There are not many things that are more delicious than a grilled burger on a warm summer’s day.
Grilling in your backyard can be a great way to entertain friends and family and enjoy a delicious meal and fresh air from the comfort of your home.
In fact, grilling is a cooking method used by people around the world, including in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.
Grilled burgers are popular both at fast-food chains and in home-cooking. If you’ve been avoiding grilling your own burgers at home because they always stick to the grill, keep reading to discover what the cause of this is and how you can prevent this.
How to Stop Burgers from Sticking to the Grill
1. Keep the Grill Clean
One of the main reasons why burger patties stick to the grill when you try to flip them is that the grill isn’t clean.
When you cook on a grill, pieces of food and residue from the oils remain on the grill and become charred. This can make cleaning a grill an unpleasant, time-consuming process.
You should clean the grill thoroughly between each use. There are various methods for cleaning a grill.
After you have removed all the food from the grill and are finished grilling for the day, you can use a wire brush to scrape the food residue off the grill.
This is one of the easiest ways to clean your grill because it will still be hot so the residue will be fairly easy to remove. If you are preparing to entertain and find that you forgot to clean your grill the last time you used it, don’t fret.
Heat the grill up about 10 minutes before you need it and scrape the grill with a wire brush. You can also scrub the grill with steel wool and dishwashing liquid in your kitchen sink.
2. Use an Onion
If you prefer to use natural substances over harsh detergents, try using an onion to clean your grill. Slice an onion in half and then heat your grill up. Use a pair of tongs to grasp an onion half and rub the inside of it on the grill.
Onions are naturally acidic and juicy, and this helps to loosen dirt and food particles from the grill. Onions are not only helpful for cleaning the grill, but also provide a natural non-stick coating.
Onions contain natural oils which will prevent your burgers from sticking to the grill, and they might even add some flavor to the meal!
3. Use Oil
You can also use some oil on your grill to prevent sticking. Brush your grill with some oil using a pastry brush or your fingers. Ensure that you do this before you heat the grill so that you don’t burn either the pastry brush or your fingers.
Oil is also highly flammable so if it drips into the fire, it can cause flare-ups. Brushing the grill with oil before heating allows you to clean any oil drips up so that they don’t catch on fire.
If you are cooking a lean burger like a turkey or chicken burger, you should also brush the surface of the burger patty with oil. Beef burgers are fattier than chicken or turkey and already contain enough oil to prevent sticking.
Remember to clean the oil off the grill once you’re finished cooking, even if there is no food residue left on the grill. Old oil can create a sticky layer on the surface of a grill, which leads to food sticking.
Additionally, oil should be discarded after a few uses as it releases toxic chemicals when reused too many times. These chemicals have been linked to cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease.
You may be asking yourself which type of oil you should use. Choose an oil with a high smoke point to prevent it from burning on your grill and ruining the flavor of your burgers or causing a flare-up.
Canola oil, vegetable oil, and sunflower oil are three oils that work particularly well for grilling burgers. All three of these oils have high smoke points of over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, which allow them to withstand the high temperatures that your grill reaches.
4. Use Non-Stick Spray
In addition to or instead of oil, you can also use a non-stick spray on your grill to stop the burgers from sticking and breaking. There are plenty of non-stick sprays available on the market.
You can even purchase an olive oil spray if you find this more convenient than brushing your grid with oil.
Like with oil, remember to spray the grid before heating the grill up, as the contents of the non-stick spray are highly flammable, and spraying a hot grill can be very dangerous.
5. Preheat the Grill
Once you have cleaned your grill and applied either onion juices, oil, or a non-stick spray to the grill grid, preheat your grill before placing the burger patties on it. It’s also important not to flip your burger patties too early.
The burger patties will form a slightly charred outer layer and will release easily from the grill when they are cooked. Trying to flip the patties before this layer has formed can cause the patty to stick to the grill and break when you try to pull it off.
If you put these five methods into practice, there’s no need to be scraping pieces of broken burger patty off your grill. We hope that these methods will help you to create the perfect burger on your grill, which you can enjoy with cheese, pickles, and ketchup.