Santa got Pete a meat grinder for Christmas, and of course, we have to break it out every time we want to grill burgers. Grinding your own burger meat means you can come up with your own creations, like make Bacon-Infused Beef Burgers with fresh ground beef.
Both jobs are important for blog posts though. Although, his job is more important as far as dinner goes.
The thing about grinding your own meat for burgers is that you have to infuse some fat into them. Without adding fat, your burgers are going to come out really dry. No matter how skilled you are at grilling burgers.
You also want to start with specific cuts of meat that have the right fat content. We go with chuck pot roast. You could use sirloin as well, but the price tag on sirloin is a lot higher than chuck pot roast. And you don’t want to pay for an expensive cut of sirloin just to run it through a meat grinder.
Chuck pot roast isn’t like already ground beef, which has the fat content listed on it. With pre-ground beef, you can get 70/30, 75/25, 80/20, or 90/10 in stores. Each package will be labeled with the fat content.
Packaged chuck pot roast isn’t like that, at least not in the stores where we shop, so don’t worry about looking for percentages. Just get whatever your store sells. That’s the right one.
This is just one of the burger recipes we have. If you want more, check out our list of 10+ Really Good Burger Recipes.
These Bacon-Infused Beef Burgers are the perfect grilled burger. Find out how to make them, with fresh ground beef.
If you prefer your burgers medium-rare, you should cook the bacon and crumble it before mixing it into the ground beef. The USDA recommends cooking ground beef to an internal temperature of 160°F, which ensures that the bacon is fully cooked, too.
Bacon-Infused Beef Burgers With Fresh Ground Beef: Frequently Asked Questions
When I’m buying bacon for us to eat in the house, like for breakfast or in a recipe, I always buy low sodium bacon. I’m not too worried about our sodium intake overall, but a few slices of bacon can be your full recommended amount of sodium for the day. And I don’t want to use it all at breakfast. But when you’re making these bacon-infused ground beef burgers, you are actually using the sodium in the bacon to act as the salt for the recipe. Since you’re not adding additional salt, low sodium bacon isn’t the best choice. If all you have in the house is low sodium bacon, you can use it (there’s nothing wrong with it), but you probably want to add an extra pinch or two of salt to the recipe when you add the other seasonings.
The benefit of turkey bacon is that it’s leaner and contains less fat than pork bacon. Which is cool if you’re worried about that. It’s not cool if you’re using the bacon to infuse fat, like this recipe does. The purpose of the bacon (besides the flavor) is to add some fat into the bacon-infused ground beef burger so it’s nice and juicy. Without that fat, the burger would be really dry.
So, this recipe calls for grinding your beef at home. But if you don’t have a grinder, or don’t have time to grind your own beef, you can make these with pre-ground chuck that you can buy at the store. How? Take a pound of bacon and pulse it in a food processor until it’s pretty small. Then, mix the ground beef from the store into the pulsed bacon. Season it, form burgers in a burger press, and cook as directed above.
Bacon-Infused Ground Beef Burgers With Fresh Ground Beef
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How to Cook Bacon So It’s Crispy, Tender, and the Most Perfect Ever
FAQ
Should I cook bacon before putting it in a burger?
Can you cook bacon and beef in the same pan?
Can you cook burgers and bacon in the same pan?
How do you add bacon fat to ground beef?