Burgers in the oven have become the favorite way to cook hamburgers by so many readers since first sharing this recipe years ago! This is the original recipe with the aluminum foil trick that makes these ooey-gooey cheeseburgers a favorite! No more messy stovetops from frying burgers.
“Can I cook burgers in the oven?” – It’s asked often!
YES, and let me tell you… it may be your new favorite way to whip up this family favorite dinnertime go-to! (It has only become a favorite way to make these cheeseburger sliders that have become so popular too!)
Not only does baking the burgers in the oven make clean-up a breeze (no splattered grease popping all over the stovetop) but this recipe creates the juiciest burger, and has a trick that will keep you going back for more! (We even bake venison burgers in the oven!)
Featured Comment: I made these burgers today with the special “trick” and let me tell you. Hold on. Sorry I was drooling….. these came out OOEY GOOEY DELICIOUS!!!! – Jeannette Marie Young
It’s incredibly easy to make baked hamburgers… and the best part? With the trick I’ll show you, you can even make these a little in advance in case you’re serving a big crowd, (like for a burger bar) or aren’t exactly sure what time dinner will actually be served.
Jump to:
- Ingredients
- How to Cook Hamburgers in the Oven
- How to Season Hamburgers
- How Long to Cook Burgers in the Oven at 375 Degrees
- The Trick for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Oven-Baked Burgers
- Cooking Hamburgers in Advance
- Toppings for Burgers
- Sides to Go with Burgers
- More Hamburger Recipes You’ll Love:
- More Oven Recipes
- Recipe
- Comments
Ingredients
Here are the basic ingredients for baking hamburgers. The recipe card below includes more tips, seasonings, and toppings ideas.
- ground beef – The ground beef that I use tends to be very lean. If you use a fatty ground beef there could be a lot of grease in the bottom of the baking dish. Some have found that they prefer placing the burger patties on a rack inside of the dish to help prevent the burgers from sitting in a lot of grease.
- salt – See below where I go in to more detail on the type of salt I recommend.
- pepper – See below where I go in to more detail on the type of black pepper I recommend.
- sliced American cheese – Thick sliced cheese is my favorite and recommended.
- hamburger buns – You can use your favorite burger buns but I love using sesame buns.
How to Cook Hamburgers in the Oven
As always, there’s a full, printable, recipe card at the bottom of this post, but I’d love to walk you through the recipe with photos and extra tips to help you make the best, baked hamburger recipe!
Preheat Oven:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and spray non-stick cooking spray inside of a baking dish, large enough to hold 4 hamburger patties.
Note: When cooking, you can definitely do more at a time if you prefer! Just use a larger baking pan or dish — make sure to use one with raised sides so the juices don’t pour out — and the cooking time will stay the same!
4 Beef Hamburger Patties
Using 1 pound of ground beef, patty out 4 hamburger patties. (Tip: Thaw out another pound of ground beef to make this old-fashioned favorite, Salisbury steak!)
How to Season Hamburgers
In the BEST Cheeseburger recipe, you saw that I love to fry burgers in browned butter for flavoring and use salt and pepper to season.
However, when it comes to baking hamburgers, I prefer to only use salt and pepper.
Feel free to use what you have on hand, or your favorite salt and pepper, but I can’t help but recommend my favorites.
- Fine Grain Himalayan Salt – When I started researching different salts for healthier options, my friend recommended this salt and I haven’t looked back. It is “saltier” so I don’t have to add as much when cooking, but it is also really tasty! I’m a big fan!
However, feel free to use my other favorite, kosher salt, or any type of sea salt/table salt. - Peppercorn Medley – Oh my favorite pepper in all the land! I love using this with the BEST oven baked steak recipe, and anything “beef” related. You’d be surprised at how much flavor this pepper has over regular black pepper. HOWEVER, feel free to use regular ground black pepper too! It’s tasty too!
Alternate Seasoning Options
I don’t know what it is exactly, but this seasoning rocks my world, and I love to put it on just about anything. Especially side dishes like my garlic roasted broccoli and the baked potato wedges.
So when I have some on hand, I love sprinkling this on my cheeseburgers too! Just be cautious of adding salt, because seasoning like this can have a lot of salt in it! This seasoning is similar to a seasoned salt but I’ve had so many readers also say that they love sprinkling their favorite meat seasonings on these burgers too.
Season on Both Sides
Over the years, I’ve learned that I prefer when burgers are GENEROUSLY seasoned with salt and pepper.
(If I had to guess, I’d say I probably use a total of about 2 teaspoon of salt for the four burgers, and then I just make sure I can SEE black pepper all over my burgers.)
Just when you think it may be too much salt and pepper (because let’s face it… you can always add more, but you can’t really take it away) you can finally actually taste it.
So season as you desire, but if you find that your burgers didn’t have much flavor this time, add a little bit more next time.
