How To Make Juicy Burgers For A Crowd Without Turning On The Grill

Warm weather and sunshine are the perfect opportunity to fire up the grill and make a batch of burgers for your friends, but grilling isn't the best option for everyone. Sometimes it gets too hot to stand over the flames outdoors, it can also limit the number of burgers you can make in one round, and cooking them just right is tricky if you're not experienced. Luckily, if you've got an oven, then simple and juicy burgers for a crowd are only a few steps away.

Using the oven may not be the first method you think of when wanting to avoid the grill and still cook for a group of friends and family. But many restaurants find this technique perfect for making burgers. It's also much more hands-off because you don't need to touch the burgers until you flip them halfway through cooking.

Just preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and season up some 4- to 6-ounce, 1-inch thick ground beef patties. After that, simply make a dimple in the top of your patties to prevent them puffing up into a pillow while they cook. Then place the tray on the middle rack of the oven and leave it for 20 minutes — flipping just once, halfway through. This should yield well-done burgers with an internal temp of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, but you can cook them for a shorter time if you want them medium or medium-rare.

While throwing your burgers in the oven may be an easy way to have great patties every time, there's more you can do to improve the method. Cooking burgers in the oven on a wire baking rack is one of the simplest ways to make the process easier and give you a better result. You won't need to flip the meat, because the heat will circulate underneath, and the patties won't be sitting in a pool of their own rendered fat. Just make sure the rack is oven-safe to prevent starting a fire or getting dangerous chemicals in your food, and put the rack on a tray with edges to catch the drippings.

Another trick for preparing burgers in the oven is to use use a muffin tin to make burger bowls. This makes it keto-friendly, and you can enjoy a burger even if you're allergic to gluten. Using burger meat with a higher ratio of lean beef to fat, like 80/20, helps the burgers slide right out of the tin, because the fat from the meat will lubricate it without extra oil. After they're cooked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes for an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, they'll maintain their structure and you can fill your bowls with whatever toppings you want, like cheese, veggies, and condiments.

If you're in a hurry, you can make burgers in the oven more quickly if you broil them. Simply set your oven to broil, and while it's preheating prepare the patties, then cover the baking tray with foil. Next, slide the tray on a rack just below the flames and cook for a much shorter four to five minutes. Flip them and broil another four to five minutes — adjusting the time for how well done you want the finished patties. This will earn you some crispy burgers in half the time as the standard oven method.