Air Fryer Hamburgers

WARNING: Air frying hamburgers (or cheeseburgers) is not a fad. While I usually fire up the grill when making hamburgers or smashing them on a griddle, the air fryer is a surprisingly easy and delicious way to make a hamburger.

The downside to the air fryer, as always, depending on the size of your air fryer, is that you can only cook a few of these burgers at a time, so it’s not exactly right for a large BBQ. But the plus is that it’s very fast, cooks the burgers evenly without flipping them, and you’ve never had melty cheese like melted cheese from the air fryer.

Safety tip for air frying

Any time you are air frying high fat meats like bacon, or in this case ground beef, it’s a very good idea to add some water to the bottom of your air fryer basket. In fact, I would say it’s an essential step.

The water in the bottom doesn’t interfere with cooking in the air fryer at all, but it does catch any fat that drips off the meat and keeps it from smoking. If you forget this step, you’ll know because your smoke alarm will almost certainly go off while you’re making those burgers.

My favorite mix for hamburgers

I’m a firm believer that fat is flavor when it comes to burgers, so I always look for at least an 85-15 mix for ground beef when making burgers. You can also buy an 80-20 mix.

If you can find ground fodder in an 80-20 mix, you might want to grab it and freeze it for burger days. I think it’s the best store bought burger mix if you don’t want to make your own. (If you dare to make your own burger mix, I posted my favorite ground beef burger mix on Macheesmo a few years ago. It’s undoubtedly a cooking project.)

How to air fry hamburgers

Once you’ve taken the safety step of adding water to your Airfryer basket, spray your basket with some nonstick spray to keep the burgers from sticking. Then season your burgers well with salt and pepper and put them in the basket.

They need to be air fried at 350F for about 8 minutes and, importantly, you don’t have to turn them while they cook. Just let them cook!

Once the burgers are cooked, you can add some cheese to the burgers and fry them for another 1-2 minutes until the cheese is perfectly melted.

Toast the buns in the air fryer

This is an optional step, but fun. If you have a little more room around your Airfryer basket, you can add your burger buns and toast them in the Airfryer for a minute or two. It’s okay if the buns are evenly slanted. You will toast well!

What to serve with hamburgers

Side dishes come to my mind every time I make burgers and there are so many delicious options at Simply Recipes. Try this easy macaroni salad that you could make ahead of time. For something lighter, try this Caprese Corn Salad or this Fruity Watermelon Feta Salad!

More Amazing Air Fryer Recipes

• Air fryer chicken tenders
• Spring rolls from the air fryer
• Air Fryer Onion Rings
• Fried chicken from the air fryer
• Air fryer chicken nuggets