The Secret Ingredient That'll Keep Beef Patties Moist Is Already In Your Pantry

Ever cook up beef patties and feel disappointed when they end up a little dry? It happens easily because ground beef quickly loses moisture when overcooked, especially over a hot grill. But, the good news here is there's a secret ingredient that'll keep your beef patties moist, and it's probably already in your pantry: bread crumbs.

You might think bread crumbs would make the patties drier once cooked, but the opposite is true. Think of the bread crumbs as little edible sponges. As you cook the beef patties, the bread crumbs absorb the meat's juices, thus retaining moisture. Of course, if you have access to fresh bread crumbs or small pieces of bread about the go stale, use that instead of the dry version. If not, the dry version would still work fine. 

It's no secret that many people add bread crumbs to their patties. In fact, we also use fresh bread crumbs to bind turkey burgers together. Turkey burgers are also notoriously drier than their beef counterpart, so bread crumbs will also help retain moisture here. Also, you may want to check out our delicious turkey burger recipe that's actually juicy.

Now, sometimes, beef patties can be too loose and easily break apart on the grill. Adding bread crumbs to the patties will help prevent this. That's what binding agents in food do — they keep food together. 

So how exactly do you incorporate bread crumbs into beef patties? Well, I like to rip almost-stale white or sourdough bread into little pieces and mix it directly into the ground beef, along with my seasonings, soy sauce, and egg. If you don't have stale bread, you can use store-bought bread crumbs. Add spoonfuls of the bread crumbs to the ground beef and mix them together. Don't overwork the meat, however. You want to just mash all the ingredients together gently with a fork. The key is to combine the ingredients, as overworking burger meat can toughen it.

If you're craving burgers this week, be sure to follow our bread crumb tip to help lock in the patties' juiciness. We also have 15 burger recipes for you to drool over and explore at your own pace.