Air fryers have harnessed the magic of convection cooking into smaller countertop appliances, and they’re great for making everything from impossibly crispy Brussels sprouts to easy air-fried toast. But if you’ve attempted to make burgers in your air fryer, they might have fallen a little short — especially if you were looking for a medium-rare cook. Food Republic spoke with Rachel Kirk, owner and recipe developer for Laughing Spatula, and she explained why. “You can certainly air fry burgers,” Kirk said, “but when you’re air frying you have a consistent surrounding temperature, which makes it harder to control, resulting in a medium well to well done burger.”
She continued, “Air fryers use convection heat. Basically, hot air surrounds the contents of the air fryer[,] versus direct heat with grilling, or pan frying a burger.” Think about it: When you cook a burger on the grill or stove, just one side is exposed to direct heat at a time. In the air fryer, the heat hits the patties from the bottom and the top. Therefore, they may cook a little too quickly — especially if you want a crust to form — to achieve that juicy medium-rare.
Tips for cooking burgers in the air fryer
You don’t have to cook your burgers to medium-rare in order to have juicy air-fried meat patties, though. Rachel Kirk offered this tip: “Use a high quality, well seasoned meat. A hearty sprinkling of salt, pepper, and granulated garlic works well with almost any burger.” Consider opting for organic, grass-fed beef if you’re going to be air-frying your burgers, or source it fresh from a nearby farm. Kirk also recommended using an 80/20 ratio of beef, as it “really helps with texture and adding richness.”
Kirk also had a suggestion for turkey or chicken burgers. “The meat is lean and can dry out fast, so add in [two tablespoons] of olive oil to each [one] pound of meat to increase the fat content,” she said. “Another way to achieve great texture with poultry based burgers is to toss panko crumbs in a little olive oil, then coat the burgers in that mixture.” It gives you a crunchy exterior and helps keep the interior of the burger moist by creating a layer, she explained — just remember to use panko, not breadcrumbs. The two are not interchangeable.
Finally, Kirk left us with this advice: “Avoiding overcrowding, and making sure each patty is the same size[,] will help ensure all of the burgers are cooked to perfection.” Depending on how big your air fryer is — and how big you want your patties — that might mean you’re stuck cooking just one or two at a time.
