For The Juiciest Burger Of Your Life, Add This Grated Ingredient To The Ground Beef

The best burgers tend to be savory, meaty, and most of all, juicy. There are plenty of tips to get the juiciest burgers you've ever tasted out there, but we have one more that involves a rather unexpected ingredient. Potatoes will give your burgers plenty of juiciness without spoiling the flavor. All you have to do is grate them into the meat itself.

It might sound like a sin to beef burger purists, but it really does work. To perform this simple hack, finely grate your potatoes and squeeze out excess water so they won't make the burgers soggy. Select some good quality ground beef, and mix in any seasonings, egg, marinades, or breadcrumbs you usually add. Then, mix in about 1 medium grated russet potato for every pound of ground beef. You can also add tomato paste for an extra juicy flavor bomb burger as you mix in the potatoes. Combine everything thoroughly and shape into patties. Grill the patties on both sides in butter or oil until they are browned and cooked through. You can also air fry them if you prefer. Then, top it with all the usual fixings on a bun and enjoy with condiments of your choosing.

The resulting burgers are incredibly moist with some added texture. The potatoes provide a little bit of crunch to the exterior of the patty, as well. This is especially helpful if you're working with lean meat or are trying to stretch your ground beef into more servings. There are a few important reasons as to why this hack is effective, and it has to do with the nature of potatoes themselves.

Amateur and professional grill masters alike face a plethora of mistakes that can dry out burgers, and potatoes are an answer for some of them. Russet potatoes contain a lot of moisture, and they're starchy enough that they hold that moisture in. In fact, they consist of nearly 80% water. During cooking, some of this water turns to steam, helping to cook the meat. Potatoes also have a neutral taste that is versatile enough to take on the flavor of anything they're cooked with. Because of these factors, potatoes bring valuable juiciness to burgers without messing up their sumptuous meaty flavors.

As an additional plus, the USDA has found that starches, such as those found in potatoes, can make meat more tender. They do this while keeping fat content in burgers down, compared to cooked all-beef patties. But be aware that the starch may make your burgers cook faster, so keep a close eye on the patties while you enjoy a little bit of saved time.

It's also worth noting that this is hardly a new technique. Adding shredded potatoes to burgers was done during World War II to stretch food rations further. Some say their families have been using this hack for over 100 years. Making the burger buns for your patties out of shredded potatoes is also an option, but that's a more modern trend. This patty trick can be added to the best potato recipes out there, and it's certainly one of the best burger hacks, so don't be afraid to give it a shot.