Air fryer hamburgers are the best way to make yourself a juicy burger at home—fast.

It took me a long time to try meat in my air fryer; I was worried that my fish, chicken, and hamburger patties would come out cooked hard, or that I wouldn’t leave it in for enough cook time and give myself food poisoning.

But a meat thermometer is still your kitchen friend, and it tells all.

There are a few things that got away from me in all that hot air swirling around, but the fryer basket makes it easy to check and get things in and out in a hurry.

If the whole family is clamoring for a restaurant burger, this is one of the best recipes to make flavorful burgers that nearly pass for fast food.

I mean, it is fast food, because the air fryer cooks so fast with easy clean-up, but you know what I mean.

The trick to delicious burgers is to start with high quality meat but you can add seasonings like worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, maybe a bit of liquid smoke or bbq sauce into the mix before cooking.

If you want.

If you’ve been reading the site for a while you already know what kind of fanatic I am about Better Than Bouillon seasoning. To best explain it, I say it’s concentrated broth, and I use it in lots of recipes.

Not this time, though.

Try this one: an air fryer burgers recipe that makes seriously juicy hamburgers in a snap, with a pound of ground beef, the best you can afford, then salt, pepper, a buttered brioche bun, and your favorite toppings.

We kept this simple and started out with Murray Grey lean ground beef from our local meat market called Local Yocal.

(It’s just far enough away that we can’t just drop in every day, but when we do go, we try to stock up.)

But this is a great way to go broke fast, so if you are putting together a quick meal of beef burgers, get the 70/30 or 80/20 chub from the grocery store.

We do it all the time, but this air fryer hamburger recipe is using fewer seasonings and the best option for the perfect burger.

This is one of those air fryer recipes that you will add to your busy weeknights meal lists.

A few of your favorite toppings on top of the burger patty will skyrocket a good burger to hero status.

Table of Contents

Tips for making juicy air fryer hamburgers

Start out with the highest quality lean, fresh ground beef you can afford.
Flatten your burger meat as evenly as you can. A burger press like this one is probably a game changer, especially if you make a lot of fresh hamburgers. I don’t have one (yet) but it’s on my list. Our air fryer cheeseburgers were kind of globular after cooking.
We’ve found that brioche buns are the closest we can find to the “right” kind of tasty burger bun: super soft, rich, slightly eggy, and a little bit sweet.
No matter what kind of bun you use, toast it. You can butter each inner side of the bun and toast in a dry pan like a grilled cheese, or just lay it down without butter and it will toast just as well.
Don’t overcook the beef, don’t poke or press down on the patty, and don’t flip it more than once.
Use that meat thermometer but don’t go over the temp. That resting period will finish the cooking.

What’s the right internal temperature for the best burgers?

So here’s the rub. Consumerist says it best:

The safe temperature for steaks and roasts is only 145°, so why is ground beef so much higher? Because most of the bacteria on a solid piece of meat is on or near the surface. But when that raw meat is ground into hamburger, those pathogens are no longer just on the exterior but may be found throughout the resulting ground beef, requiring a more thorough cook.

That said, you can take your chances and feast on less-than-well-done burgers, but especially if you have a sensitive system, I wouldn’t recommend eating anything but well-done ground beef.

Rare: 122F
Medium-Rare: 132F
Medium: 145F
Safe temperature, well-done: 160F

The trick is fast, high heat to help keep your burger juicy and not to mess with it too much while it’s cooking.

How to serve air fryer hamburgers

If you are adding cheese slices, have a variety on hand. A slice of American cheese is even better as several slices of cheddar cheese, wouldn’t you say?
Think outside the box: your new favorite burger toppings could be feta olive salad, hot and fresh tomato-onion jam, or cream cheese and bacon!
Start toasting up your buns in a separate clean, dry frying pan while your burgers cook so they are all done when the air fry hamburgers are done.
Go breadless and fold them into crisp, sturdy lettuce wraps.
Add tongue-puckering garlic dill pickles on the side, which is what we did. Sweet potato fries are always a nice choice because those couple of minutes in the air fryer offer the best results for crisp potatoes.

The bottom line

If you’re looking for great burgers in the air fryer, try this recipe for fast and friendly service—your own.

Great side dish idea: If you love a nice crisp potato skin, these Hasselback Potatoes in the Air Fryer are your new best friends.

End your meal with this surprisingly delicious and easy treat…

…It’s NEW; we just made it: Air Fryer Bananas sound so innocent but are four ingredients of deliciousness!

Let us know what you think.

Want more recipes to try in the air fryer?

Tools:

Hamburgers:

Paper towels
Measuring spoons
Air fryer liners
Air fryer
Tongs
Meat thermometer

Toasted buns:

Knife
Skillet
Stovetop
Pan lid
Spatula

For serving:

Plate

Best Air Fryer Hamburgers

Yield: 3

Get a load of these air fryer hamburgers—the best way to make yourself a juicy burger at home—fast.

Ingredients

Hamburgers:

1 lb hamburger meat, molded into beef patties
1/8 t black pepper (or two heavy pinches)
1/8 t salt (or two heavy pinches)

Toasted buns:

3 fresh brioche hamburger buns
Butter

For serving:

Condiments as desired
Cheese optional

Instructions

Pat the ground beef dry with paper towels.
Season the ground beef with salt and pepper.
Form the ground beef into 5” in diameter and 1/2” thick patties, evenly around. A burger press will do this best.
Preheat the air fryer to 400F for 3 minutes.
Pause, and take out the basket. Place the air fryer liner inside the basket (air fryer liners are our favorite way to easy clean-up).
Add patties into the air fryer in a single layer. You may need to work in rounds depending on the size of your air fryer.
Cook for 6 minutes.
Take out the basket. Carefully turn the burgers over with your tongs.
Cook for another 3 minutes or until the burgers reach 158 F internal temp.
Take out the basket. Let the patties rest for 2 minutes before adding to buns. Check temp with meat thermometer; they should now be at 160F.
While the patties rest, let’s toast the hamburger buns.
Cut the buns in half unless they are already split.
Spread the butter on the buns EDGE TO EDGE of the cut side.
Put a skillet on a stove burner and set it to medium heat.
Place the buns cut-side down on the skillet.
Cover with a lid and toast the buns for about 2 minutes.
Sometimes they don’t toast evenly, so check and press down lightly with a spatula, so most of the area gets evenly browned.
Once the buns are toasted, grab a plate. Take your patties from the air fryer basket and place them on the buns.
Then dress your hamburgers with any cheese, vegetables, and condiments that you have on hand in your kitchen and enjoy!

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