Monday, July 9, 2012

The "Perfect" Hamburger

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but here in Michigan, it's been in the 90s for the past two weeks.  Since the humidity is out of control here, it's a bit unbearable at times.  The other night, it was even too hot to grill!  We had some ground beef in the freezer, so I defrosted it and decided to try making burgers in my slow cooker!  They turned out BEAUTIFULLY!!!!!!!

I know some of you may be thinking this sounds a bit crazy, but let me tell you, it worked out extremely well!  The meat was moist and beautifully cooked.  It wasn't "mealy" or anything like I thought might happen.  The burgers held their shape too!  The burgers weren't greasy at all since I propped them up on some tin foil.  Honestly, this is a great, easy, healthy way to make burgers!

I made two layers of burgers in my 7 Quart Slow-Cooker, but I could have easily gotten another layer or two in there.  So, if you're having a party, these would be PERFECT!!!!  The burgers I made were a tiny bit smaller than normal burger size.  When I put them in, they were about 3" in diameter or so and they shrunk down a bit.

I am SO pleased with this experiment!  This was a definite win!

P.S.  My family LOVED them!!!!!!!

The "Perfect" Hamburger

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing (I used Hidden Valley)
1 pkg. Onion Soup Mix (I used Lipton)
1 egg
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup water

Directions:
First, take some foil and crumple it loosely so that it lines the bottom of your crock.  I used 3 pieces in total, but you might only need 2.  This will keep the burgers from cooking in the grease!
Pour your cup of water in the bottom now as well.

Mix together the ground beef, Bread Crumbs, ranch dressing mix, onion soup mix, egg and Worcestershire sauce.


Form them into patties (3" or so) and place them into your crock like so...

This is where I made 3 foil "strips" by folding pieced of foils loosely, so they would sit gently on top of the other burgers and still allow the ones on top to drain as well.  You may choose to skip this step, but I didn't want to risk my burgers sticking together ;)
I then added my next layer of burgers.


Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours or on HIGH for 2-2.5 hours.
Serve on some yummy buns and ENJOY!


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51 comments:

  1. So glad that you tried this burger experiment! It is hot in New England, too, and we are having waves of severe thunderstorms this afternoon. It doesn't seem ideal conditions for grilling.
    I just put my burgers in the crockpot on high. Hope mine work as well as yours did.

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  2. This is an exciting way to do the burgers! I live outside of Buffalo, N.Y. and it is so hot that I use my slo-cooker almost every night! It's been near 90, and I don't have a grill anymore, nor would I use it in this heat!
    Will give this a try and let you know! I live alone, but do burgers for the family functions! TY

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    1. If you have room in your crock pot or a second one , you can warm buns for 30 minutes and really make burgers great!

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  3. Hi all, its been hot and muggy here in Kingston On as well!! I'm going to try this...the other night I made meatloaf in my crockpot!! so impressed with the outcome!!

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    1. Yes, meatloaf in the slow cooker is awesome! Let us know how you like the burgers!

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  4. We made these burgers a few days ago, and I think the idea is ingenious! Any fat in the burgers dripped away to the bottom of the crockpot, so the burgers were juicy but not greasy at all! They shrank slightly, but not too much, and were a good texture...I had thought they might fall apart, but they didn't. We will definitely use this technique again with other flavors in the burgers, too, as we like variety!

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    1. I'm so happy you liked them! Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment! :)

      Hope

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  5. I totally am making these for our Labor Day dinner. I cannot wait. I substituted Cream of Wheat for the bread crumbs. I do the same for meatloaf. Ill have to let you know how they turn out. So glad Im trying more of your recipes and forwarding them to friends. Thanks Hope!

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    1. How did it go?! How did the Cream of Wheat work out? I've actually never bought or used cream of wheat! LOL

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  6. Would this work using turkey instead of beef? Also could I cook turkey and beef at the same time or would they require different cook times?

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    1. Yes, turkey would definitely work. What a great idea to cook turkey and beef at the same time! Yes, I don't see why not! Give it a whirl! (Then come back and let me know, LOL!)

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    2. Awesome, its going on the menu for this week (with many more of your recipes) and I will let you know :)

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  7. What about cooking the burgers, freezing them, then putting them in the microwave to reheat for a quick dinner or lunch? Is that doable?

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  8. This recipe sounds awesome do you think stuffing will work in place of the bread crumbs?

