Are Hamburgers GOOD in air fryer

It will really depend on your air frying cooking skills which will require a little practice with hamburgers, to achieve the kind of doneness that is preferred by you.

Hamburgers can be extremely good when done in an air fryer, but it will rely on a preheated air fryer to help quickly produce a texture rather than a soft surface if the patty is done too slow at a low temperature. Both sides must be cooked which will reduce the likelihood of producing a crispy outer texture.

Having very recently cooked a super-size smashed burger in an air fryer, I feel compelled to tell you how darn good the burger tasted.

In fact I could learn a few things to improve on my air frying skills but I feel I achieved a juicy enough hamburger, anyone will be proud of.

So did the hamburger patty taste as good as cooking in a conventional oven, absolutely it did - with less fuss and a faster cooking time which help to prevent dryness. I would say taste and texture was similar to cooking a patty under the broil/grill.

I can't emphasis the need to personally make your own hamburger at home mind which you must cook over what is a horrible pre-cooked or frozen hamburger patty.

I can't comment on how good a frozen burger tastes but I can say making a beef burger made from 100% mince beef - with up to 15% fat - was a winner this time around.

To be sure the hamburger was properly cooked to a brown colour - as I don't like rare burgers - I cooked it for a total of 4 minutes, flipping midway as the best course of action.

You do have to flip all air fried hamburgers or else you'd end up with a rarely cooked, greasy side which will result in a good and bad side.

You could attempt to cook your air fried burger for approximately 3 minutes for a juicier burger than mind, all while most of you should begin with a 4 minute cooking time. With a 4 minute air fryer time, based on two beef patties with a 8mm thickness.

Good as oven and broiling

Hamburgers cooked in an air fryer in my opinion are no different to cooking in an oven, yet I am sure the air fryer cooks it much better.

I don't know about air fryer vs. broiling/grilling because you can cook a hamburger patty quite well under close direct heat - which is really what an air fryer is.

Oven cooked hamburgers cook very slow - up to 15 minutes - when it can really be cooked between 4-7 minutes anywhere else. I'm sure that extra cooking time real spoils an oven-cooked burger - which is why I never cook burgers in the oven.

Really there is no harm in cooking your next hamburger in your air fryer, where I would suggest you line it with grease-proof paper, as I can't think of a better time to use parchment paper, which will catch a lot of grease/fat just from one burger alone.

Preheating makes a difference

Never ever put an homemade, frozen or store-bought fresh hamburger beef patty into an air fryer, until you've properly preheated it for no less than 5 minutes. To preheat up to 10 minutes will be better for a freshly made hamburger like I have air fried here.

Why that is because a raw hamburger patty must be cooked in a very short period of time, to prevent it drying out if cooked to slow. And of course you'll lose the opportunity to create any crispy texture on the surface, which only extreme heat can produce.

Preheating the air fryer must be done with a thin or thick burger which will allow you to control the doneness of the patty, which can be done to rare, medium and well done, with a lot of practice.

Of course at first you would expect to under cook or overdo your hamburger because it does take a little practice to get the temperature and time right.

Little texture / crispiness

Unfortunately, as good as air fried hamburgers are, you are unlikely to produce a texture likened to a crisp or char produced under the grill/broil.

I like my hamburger cooked in the air fryer regardless of any crispiness but I understand many of you must have that crispy edges.

Well then I can confirm an hamburger done in an air fryer won't be good at all, thus you'd need to revert back to broiling/grilling and occasionally grilling on the barbecue.

Texture of an air fryer hamburger is like a half-cooked burger where it looks a little pale still, with oil sitting on top as oppose to it burning off. You could produce a crisp if you must, while bearing in mind the hamburger will have to be cooked to a well done.

Juiciest 4-5 Min.; Leaner 6-7 Min.

I can't say for sure how long to cook an air fried hamburger because it depends largely on how thick the hamburger patty is.

My particular hamburger patty was 100mm (4 inches) wide, and 8mm thick. And with the 4 minute cooking time, I produced a medium done burger which retained plenty of juice, with zero dryness.

I think air frying a similar size and thickness hamburger will take 4-5 minutes to cook a rare/medium patty.

Whereas a well done burger will be in the 5-6 minute mark, where any longer than that will only cook a burger to an inedible dry patty. With all that said, air fryers are still good at cooking raw mince beef formed into patties.

Conclusion

You can't go wrong with a freshly made at home hamburger patty cooked in an air fryer, with the taste and texture similar to other methods of cooking burgers at home.

What you can't really achieve cooking hamburgers in air fryer is a crispy or charred surface, which will only cause the burger to dry out if you did attempt it.

Key to properly cooking a hamburger to your preferred level of doneness, is preheating the air fryer to 10 minutes, because the hotter the air fryer is, the quicker we can cook the patty before it dries out.

With the hamburger needed to be cooked on both sides, that means you only have 3-4 minutes to create any kind of texture on either side.

Compare a freshly made air fried hamburger to how its done in the oven, but with better results.

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