My Most Coveted Secret: Herb-Garlic Butter Hamburgers on a Grill

Submitted by Fauve

"This recipe is, quite honestly, my most coveted of all! Once you taste these wonderful grilled burgers, all other burgers will take a back seat to these for the rest of your life! I made these for my son about a year ago, and he insists on nothing else from the grill. Just wait and see..."

 

• Ready In: 41mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• Herb-Garlic Butter

• 3 tablespoons finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (including parsley,basil,oregano,chives, or tarragon leaves)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1⁄2 cup salted butter, softened

• Burgers

• 1 1⁄2 1 1/2 lbs ground round or 1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
• coarse salt
• black pepper
• 6 deli hamburger buns (such as kaiser)
• melted butter

directions

1. Place all the herbs, garlic, pepper, and butter in a small mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until slightly fluffy.
2. (you can do the mixing with a or food processor) Place a 12" square piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper on your work surface and mound the flavored butter in the center.
3. Roll herb butter into cylinder shape within plastic, twisting the ends to compress the butter.
4. Chill the butter in the refrigerator or freeze until firm.
5. Butter will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
6. Burger Preparation: Make hamburger patties as usual, but for each one place your thumb in the middle and press an indentation almost through (but not quite) to the other side of the meat.
7. Unwrap formed butter and cut crosswise into 1/4-1/2" discs. (You will be using approximately 4 tablespoons Herb-Garlic Butter per 1 1/2 pound of ground meat).
8. Form hamburger patty fully around one butter disc, pressing gently to seal the disc into the dead center of the meat.
9. (not too much pressing! It will make your burgers dense and tough) Place burgers on hot grill (preheated to high if using a gas grill).
10. Grill burgers until cooked to doneness, (about 5 to 7 minutes per side for medium-done).
11. Place burgers on a serving plate, add cheese, if desired, but do not serve for about 5 minutes, to allow flavors to fully meld.
12. Brush buns with melted butter and toast on the grill for a few seconds.
13. Serve with any toppings of your choice.

Reviews

[Audrey M]

What can I say but Wow!!! Everyone one in my family raved about these burgers. The only thing I would change is making the butter a little flatter so that the the herbs aren't just in the middle of the burger. My middle daughter, who is a picky eater, said these are the best burger I ever made. That is a compliment. Keep up the good work. Many Thanks.

 

[Bergy]

I am so glad that you shared your most coveted Herb Garlic Hamburger recipe!!! Wonderful. I made the herb butter 2 days before using it and I made up the burger patties in the morning so the flavor would infuse the meat.I really flattened the knob of herb butter to cover a good section of the center of the burger (easy way is to make two patties place the butter in the center and seal with the other patty), and pan fried them -I put the patties in a hot pan browned both sides well put in 1 lb sliced mushrooms, covered the pan and turned to low heat. The moisture from the mushrooms give a golden finish to the burger and it remains very moist. With hamburger meat I like it well done. Served with mushrooms, cheese, sweet onion & Tomatore on a Jalapeno bun - Oven fries on the side. This is a great burger recipe thanks Renegade!

 

[Chef Simply Delish]

For me & my bf, we already add some minced garlic from the jar to our burgers and since we have been doing that the burgers have taken on a sensational taste. Just enough to taste but not too overpowering, although personally I love garlic. As for the butter mixture after reading other reviews, personally I omit those herbs I know we don't like. I do not like the taste of oregano except in dishes where the flavor is very mild and can't really taste it. It is an overpowering herb. The parsley, basil are hits for sure for us. I think mixing the herbs your family likes and the garlic butter is the magic in these burgers, (just as it is in my copycat Benihana Chicken Fried Rice recipe), makes the flavor wonderful. I also would make the butter roll a little flatter so it spreads to almost the edges inside the meat. A very thin slice of butter mixture is more than enough to give this burger a wonderful flavor. Think about a steak finished off with herbed butter or even just butter. The flavor enhances the steak in my opinion. So this recipe with a few tweaks is very good and tasty. I also liked what another reader suggested is transforming it by cooking it, adding mushrooms and either serve as a burger on bun or what about as is or a pan gravy and served with mashed potatoes or pasta on the side. So many recipes come to mind just from your recipe. Thank you!

 

[VenomousKate]

My DH used to be a burger purist. He simply refused to believe that burgers could taste good if made of anything besides plain meat. So I whipped this together (it's so easy!) and grilled them one evening. He at 4. Yes, FOUR. He kept saying "See, I told you that burgers didn't need anything fancy added to them." I just chuckled and left this recipe sitting on the counter where he saw it and said, "Well, ok, butter doesn't really count as something extra." Now he wants me to make them tonight... and I will!

 

[Baby Chevelle]

I'm not gonna rate this, I think it would be unfair. I should have known from the ingredients my family wouldn't like this in a hamburger. They did not eat it. I do not want this to be a reflection on your recipe after all the raves. I just want people to be realistic if they think it is anything like a regular hamburger.