What can I add to ground beef to help hold the patties together?

Question

I tried putting barbecue sauce in the meat to make burgers the other day. It tasted GREAT, but the patties fell apart into six or seven pieces with a piece of melted cheese on top. I've also had problems with just regular ground beef and nothing else added, and for some reason they fall apart on the grill. I'm squeezing them together, not just shaping them. It only works about 75% of the time. What am I doing wrong? Is it because I froze the meat and then thawed it? Would leaner meat work better? Is there something I can add to ground beef to help hold the meat together and keep them from falling apart?

Answer 1

When you freeze foods they release some water (due to ruptured cells). When you have excess liquid in your burgers from oil, eggs, mayo, bbq sauce or what have you, then you need to add some starch such as breadcrumbs, panko, oats, or if you are really stuck flour.

Also if you are using BBQ sauce AND eggs/oil you could skip the eggs/oil.

Answer 2

I never add anything to my burgers. Freezing can cause them to fall apart faster. Once my husband learned to leave the burgers alone and only flip them once, we had much better luck. We worked fast food, and they trained us to flip burgers every 60 seconds, but it didn't seem to work at home! Another thing I do is really squish the patties flat. As they cook, they shrink to perfect bun size. Another thing that seems to help is to put the burgers on a really hot grill, then turn the heat down once they've browned a little. That will work if you have a gas grill. My MIL likes to make patties, then freeze the meat, or make patties, place them on foil, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes or so, then cook them. I don't know why that works, but they always add bread crumbs, egg and other stuff. I prefer to brush with barbeque sauce the last few minutes of cooking. I hope I helped!

Answer 3

Higher fat meat holds together better..but eww who want's 40% fat burgers...lol

You can use a 10% fat and then add breadcrumbs (Progresso bread crumbs are good) and a beaten egg and then mush it all together and then make your patties.

So...about 1 pound of meat, 1/2 a cup of crumbs, an egg and any spices or chopped onions or herbs you want to add and you're good to go. You can vary the crumbs to the consistancy you like...more crumbs = softer burger.

They will stick together perfect...however...if you over do it on the breadcrumbs...your burgers will start to taste a little like meatloaf...lol...not that there's anything wrong with that...just an FYI.

Answer 4

YES! Commercial patties always have fillers in them.
Several things will work: breadcrumbs, oatmeal, egg, etc.
BBQ Sauce, Lea & Perrins, add flavour;-} but create the opposite effect.
You could also make patties & freeze them with wax paper between.
That way they'd stay together on the grill when cooking.

Answer 5

You could try eggs and breadcrumbs! I use barbeque sauce in my meatloaf along with whole wheat stuffing and it tastes great! The breadcrumbs will for sure help hold things together, the eggs wouldn't hurt either.

Answer 6

higher fat meat will stay together better than low fat. Frozen beef may be too wet to form a good patty. Try using bbq seasoning instread of sauce

Answer 7

In my opinion...it's best not to over handle the ground beef too much....just form it in a few motions....I don't add anything to mine....I just sprinkle the meat on top with salt and pepper...or some Greek seasonings called "Cavenders"...it has the right balance of seasonings.....I also place the meat in a frying pan that has olive oil to coat the pan....I let them sit there and cook for a few minutes "without touching them"....then I turn them over and finish cooking....I flip them one more time....they stay together just fine....the only thing I can suggest is maybe you press on them too much while you are letting them cook...?
I use ground chuck....or ground sirloin....or a mixture of ground round and ground chuck.....good luck....Mama Jazzy Geri

Answer 8

i recently saw a recipe that included putting raw instant oats into the meat. I'm sure it was to help keep the patties together. It claimed that you could not taste the oats.

Answer 9

The barbecue sauce made them wetter. Try adding a little cornmeal or breadcrumbs to bind them.

Answer 10

What I do is add bread crumbs and one egg, that will give the meat substance and it will make it stick together.