good!
My brand of electric pressure cooker only let me go down to 15 minutes but they came out perfectly. No more dry turkey burgers for me!
★★★★★
Hi Kathy. Yeah I need to update the recipe for using ground turkey also, because it’s SO good! I love it too. Thanks for the feedback!
Can I put 6 burgers in an 8qt all at once? Do I need to add more water or adjust the time, or do you recommend 3 at a time? Thanks!
Hi Sara,
You do not need to add more water for 6. I always suggest to spread them out flat on the trivet if your’re just making 3-4. If you need to stack them, by all means do so, the time may need to increase by a couple of minutes.
I made these using ground turkey rather than beef but otherwise following the recipe exactly. They were delicious! My adult children said they were the best turkey burgers I had ever made! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
It’s funny you mention this, we were talking about making turkey burgers this way just yesterday. Now we’re putting it on the menu for sure this week. Thanks again, Marlene!
These were soooo tasty! I’m normally not a burger fan (or beef in general, really), but I really enjoyed these. They were so flavourful and good — and juicy because of the Instant Pot. My partner was skeptical about using that instead of the grill, but he raved about the burgers too! The only thing I did differently was add a couple drops of liquid smoke to the patty mixture. Perfection! Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Any tips to keep it less greasy? Besides using a leaner beef. HUsband is a weirdo about beef in the pot in grease LOL
Hi Amanda. Yeah, going with a bit of a leaner meat is about the only way. They are in foil packets and easy to clean up, but that’s about all that can really be done. I honestly don’t find them to be greasy. But of course, that’s always the nature of burgers anyways.
I placed some crumbled bacon on the foil, under the burger, before wrapping. Bacon ranch cheeseburgers!
This looks easy and yummy. Any way to avoid using the aluminum foil. To avoid the toxins released during high heat?
Aluminum foil toxins? Geesh
Some recipes suggest parchment paper instead of foil
HI Do you think this would work with chicken/turkey burgers? Would you adjust the time? Thank you
Hi Kathy. I LOVE turkey burgers and this would certainly work with them. I’ve not tried them in the Instant Pot however but I’m guessing the times would be close. I think you’d certainly want to check for fineness with an instant read thermometer. Look for 160 degrees.
I don’t have a pressure cooker of any kind at the moment, but would really love to try this recipe. Do you know if the patties would turn out ok on the stove top?
I have made burgers like this plenty of times on the stove top and they turned out great 🙂
My family and I loved this recipe! It was so easy to make and clean up was way easier than the burgers being in a pan. I made two batches at about 2 1/4 pounds at 7 minutes. I used shredded cheese and wow – that plus the ranch was amazing. The burgers were super moist and the flavor was awesome. I am sold on burgers in the Instant Pot, and the girls at work are ready to try it too once they heard how easy this is w/ very little clean up. Plus, the flavors throughout the burgers were pure joy after cooking in their own juices in the tin foil bundles.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it, Carrie! Yeah, Instant Pot burgers really are awesome.
Did you stack the foil packets of burgers on top of each other to have room to cook a double batch at once?
I made these at work today. I used 2.25# ground chuck for about 1/4 pounders. I added dried minced onions as well,placed 4 (slightly overlapped) on trivet, added the top layer of my egg rack and placed the next 4 like the first layer. 10 minutes high pressure. They were a hit! I feel like 8 minutes would have been perfect, but they all disappeared!!! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
I have an 8 qt IP and used 1.33 lbs beef and made 4 patties. This recipe was good, but burgers were too well-cooked and dry. I would make again but cook less amount of time and experiment.
I found that 10 minutes gave me 3 burgers that were medium rare. I’m thinking it might be best to go 13 minutes instead for medium. Using a 6 qt Instant Pot.
I would assume you could make up patties and freeze them?
Sure could!
Thanks for sharing, do you pressure cook on high or low? Thanks!
Hi Maya. High pressure.
Hi Brenda… yes, if you’re gonna go with 1/4lb size or smaller i’d reduce the cooking time 5-7 minutes.
The flavors sound awesome! I prefer a smaller burger. If I was to make four instead of three burgers, how much should I reduce the cook time by? Just a minute, maybe two?