When you’ve seasoned one side of the burgers, flip the seasoned side down in to the prepared baking dish and season the other side.
How Long to Cook Burgers in the Oven at 375 Degrees
Bake, uncovered in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until an inserted thermometer reaches 160 degrees.
(For the trick that makes all of the difference when cooking burgers in the oven, scroll down! You won’t regret it!)
For Cheeseburgers
If you love cheese on your burgers, grab a slice of American cheese (or your favorite kind) and place one slice on each burger.
Place back in the oven for about one minute, or until the cheese has melted! (Unless you plan to do the “bun trick” below, and then you can just add the cheese and wait to melt it in the foil.)
The Trick for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Oven-Baked Burgers
When I started doing this for my burgers, I feel like I changed my family’s burger-lovin’ life.
Tear off 4 squares of aluminum foil (just large enough to wrap each individual burger).
Place the bottom portions of each bun on each sheet of foil, and build the burgers, WITHOUT the extra toppings. Just meat and cheese for now!
Wrap up each burger, and place either in a different baking dish, a cookie sheet or even directly on the oven rack… and let heat in the oven for a 2-3 minutes.
This will allow the cheese and bun to steam/toast, to create the ooey-gooeyness that has become so hard to live without!
Cooking Hamburgers in Advance
If you’re cooking for a large crowd, or just want to make a batch early and keep warm until dinnertime, it’s easy!
Make the burgers like I’ve suggested, and keep the aluminum foil-wrapped burgers in the oven on warm. (Just don’t get the oven too hot, or your buns will get TOO toasty and become hard.) I do this for baking hot dogs in the oven too!
Toppings for Burgers
Feel free to top your burgers with your favorite toppings! Honestly, when they’re cooked like this, I love them plain, with just cheese! (Unless I have some of the french fry seasoning that I’ve shared with you, under the recipe.) Although, topping them like a Cowboy Burger is pretty tasty too!
But some of the standard favorite toppings are:
- mustard
- ketchup
- onion
- tomato
- lettuce
- pickles
- mayo
- bacon (you can cook bacon in the oven too!)
- pineapples (Yes! They’re so good on a burger, and we love using them on Aloha burgers too!)
Sides to Go with Burgers
Looking for something to serve along with your hamburgers? Here are our favorites:
More Hamburger Recipes You’ll Love:
If you love hamburgers, then you’ll definitely want to see all of the other hamburger recipes that we have. Here are some of our favorites:
Or even if you’re looking for ways to use ground beef, we have suggestions for dinner recipes using ground beef!
More Oven Recipes
Did You Make This?
Snap a pic and hashtag it #Fantabulosity — I love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook.
Recipe
BEST Burgers in the Oven – With a TRICK!
Video
Equipment
- aluminum foil – optional, for toasting
Ingredients
- 4 beef patties I use 1 pound of ground beef to make 4 patties
- salt as desired – see blog post for tips
- pepper as desired – see blog post for tips
- 4 slices yellow American cheese if desired
- 4 hamburger buns
Optional – For Toasting
- aluminum foil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Generously season one side of the burgers with salt and pepper.4 beef patties, salt, pepper
- Place burger patties in baking dish, spice side down.
- Sprinkle more salt and pepper on each hamburger (or use a preferred seasoning) if you like!
- Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. (If thinner patties, this may not take as long, so it's best to keep an eye on them. When you no longer see "red" coming out of the top, or on the burgers, it could be time to pull them out of the oven.)
- If desired, place one slice of cheese on each burger and bake an additional minute or until cheese has melted. (Unless you're doing the "bun trick" below and then you can wait to melt the cheese after you've built your burger to place in the aluminum foil.)4 slices yellow American cheese
The TRICK for Ooey Gooey Cheese & a Toasted Bun
- Build each burger (without toppings) on a bun and wrap each burger in aluminum foil. (Just enough to wrap the burger completely.)4 hamburger buns, aluminum foil
- Place back in oven for 2-3 minutes to allow the cheese to melt in and for the bun to get warm and toasty!
- Serve and top with any toppings desired!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Charlene Anderson says
How long will these stay delicious? Can you use frozen premade patties? Trying to figure out a way to serve burgers to a large crowd that are actually decent. Thank you so much!
Jessica says
Hi Charlene! You should be able to do frozen pre-made patties just fine! However the cook time will be longer of course, so it will be best to keep an eye on them. As far as how long will they stay delicious… that’s hard to say. Do you mean wrapped in foil in the oven? Wrapped in foil and not in the oven? I’m always careful to just follow any USDA guidelines when it comes to keeping food safe, in case that’s helpful!
Vicky says
Since trying this wrap toast trick, my kids won’t eat burgers any other way! It is a real game changer!
Jessica says
Awww, this makes me so happy, Vicky! Thank you so much for sharing!