How to Make Classic Hamburgers on a Charcoal Grill

Hamburgers have been a staple in family BBQs for a long time - whether it’s at a backyard BBQ, a picnic, or a camping trip. Just look back at your very first BBQ and, most likely, hamburgers were part of the menu. Indeed, few meals can ever be quite as filling and nostalgic as the classic hamburger. If ever you want to achieve an authentic classic hamburger taste for your BBQ, there are a few things to consider - including the type of grill you use, the type of ground beef you buy, the recipe, and the grilling technique. In this article, we’ll share several tips that will help you achieve the authentic taste of classic hamburgers using your Napoleon Grill. Let’s dive right in!

Why Use a Charcoal Grill for Hamburgers?

The type of grill that you will use will impact the quality of your hamburgers. So let’s compare the gas grill and charcoal grill.

One of the biggest benefits of using a gas grill is its convenience. Using a gas grill means you don’t need to wait for the charcoal to ignite for you to start cooking. Clean up is an easier process as well. However, the main drawback is that gas grills oftentimes do not give the same smokey flavour that charcoal grills can provide. However, if you do not own a charcoal grill and want to achieve the same effect on your gas grill. This can be done using a smoker tube or box, as well as with a cast iron charcoal tray!

Charcoal grills tend to cook with a high and dry sort of heat, resulting in a thicker charred crust on hamburgers that goes so well with the signature smokey flavour. Without a doubt, using a charcoal grill is essential in achieving the classic hamburger taste because using this type of grill affects both the taste and flavour of the dish.

Buying the Best Ground Beef

Buying the best ground beef is essential to making amazing hamburgers. Whether you’re buying from the supermarket or from the neighborhood butcher, you can get quality meat as long as you know what to look for.

Freshly Ground

Whatever you do, avoid products like frozen pre-formed patties or ground beef in sealed tubes. You can never be sure about freshness or what type of meat you are getting with processed food such as these. What you want to look for is beef that is ground right in the store where you are buying. You can even ask the butcher to grind the meat on the spot.

80/20 Ground Beef

80/20 ground beef means that it is made up of 80 percent lean meat and 20 percent fat. Although this may seem like a large portion of fat, the fat tends to seep out as you grill the hamburger. Therefore, starting with 20 percent fat in the ground beef will result in moist, juicy hamburgers with a rich flavour.

Beef chuck fits the 80/20 ratio. So if you ever see ground chuck available, that would do perfectly. Alternatively, you can ask for “store trim” as this type of ground beef often fits the 80/20 ratio as well. When buying store trim ground beef though, make sure that it is ground in-store and is ground the same day.

Classic Hamburger Recipes

Before we talk about how to grill your classic hamburgers to perfection, let’s talk about the spices and flavours you can use to complement the natural flavour of ground beef.

The Basic Recipe

Adding Hamburger Seasoning

Though some of us would want to stick to the basic recipe above so as not to interfere too much with the natural flavour of the beef, some would prefer extra spices to spruce up these hamburgers. If you prefer the latter, then this seasoning recipe is for you. You can even customize your burgers by adding or omitting your favorite spices to create your own unique recipe.

A Step-by-Step Guide on How to BBQ Classic Hamburgers on a Charcoal Grill

And now for the meat of the subject. Whether you’re using a grill from Napoleon Grill’s Charcoal Grill Series or Apollo® Series, you can be sure that your classic hamburgers will come out delicious, smokey, and juicy after following the steps here.

1. As we’ve mentioned in the previous section, you need to prepare your patties beforehand and refrigerate them. This process will allow the patties to remain intact while grilling. Remember that a patty thickness of about ¾ of an inch is ideal.

2. Light a load of charcoal using your favorite method. Prepare to use the two-zone fire by piling the coals to one side. If you use a charcoal chimney starter once lit, pour the coals to one side of the grill. Once the coals are lit and in the grill, leave the cooking grids in the upper position and preheat for at least 10 minutes to get the cooking grids hot.

3. Place the patties on the grill over the lit coals. Let them cook for about 2 minutes until grill marks appear.

4. Flip the patties and allow them to cook for 2 minutes more until grill marks appear on the other side.

5. Although it may be a common practice, do NOT press the patties down with a spatula. This will make the patties lose some of their moisture which will then reduce our burgers’ juiciness.

6. Once both sides have grill marks, move the patties away from the coals to indirect heat. Allow the patties to stay on this part of the grill for a few minutes depending on the level of doneness that you want to achieve, although it is recommended that you cook all burgers to an internal temperature of 160°F to 165°F.

   • For medium-rare burgers, grill for 2-3 minutes 135°F to 140°F

   • For medium burgers, grill for 3-4 minutes 145°F to 150°F

   • For well-done burgers, grill for 5-6 minutes 160°F to 165°F

How Do You BBQ Classic Hamburgers on a Charcoal Grill? Do you have your own awesome tips on how to grill classic hamburgers? We’d love to hear from you. Follow Napoleon on our Instagram or Facebook and share your favourite hamburger recipes and tips!