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  9. I am going to make this and come back with a full report! You have no idea how excited I am to try this! I do not like grilling things. I do not like frying things (i.e. burgers). And I do not like using my Foreman grill because of the clean up. This is a WONDERFUL idea. Thank you. Update to come :)

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  10. Yay, Melida!!! Please do! I'm going to try this this summer with quinoa in place of the breadcrumbs now that I'm gluten-free! :)

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  11. this sounds like it would be really good, add a little gravy in stead of a roll and it turns into individual meatloafs.

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  12. what about frozen burgers would you have to thaw them first?

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    1. Not sure.....you can give it a try with a small batch first?

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  13. Thank you so much for this recipe and concept! I made the burgers for a potluck and was able to fit about 12 (slider size) in my slow cooker. I cooked them on low for about an hour and then switched to high for 2.5 hours since I needed them ready for lunch time. Everyone was so impressed and loved being able to have burgers at a potluck. The flavor was great (I also added chopped bacon I pre-cooked)and they were so moist.

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  14. definitely going to try this since I don't even have a grill and for done reason I hate making burgers on the stove. thanks for the idea!

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  15. That was amazing. And I bet it will be even better when I have all the ingredients. I didn't have the onion soup mix so I makeshift made my own. They were perfect, no pink spots where it didn't cook thoroughly; perfect! Moist and tasty. You sure did make a great recipe, I'm NEVER going to cook them on the skillet again.

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  16. Trying this tonight on high. I substituted the Worcestershire with Dale's Sauce. I will let you know the results!

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  17. I use ground turkey myself, healthier and cheaper, the burger comes out nice and juicy. I've even roasted whole 5lb chickens in around 4 hrs on high, about 45mins to an hour for a 5-6 oz burger. I made a device that keeps the burger up out of the grease. I rest the bird on two glass ashtrays to keep it out of the schmaltz. Bon Appetite!

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  18. I got some feedback that the texture/consistency was similar to meatballs (I am a vegetarian and therefore didn't taste these before they went live) but that was not a bad thing at all; all of our guests LOVED the patties and could not believe they were cooked in a slow cooker! They held together wonderfully and the foil did the trick for keeping them out of the fat and from sticking to each other. Thank you for this recipe! I am newly married and learning to cook for my meat-loving husband and so any slow cooker recipes saves tons of time!

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    1. Great to hear! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

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  19. Hi. I'm going to try these slider-sized. Planning on doing a ground pork/beef combo... Assuming all other ingredients match the recipe, do you think these would freeze well raw until ready to make? If so, then need to thaw before putting into crock pot? Or cook from frozen?

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    1. These would freeze great. I would thaw them before cooking though. There would be too much extra moisture in the crock otherwise.

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  20. Could you brown them just a bit for color and then add to the crockpot?

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    1. You definitely could, but not necessary ;)

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    2. Thanks! I just prefer browning my meat before adding to the crockpot. I will try and let you know how it goes. This week is busy so I plan on using my crock pot most of the week
      thanks for the recipe :)

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  21. I've tried a recipe from another blogger's site and it was a huge fail. I found this recipe by mistake and I'm soo glad I did. This is really the "perfect" hamburger. Omg, mine came out so good. I only used 1/2 of everything and 1 tablespoon of the worcteshire sauce since i used 1 lb of beef, this is now one of my favorite recipes. Thank you!

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  22. I made these for dinner tonight and they were delicious! I was wondering though.... with all that fat cooking out and away from the burgers...I wonder how many calories are in one? Hmmm..time to do some calculations. lol

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  23. Can you leave the dry ranch dressing out? (I can't use it as it contains MSG). Just wondered if it affected the taste or texture? Thanks! :)

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    1. It will affect the flavor, but not the texture. Not all dry ranch contains msg ;)

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  24. I don't have a slow cooker but like the ingredients. Do you think I could mix all your ingredients and broil them?
    Burlington, ON

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  25. What is the plastic stuff under your burgers? Is that necessary? Can I just use foil?

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  26. That's a slow-cooker liner. I'm using one to cook mine also. Otherwise, you end up with a lot of nasty grease to clean. I'm afraid that with foil that some stuff will seep through the cracks.

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  27. I 'd just like to point out i don't see one negative comment yet... That's rare on the internet, good job! I'm inspired to try this for sure!

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  28. has anyone tried making these with prebought premade frozen burgers? Just wondering how they came out and if you need to change cook time at all, or if they have to be completely thawed first.

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  29. I'm curious about frozen premade burgers as well. Thanks

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