Skip Grated Butter: Add This Flavorful Ingredient To Ground Beef For Juicier Burgers

Grating cold butter directly into ground beef is a great way to never eat dry burgers again, but, depending on your blend and whether you cook the burgers on the grill or in a pan, it has some drawbacks. Too much fat may make the patties greasy since it doesn't evaporate the same way water-based liquids do. That's why grating onions instead is a great trick, adding tons of flavor and moisture directly to the meat no matter what recipe you use.

Grating is one of the best onion cooking hacks because it not only guarantees minuscule pieces that won't interfere with your meat's texture, but also forces them to release their moisture. Compared with chopping or even mincing, using a grater tears apart the cell walls and makes the onions release juice before they ever go anywhere near the heat. This also makes the pieces and juice easier to distribute evenly throughout your patties, ensuring you won't come across overwhelmingly oniony-tasting pockets or ones completely bereft of the vegetable.

On the exterior, the onions will caramelize as the meat develops a good crust, contributing to the comforting umami folks love in burgers. In the interior, the tiny pieces simmer in the juices and lose some of their harsh, astringent bite, creating something far more mellow than you'd get from using raw onion as a topping. The two complementary flavors combine to produce a powerful seasoning that's better than onion powder alone, all but guaranteeing a delicious protein.

Not all onions are the same, and, depending on your other ingredients, they can swiftly overpower the flavors in your burger. Selecting the right types, usually ones lower in sulfur compounds, and using tricks to dial in how much flavor they add are vital to ensuring you get the best end product.

A mistake some folks make with onions is treating them all the same. Some, like shallots, are so mild you'd hardly know they were there, while others, like yellow onions, can make your eyes water from across the kitchen. Since you'll be mixing them directly into the meat while they're still raw, you may want to pick something with a softer flavor profile. Red onions are a solid middle ground, not being as sugary as sweet onions nor as harsh as white or yellow onions, while also adding a touch of color to the final result.

If you only want a small amount of flavor or only have sulfurous onions on hand, you can always separate the flesh from the juice. By grating directly over a sieve set over a bowl, you can then mash the pulp against the sieve to draw out some of that moisture. The drier pulp is great for burgers that already have enough moisture, while the juice is a potent concentrate of flavor that you can even mix into condiments rather than directly into the meat.