Josh's secret recipe for the best ever homemade beef burger patties. Perfect for burger night - especially if you put them in homemade hamburger buns!
This post was originally published in April 2015 – it has been retested, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished (to make it better for you!) in January 2019.
I do most of the cooking in our house but when it comes to homemade burgers I am given my marching orders.
I've made burger patties before, and they're ok I guess, but when Josh gets in the kitchen and makes a burger, I'm telling you, it's like no other burger you will ever eat. This is a big call, but I'm making it. Josh makes the BEST burger patties around. And I've eaten a lot of burgers.
Before I declared that I needed to post the recipe here, I'd never even watched him make the patties before. And I'll admit, even as I was watching I was thinking...hmmm, that is not how I would do it. I take it back. I take it all back. If I ever have to make a burger again (and I hope Josh always makes them for me) this is exactly how I will do them. And how you should too.
Here's what you need
I know that a lot of burger enthusiasts consider anything other than just ground beef and a bit of salt and pepper the wrong way to make a burger, but if that's you, let us try and convince you otherwise with this recipe! The ingredients list is a little longer than that but everything that goes into these burger patties helps to make them incredibly tasty and not at all dry like some burgers can be!
- Minced beef or ground beef/hamburger
- Eggs and breadcrumbs to help bind the burgers together
- Mixed herbs - this is a pre made mix of herbs that we can buy from the supermarket in New Zealand that is made up of any combination of thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano or sage. You can substitute this with your choice of herbs
- Crushed garlic - this can come from a jar or a crushed fresh garlic clove, your choice
- Beef stock cube or 1 teaspoon of powder
- BBQ sauce - this can be swapped for tomato sauce/ketchup or Worcestershire sauce and a little bit of brown sugar
How to make Josh's burgers
There are a couple of little tricks that Josh uses when he makes burgers. One is to combine all the ingredients except for the mince first. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and whisk up. Add the breadcrumbs, mixed herbs, beef stock cube (don't leave this out...I'm pretty sure it's the secret ingredient) crushed garlic and a squeeze of BBQ sauce and mix that all up.
Then add your mince and get in there with your hands and mix it all together. Split the mixture into 4 and shape into patties. It's important to note that normal people might make 6 patties out of this much mince but Josh likes to make man patties so we get 4 jumbo patties out of it. Big is good! If you are making your own burger buns, make this recipe into 6 buns instead of 8 - this will get you the right sized bun for the bigger sized burger patties.
Now that we have a tribe of tiny people who also love to eat these burgers, we typically make them slightly smaller and I have also made them into mini slider patties which the kids love!
Coat them lightly in flour and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Josh tells me they hold together much better this way and apparently they stay juicier when you cook them! I would definitely agree with that.
If you are making the burgers with fresh mince that hasn't already been frozen, you can freeze the patties at this point.
Once they've been in the freezer, take them out and put them in the frying pan over a medium heat. Fry for about 7-8 minutes on either side until they are cooked through.
✨Top Tip
Covering the pan with a lid will help the patties cook through better.
You can also cook them on the BBQ if you prefer - we love doing this in summer, especially if we are entertaining and are making a larger number of burgers!
Add all of your favourite burger fillings - homemade dill pickles are essential and serve it up with a side of fries with my homemade tomato sauce or a big bowl of potato salad if you are feeding a crowd, for the most epic burger night!
No other burger will ever compare!
Made this? Tag me on Instagram @thekiwicountrygirl and hashtag it #thekiwicountrygirl.
Josh's Homemade Burger Patties
Ingredients
- 500 grams minced beef
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon mixed herbs
- 1 ½ teaspoon crushed garlic
- 1 beef stock cube (about 1 teaspoon powder)
- 2 tablespoon BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and whisk together. Add the breadcrumbs and whisk again. Add mixed herbs, garlic, beef stock cube and BBQ sauce and combine.
- Add mince and mix it all together using your hands.
- Split the mixture into 4 (or 6 if you prefer smaller burgers, see notes) and shape into patties. Coat each patty lightly in flour and place on a baking tray in the freezer for 30 minutes. This helps the patties to hold together better when cooking and makes them much juicier!
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and fry the patties until cooked through (about 7-8 minutes each side).
- Put the burger in a bun, add your salads and sauces and enjoy the best burger ever!
Notes
If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
Rosemary Lamond says
Soooo yummy 😋
Mason Elliott says
Stop looking! This is the best burger patty recipe out there!
Rozzie says
Tried the recipe, the whole family thinks its amazing, I added some turmeric powder, paprika and salt to the recipe. Thanks for sharing
noeleen Falkner says
Thank you new girl on the block, will try these patties, I havent eaten red meat since the middle 80's maybe it was the amount we owed and gave all the red meat to the kids and my husband and i went for chicken instead but now the doctor tells me to eat some kind of red meat and definitely NOT fast food. So will give these a go do not know about the freezing part as my little freezer is FULL. got the mince and will get the beef cubes next week. hopefully will let you know how they taste without the bread salad beef patty and a small baked potato is what I am allowed. I know it will be mouth watering and very delicious and what i love about is recipe is that it is all natural.
AS says
These are great! I didn't have bbq sauce so I added a little brown sugar and paprika, which are the dominant bbq sauce flavours, and it worked really well.
Tui Moore says
Did you use dried or fresh herbs. Myself hoping it's dried herbs because guaranteed to have on hand.
Laura says
I usually use dried herbs but fresh is also fine!
Brett Young says
Delicious recipe.
I haven't changed a whole lot.
But that's the beauty of this is room for versatility.
I keep with a splash of sauce but added a spoon of Tomato Pesto and Crushed Chilli 🌶.
I'm doing a batch right now.
Barbara Spencer says
These are the best burgers ever.
Morag says
These are the best burgers, i am not a meat burger kind of girl, i always have chicken if we make burgers, we went with a group on the Murray River and we took turns to cook so our night was build a burger and to make it easier we did these burgers, to be fair i wasn't looking forward to them at all, they also have BBQ sauce which i am not a fan of but they were delicious, and we are having them again this week, i think i just might be converted to meat patties!
Zah says
Recipe looks awesome! can't wait to try =)))
Jo says
Delicious & easy! Even kids new favourite!
Lynne says
I really want to try these but i dont have bbq sauce, would rich red plum sauce be ok?
Camille says
I didn't use any extra sauce because I'm allergic to sugar, but the patties were still pretty good so, I think you don't need sauce. idk tho. maybe you should try instead of relying on other people.
Diijon Laiz says
Thank you for this recipe was absolutely delicious! Made them for my mum and dad they absolutely loved them! Thanks for the new hack with putting in freezer, made all the difference! Screenshotted and saved in my gallery for future reference, thanks!
Sandra says
Our go to patties recipe. We have these patties every week and my husband still says they're the best homemade patties he's had. Even our 1yr old loves them.
Carrie Taino says
Which is best the first recipe or the 2nd one?
Rachel says
We love it and make it every week. It’s 😋
Zara says
These came out great! Super easy and quick to make. Thanks for sharing!
Gary says
I followed the recipe/instructions exactly (did use bbq tho) and it totally lived up to expectations! Most impressed!
Joan says
Best burger recipe I’ve tried, delicious! It’ll be my go to burger recipe now.
Neree says
Best burger patties ever - easy to changes herbs up too.
paul says
yum yum
Maree says
Great recipe thanks, definitely not the way I have made Pattie’s before but the way I’m going to do from now on! Because I’m me I tried some which had been in freezer and some at room temperature and I was surprised it did make a difference, how about that?! Changed bread crumbs for gluten free flour because gf bread is expensive! Turned out most yum.