The 9 Best Burger Press in 2023

Most of us enjoy a good burger, whether the more traditional beef or turkey, the more unusual bison or wild boar, or even the fish burger. And let’s not forget that some of us also enjoy a tasty vegetarian or vegan burger. Whatever your burger preference; using a burger press will help it taste even better when you have not had to spend hours in the kitchen kneading and shaping patties.

Things to Consider Before Buying the Product

Advantages of Using a Burger Press

Burgers can be made from almost anything, although the main ingredients are usually meat, fish or lentils. Unlike store-bought burgers, when you make your own, you know exactly what ingredients go into them. This also means you can make them to meet many dietary requirements such as lower fat, gluten or dairy free or even low sodium.

Making burgers by hand can be labor intensive, especially if you have a lot to make. There can be big inconsistencies in shape and/or thickness which means that cooking times can vary quite a bit between burgers.

Although some presses only have one burger diameter and/or set burger thicknesses there are also products that offer variable thicknesses and may have more than one diameter. Which type is best for you will often depend upon who is making (and eating) the burgers.

Using a press can be a more hygienic way of handling meat and if patty papers or plastic wrap is used it is possible to make the mix, press it and place the burgers onto the grill or into storage without touching them with your hands.

If you make patties by hand it means kneading to get the patty into shape which allows more liquid to be lost from the meat before cooking whereas when you use a press you put your ground meat straight into the press to be pressed and shaped in just movement. The minimal handling helps retain liquid in the burger.

Burger presses can also be useful for making sausage patties and crab cakes and some presses are suitable for making stuffed burgers or sliders.

Using a Burger Press

Instructions are usually provided with the products and many manufacturers offer further info, recipes and tips on their websites. Whichever press you decide to use, there are a couple of basic principles that apply to them all. One is to always make sure that the surface on which the press is to be placed is flat and that the feet of the press – if it has them - are adjusted to ensure they are level. The second is that you may need to occasionally lubricate any moving parts of the press with food grade oil, particularly if you have purchased a heavy duty metal press.

Burger Press Hygiene

When making burgers, like with any type of food prep, we should always wash our hands and surfaces frequently. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recommends that we wash with soap and warm water for 20 seconds after handling ground beef and keep raw products and utensils used for raw products away from any cooked items to prevent cross-contamination.

Burger presses can usually be fully dismantled so that they can be cleaned properly. Some presses are totally dishwasher safe, but others may just have parts that are dishwasher safe so it’s always worth checking the manufacturer’s recommendation.

If a burger press is unable to be placed in the dishwasher it can be washed by hand or sanitized with one tablespoon of non-scented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water. This cleaning solution is also suitable for cleaning utensils and work surfaces.

Even if you are planning on cooking your burgers straightaway you should still pop them in the fridge while the grill is heating. Not only does this reduce the risk of potential foodborne illness but keeping them cold helps keep the liquid and fat in the meat once you pop them on the grill.

Stopping Burgers from Sticking During Pressing

Patty papers are waxed papers in a variety of sizes. You may find it useful to use them when pressing burgers as not only do they stop meat from sticking to the press, but they allow you to stack and part them easily. Patty papers can also be left on burgers heading for the freezer.

Parchment paper or plastic wrap can be used like patty papers. Parchment is a greaseproof paper that will stop meat from sticking to the press or burgers from sticking together, as will the plastic wrap.

All three of these do the same job with a burger press but patty papers do tend to be available precut to the size of most presses and indeed, some press manufacturers recommend and provide patty papers with their presses.

Oil can also be used to grease a burger press to stop meat from sticking but if you do prefer to oil the press, you may need to regularly add oil if you are making a large batch of patties.

Cooking Burgers Safely

The minimum safe temperature for ground meat is 160°F or for ground chicken or turkey it is a little higher at 165°F. How long it takes to reach this temperature depends on how thick and what size your burgers are. The easiest way to ensure the safe temperature is reached is by using a food thermometer during cooking.

The USDA recommends that ground beef is always cooked to an internal temperature of 160°F. This is the minimum temperature required to kill the strain of bacteria E. coli O157:H7. This strain of E. coli can survive freezing and it produces a toxin that can cause hemorrhagic colitis. This can develop into hemolytic uremic syndrome, a very serious condition that can cause strokes, brain damage, seizures and kidney failure in the young and the elderly. E. coli O157:H7 has been linked to undercooked ground beef and has been responsible for various outbreaks of foodborne illnesses and deaths.

Although we do have preferences as to how well done or rare we like our burgers, unfortunately the only safe way to kill any E. coli present in ground beef is by cooking it to 160°F as measured with a thermometer.

Healthy Burgers

Although many of us prefer meat with fat content of around 15% to 20% when making burgers, choosing leaner cuts of meat for burgers can reduce saturated fat intake which can help to lower the risk of coronary heart disease. Lean meat is defined by the USDA as less than 10 grams of total fat and 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat or extra lean has less than 2 grams of saturated fat and less than 5 grams of total fat. Both types have less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol.

The USDA recognizes various cuts of beef that are lean and using one of these cuts will offer a lower fat burger. Lean beef is also a high-quality protein source and contains iron, zinc, vitamin B12, selenium and other essential nutrients.

If you are looking to serve up healthier burgers, then it may be appropriate to also go easy on the toppings and the sides; stick with salads and use lower fat dressings.

Leaner meat can also be used in stuffed burgers as depending what you stuff them with, the lower fat content of the meat may not be as noticeable. Stuffing a burger with cheese and other ingredients such as jalapenos or mushrooms also means that less cheese is served than if you were to add the cheese to the top of the burger before serving.

Liquid Content

Using a press can help reduce liquid loss from burgers during cooking. Because protein is interspersed with fat and water-based liquids, as the burger cooks, its tissue network tightens and squeezes out liquid. At the same time, the fat in the burger begins to liquefy so this also squeezes out.

There is no way to stop burgers from losing liquid during cooking but whenever a burger is turned or prodded, a little more liquid is lost. This is also the reason why we should try to only flip each burger once during cooking and never press the burger with a spatula to try to speed up the cooking time (unless you are doing smash burgers on a griddle). It may sometimes be helpful to add additional liquid to the mix when making burgers to help increase the amount of juice.

Browning and Cooking Burgers

Beef, poultry and fish usually shrink around 25% when cooking. This percentage depends on liquid and fat content and what temperature it’s cooked at. Generally, the leaner the cut of meat used, the less the shrinkage.

During cooking, protein in the meat starts to react with reducing sugars and these break down into their composite molecules which then recombine with each other in different arrangements to cause browning on the surface of the burger. Called the Maillard Reaction after the chemist who discovered it, this reaction occurs at around 250°F. The higher the heat, the more intense the browning which then creates a more complex flavor.

Unfortunately, if burgers are left on high heat for too long, they will burn so it is often recommended that you firstly grill your burgers in the hottest part of the grill to allow them to brown but then move to a cooler part to finish cooking (also known as indirect grilling).

When your burgers are cooked, let them stand or rest for a while. The USDA says meat should rest for three or more minutes, but you may prefer to leave them for longer. Resting burgers allows them to finish cooking and for the juices that are on the surface of the burger to redistribute across the meat.

Conclusion

Using a burger press is one of the easiest ways to cut down on your burger preparation time in the kitchen and offers the freedom to get creative with your burgers. A press also guarantees that your burgers cook evenly due to their uniform thickness and shape, helping reduce the risk of you or someone you know becoming ill from badly cooked burgers.