Grilling season is nye however it’s nonetheless too chilly in lots of elements of the nation to face exterior and flip burgers. No grill should not imply no burgers, and I’ll have found a brand new go-to methodology for making cheeseburgers, turkey burgers and veggies burgers with out firing up the Weber.
I’m no stranger to the fashionable countertop oven. I make a great deal of issues within the air fryer, however resisted making burgers within the oven or air fryer fearing I would not have the ability to hit that coveted medium uncommon inside temp as I ca with cast-iron skillet or gasoline grill.
Making a bacon cheeseburger in an apartment-friendly air fryer is quick, clear and, as I discovered lately, nets an equally juicy burger. Plus, you possibly can simply get your air fryer burger medium uncommon by way of the superonvection warmth that crisps the skin of meals shortly with out overcooking the within.
If there’s one disadvantage to cooking a cheeseburger within the air fryer it is you can’t get the identical caramelization on the crust of the meat. But you possibly can simply prepare dinner bacon and toast your bun with out risking them falling by means of the grates of a grill.
Here’s the best way to make a bacon cheeseburger in your air fryer at residence.
How to make a cheeseburger in your air fryer
Even a small air fryer can deal with a full-sized burger patty and some slices of bacon without delay.
I consulted quite a lot of totally different sources for timings and temperatures, however the course of is about what you’d anticipate and much like that which you’d expertise cooking a burger in any method: flipping the patty about midway by means of for even outcomes, with totally different timings relying on the dimensions of your required doneness.
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The air fryer works by circulating sizzling air in its contained chamber, in order a matter of curiosity, your air fryer burger will prepare dinner reverse to what you’d see on a sauté pan, with the uncovered facet of the burger cooking extra shortly and changing into browner than the underside of the patty.
I attempted two totally different approaches, each with 1 / 4 pound of lean floor beef, seasoned merely with salt and pepper.
Air fryer cheeseburger recipe
- Shaped a single patty of beef about three-quarters of an inch in thickness.
- Place in a greased air fryer basket and cooked at 370 levels F for 10 minutes, flipping on the midway mark.
- With about 2 minutes to go, add cheese to high of burger patty and place bun into air fryer basket to toast.
- Remove all elements and construct burger on bun with toppings of your selection.
- Serve.
I additionally tried the identical quantity of meat formed into two, skinny, smash-style patties for a complete cooking time of about six minutes. (Double your cheeseburger, double your enjoyable.)
Making an important burger in an air fryer takes nearly no ability and requires little or no cleanup afterward.
Air fryers require little or no cleanup
You can prepare dinner a burger to that good medium or medium uncommon with an air fryer.
Well, that was straightforward. In each circumstances the patties cooked evenly, with an consequence that was medium in doneness. (You can simply experiment along with your mannequin and ultimate burger patty measurement to seek out the exact timings on your most well-liked diploma of doneness.) The sizzling air circulation even managed to supply a little bit of caramelized crust on one facet. Because I may, even with a small, single-household air fryer, I put in a few strips of bacon with the only burger patty, since crispy, spatter-free bacon is one other glorious use for an air fryer — to not point out an distinctive burger topping.
Speaking of spatter-free, that is the only most compelling purpose to make use of the air fryer for burger prep. Your clothes, pores and skin and stovetop all keep away from the scorching oil droplets that — safely contained throughout the air fryer drawer — like to flee the pan throughout common skillet cooking. The smoky, greasy, meaty aroma, which is in any other case interesting at a burger dive, however not a lot in a studio condo, can also be minimized. Cleanup was restricted solely to the nonstick, air fryer drawer.
Read extra: I’ve Been Making Bacon Wrong. Here’s the Best (and Cleanest) Way to Cook it
There are drawbacks to air fryer burgers
With an air fryer, you possibly can’t smash the patties down as simply as you possibly can on a grill or griddle.
The air fryer is not good in relation to burgers, and the drawbacks as I skilled are twofold. First, since you possibly can’t actually entry the patty whereas it cooks, you are unable to smash it down in such a means that it would not shrink up considerably whereas cooking. Since an English muffin is one of the best burger containment methodology — I cannot be contemplating opposing viewpoints right now — this did not trouble me a lot, because the ensuing patty suits the supposed vessel completely. Expect shrinkage when contemplating the dimensions of your patty earlier than cooking.
Second, in case you’re like me and consider {that a} burger with out cheese is not value consuming, issues get just a little extra difficult. Because of the air circulation motion of the air fryer, it is exhausting to anchor cheese on high for a fast soften on the finish of the method. My first try with a sliced single, an excellent burger cheese — and I’m a cheese professional, so do not come at me — flew off and unhelpfully adhered to the floor of the air fryer drawer.
Am I seeing double?
My second try the place a slice was halved and layered for additional heft was extra profitable, much more so after I moved the patties to the again fringe of the fryer basket which will get much less aggressive air circulation. This could be a quirk of my mannequin, however I’d be ready to experiment. I would not even contemplate shredded cheese on high of a patty, however I completely would contemplate a cheese-stuffed burger, which ought to work properly.
