What Temp Is Just Too Rare For A Burger?

Whether you're making perfect crispy smash burgers at home or going out to your local burger dive, that ground beef on a toasted bun certainly makes for a tasty meal. Formed into a patty and served with great burger toppings — in the proper order – the juicy comfort food classic is a sure bet when you have a mighty appetite. So how do you cook or order your burger? Medium? Medium-rare? Many people prefer these levels of doneness because they ensure the patty stays juicy. But is there such a thing as too rare?

According to the USDA guidelines, there is such a thing as too rare — and it's anything below well-done, which is 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Yes, in order to ensure that your beef patty is devoid of bacteria or other foodborne pathogens, raw ground beef must be cooked to 160 degrees in order to be considered truly safe. At home, you can monitor this by sticking a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the patty (or the center of the patty, with the thermometer at a diagonal, if your burger is super-thin). But if you prefer burgers cooked less well-done, there is an alternative method you could try.

Usually when burgers are cooked, they're mostly done so at a higher heat for shorter periods of time in order to get a nice, crisp crust without drying out in the middle. But ground beef can actually be pasteurized if it's held at lower temperatures for longer. There is one cooking technique that consistently holds food at a set temperature for as long as you like: sous vide.

To achieve the sous vide workaround, you'll need a sous vide machine. These have become more affordable in recent years, like this model from Anova Culinary. For a burger done to medium, you'll set the temperature to between 130 and 137 degrees Fahrenheit, and let a 6-ounce patty go for about an hour and 50 minutes. Give the patty a rest after you take it out of the bath, and then sear it on a hot pan in order to get a tasty crust.

The reason ground beef has to be cooked to a higher temperature than whole steaks is due to the grinding process, which means surface bacteria can get spread throughout the meat. Grinding it yourself rather than buying pre-ground beef from the store can reduce the likelihood of contamination, but it's still a risk. If you're doing it yourself, chuck is the most popular cut of steak for ground beef.

If you don't have a sous vide machine, or you don't want to commit to two hours of cook-time for just one burger, that's totally fair. But how do you prepare your ground beef for a well-done burger that's still juicy? Well, you can add fat to the mix, in the form of grated butter. Just put the flakes directly into the ground beef, add your seasonings, and mix together until just combined. Then form your patties and cook them as you normally would. Or you can add bread and milk into your meat mixture, creating what is essentially meatloaves in patty form.

Before you put your burger patties on a hot grill or skillet, you can also press down on the middles with your thumb (or a spoon), creating a little indentation that will help keep your burgers at the same thickness as they cook. This in turn will prevent overcooking of thinner areas of the patties, ensuring the interiors stay moist and juicy. But don't press down on the patties as they cook, as that's a mistake that can dry out your burger since its pushes out the meaty juices.