Resting Your Burger Plays A Bigger Role Than You'd Expect

Whether you've chosen to grill, pan-fry, air-fry, or broil or even bake your burger, there's one key step you won't want to skip. Once the beef or other protein is cooked to your preferred doneness, just like when dealing with whole cuts of meat, you're going to want to let the burger rest for at least 30 seconds and up to five minutes before transferring it to a bun. It's the same principle as resting a steak; resting allows the meat to reabsorb some of the juices that naturally come out during the cooking process.

If you bite into the burger too early, that first taste might be ultra juicy, but then the burger juices within will come streaming out onto your hand — when you really want them to stay inside the patty. You can rest the burgers on a plate or a tray, but if you're a details person, a rack works even better, since it helps evenly circulate air around the meat. In order to keep them from dropping in temperature too quickly, you can tent them loosely with foil; this way, they don't become cold too quickly.

There is one other reason you don't want to put your burger on a bun right after you're done cooking it. You don't want the residual fat coming out of your burger to ruin your bottom bun. We've all had burger buns collapse on us before, and though eating sooner rather than later is always ideal, sometimes it's not worth the cost if you can't grip onto your sandwich because the bun has fallen apart. Letting the last of the hot beef fat come out prior to finishing your burger is worth being patient for.

So that's yet just another reason to rest your burger for a bit (not for long!) before you put it on a bun and get to topping it. You want it as juicy as possible without turning into a soggy mess. And although burgers seem like a pretty easy thing to cook at home, mastering them is all about the finer details – there are plenty of mistakes home cooks routinely make. In this case, just a few added minutes of patience.