Inject Your Burger Buns With Butter For A Truly Elevated Experience

Building the best burger takes more than just slapping a patty and some cheese onto a bun. While that might be fine if you're in a hurry, other times you want to elevate your burger's flavor — especially if you're cooking for others and not just yourself. There are a number of ways to make sure you're preparing the best burgers possible. And it isn't just what is between the buns that matters; the bun itself is also important. For an easy way to get salty, rich flavor from your burger buns, just inject them with a little butter.

Yes, you read that right. This goes further than spreading some butter on the underside of the bun. You can use a little pipette or kitchen syringe to add some butter to that bun, but you need to be careful to ensure that your bun doesn't end up becoming a buttery puddle.

Burger buns should always be fresh; the last thing you want is to prepare a delicious burger and pair it with a stale bun. But if you're not making an extra pit stop at your local bakery, there are still ways to give store-bought burger buns that nice homemade flavor. Using a kitchen syringe, inject some melted butter into the bun, which will disperse that delicious butter flavor throughout the bread. Then you can toast the buns to crisp them up a little bit and prevent the butter from making them soggy. Salted butter is best here because it will give the bread that much more flavor. If you want to go the extra mile, you can also season the butter yourself with spices like onion powder and garlic powder.

Of course, if you don't have the proper kitchen tools on hand, you can always go the typical route and spread some seasoned butter on the inside of each half of the bun with a knife. You can still toast the buns on the grill or stovetop, though that buttery flavor won't be as visible throughout the whole bun.

Besides the butter trick, there are other ways you can make the bun the star of the burger show. Don't feel limited to traditional burger buns. Ciabatta and focaccia are both soft, chewy bread types that will add so much flavor to a burger compared to the standard bun; these breads are heartier than a store-bought bun, too, which means they can hold even more butter. You can also thickly slice some French bread, add butter to both sides, and toast it for a delicious bun alternative.

For additional flavor, spread aioli or mayo on the inside of your buns before toasting them. Sriracha mayo or chipotle mayo are great here; the mayo will toast up just like butter and the extra kick of spice will add a subtle flavor layer. If you don't love spice, add some garlic mayo. You can even double up with a thin layer of butter plus a layer of your favorite mayo before toasting.