How to Grill Frozen Burgers: No need to thaw these ground beef, frozen patties! With a cooking time of only 20 minutes on the gas grill, you’ll have perfect burgers ready for lunch or quick dinner!
We love trying new ways to cook beef patties around here, with baking burgers in the oven being one of them but sometimes you just crave those grill marks!
During spring and summer, there’s nothing like firing up the gas grill or charcoal grill, to cook some burgers.
But sometimes, if you forget to thaw frozen burger patties out or if you need something at the last minute, throw a frozen hamburger on the grill and you can still have delicious burgers in no time!
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🧾 Ingredients
Sometimes I love buying ground beef in bulk, shape it in to burger patties, and then freeze them, so I can quickly throw a frozen hamburger patty on the grill for a fast dinner. (See image below.)
Bubba Burger
However, I know buying frozen Bubba Burger patties is really popular in many households so I thought I would use those for this recipe, to really try and nail down the cook time and instructions for you!
What you’ll need:
- frozen beef patties (as many as you’d like to cook or that will fit on your grill)
- salt
- pepper
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🏻🍳 Instructions
Preheat your gas grill to about 325°.
If your patties are frozen together, you can use a butter knife to carefully slide in between the patties to gently pry the frozen burger patty apart from one another.
When the temperature of the grill has reached 325°, it’s ready for the burgers.
If you’re using Bubba Burger patties, remove the number of beef patties that you’d like to cook, from the package and place them on the hot grill, making sure the sides don’t touch.
Season
After about 5 minutes of cooking, this is a good time to sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. (Or desired seasonings.)
Sprinkling the seasoning on after about 5 minutes of cooking, allows the spices to sink in to the beef more than it would it seasoning patties while completely frozen.
How long to grill frozen burgers
Since the burgers are frozen, it’s best to flip the patties every 5 minutes or so, to allow for even cooking, so one side doesn’t burn before completely thawed throughout.
Cook burgers for a total of about 20 minutes (flipping every 5 minutes) or until the juices run clear.
TIP: You can place the burgers over direct heat, just be cautious that this could cause flare ups, as the juices start to thaw and drip through the grill grate.
Once the burgers reach a safe internal temperature of 161° with a meat thermometer, they’re safe to eat.
They should have that brown color, instead of the raw, “red” color.
If you prefer a cheeseburger cooked on a grill, this is a great time to add cheese slices to the patties. (Or if you prefer barbecue sauce on your burger, you can also use this time to coat the burger with sauce.)
Place a slice of cheese on the patties, close the lid and turn the grill off. The remaining heat will gently melt the cheese on to the patties.
Remove from grill after about 2 minutes or until cheese has melted.
TIP: Don’t forget to shut the gas off to the grill!
If desired, place patties on hamburger buns with your favorite toppings and conquer that burger craving!
Or, get wild and serve the juicy burger patties on donuts like we did with our donut burgers or use waffles for the buns like we did with the waffle burgers!
🥬 Burger Topping Ideas
Looking for ideas on what to top your burger with? Some of our favorites are:
- ketchup
- mustard
- sliced onion
- pickles
- lettuce
- tomato
- top them with onion rings and bbq sauce like in our easy cowboy burgers!
You’ll LOVE all of the extra fun topping ideas that we shared when we styled our Burger Bar!
📖 Substitutions
Curious about veggie burgers, turkey burgers or different types of meat? Or what about beef burgers, that aren’t Bubba Burger brand?
You can still follow the same cooking process but be cautious as the thickness of the burger may vary. For best results, watch closely as they cook but you should also be able to cook most patties from frozen, on the grill as well.
✅ Variations
Want to make the juiciest grilled burgers? While the burgers are cooking, brush occasionally with melted butter! This will not only give them more flavor but will help make any burger juicier!
❄️ Storage
Have burgers leftover? Once burgers have cooled, simply store in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To reheat, you can place the burgers in the microwave, or if you have an air fryer, you’ll love cooking (reheating) air fryer burgers!
💡 Top Tip
To make these burgers especially good, follow our favorite process of assembling the burger on the bun, then wrapping in aluminum foil for a few minutes, to allow the bun to “steam” for an extra juicy burger!
You can place the aluminum foil wrapped burger back on the still-warm grill, to allow the heat to steam the burgers and buns.
🍔Related Recipes
If you love burgers, you’ll also love how we cook burgers on the stove, our smoked burgers, and these Hawaiian rolls cheeseburger sliders, along with this Aloha Burgers recipe that always seems to be a hit!
📖 Recipe
How to Grill Frozen Burgers
Equipment
- Grill gas grill
Ingredients
- 6 frozen burger patties such as Bubba Burger patties
- 2 teaspoon salt or as desired
- 1 teaspoon black pepper or as desired
Instructions
- Prehat the grill to 325°.
- Discard any paper separation that may be between the frozen burger patties and place burgers on grill grate, making sure sides do not touch. Close grill lid.
- After about 5 minutes of cooking, sprinkle on salt and pepper if desired. (Note: you wait for the burgers to thaw a bit before seasoning so it will "stick" to the patties.)
- Cook for a total of about 20 minutes, flipping every 5 minutes or so until juices run clear.
- If the flames from the fire flares up, move the burgers away from the direct heat to finish cooking.
- When the internal temperature of the burgers reach 160°-161°, it's safe to eat!
- OPTIONAL: If cheese is desired, place a slice of cheese on each patty, close the lid and turn the grill burners off to allow the leftover heat to gently melt the cheese. TIP: Don't forget to turn the gas off!
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.
Toni says
This is really good! Quick and easy to make and tastes really good!
Jessica says
Oh good! I’m so glad you liked these burgers on the grill too! Thank you for sharing!
Donna Batrone says
Brilliant! This is such a huge time saver, thank you!
Jessica says
Right?! I love grilling burgers right from frozen! It makes last minute dinner plans so much easier!
Allyssa says
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Jessica says
Wonderful! I’m glad that this technique worked for you too! Thank you for sharing!