Frozen Beef Burger Patties At The Grocery Store, Ranked From Worst To Best

Memorial Day has passed, marking the unofficial start to summer — which also means it's now barbecue season. In our book, nothing beats a freshly made burger, but buying ground beef in bulk and having to portion and size out individual patties can be tedious, especially if you're prepping for a big backyard barbecue. While a bit more expensive, sometimes heading to the frozen foods aisle of your grocery store of choice to pick up burger patties is just the way to go. Plus, we really like the fact that each burger is already weighed out and uniform in shape, making it a breeze to cook them up in batches (just make sure you follow these tips for cooking a perfect from-frozen burger).

That said, not all frozen burgers are of the same ilk, and the wrong patty can throw off your whole grillmaster vibe. To find out which brand reigns supreme, we scoured just about every grocery store in our area and came home with seven different options. Prices are accurate as of publication and dependent on location. Below are all of the frozen beef burger patties we picked up at the grocery store, ranked from worst to best.

Target's Good & Gather All Natural Beef Patties have a few things going for them. They are the cheapest option per unit of the varieties I tried, they are all uniform in size and shape, and they cook quickly (from frozen), making them a great option for feeding lots of mouths. That's, however, just about all of the positive.

The 85% lean 15% fat ground beef patties have no artificial ingredients and are minimally processed, and come in a package of 12 4-ounce (quarter-pound) burgers. The package costs $17.69, which is about $1.47 per burger — the least expensive of the bunch. Each serving (one patty) is 240 calories and has 21 grams of protein, 17 grams of fat, 85 milligrams of cholesterol, and 90 milligrams of sodium.

I like that they cook quickly, which makes preparing a bunch pretty easy. That said, even by cooking them from frozen (as instructed), they can quickly overcook so you need to keep an eye on them. The burger got a nice char on it, but it was borderline excessive. Paired with the lower fat content, I found it a bit dry and, overall, lacking any punchy flavor.

Whole Foods Market's Organic 100% Grass-Fed Beef Burgers actually have a distinctive flavor (almost gamey), which helps them stand out from the crowd. If it weren't for this one fact, they would have come in seventh place, below the Target brand.

There are still some good things to note: The patties are USDA Organic and Animal Welfare Certified, being vegetarian-fed and pasture-raised; they also have no added hormones or antibiotics. The 80% lean 20% fat ratio is closer to what I want in a burger, but one package only has four 4-ounce patties, which ties for the lowest net weight among all the options. While the $8.99 price tag is the least expensive of the bunch, at $2.25 per burger, the cost falls more in the middle. As for the nutrition, each patty is 290 calories and has 19 grams of protein, 23 grams of fat, 80 milligrams of cholesterol, and 75 milligrams of sodium.

My biggest issue is the packaging, which consists of two patties vacuum sealed together, making them darn near impossible to separate. Although these are recommended to cook from frozen, I needed to thaw them out a bit just to get the burgers separated. As a combination of this and the tight vacuum sealing, the burger came out a bit misshapen and unevenly cooked. The somewhat distinct flavor is not worth the hassle. I can't even imagine trying to cook these en masse.

Like the Whole Foods-branded patties, Teton Waters Ranch Beef Burgers have a myriad of certifications, including being Certified Humane and Whole 30 approved. They are made with antibiotic- and added hormone-free beef and are never fed animal byproducts. The similarities don't end there: The two brands have the same nutritional information, packaging format (four 4-ounce patties), and lean meat-to-fat ratio (80:20). Teton Waters Ranch Beef Burgers, however, come in slightly more expensive at $10.99 ($2.75 per burger).

So, what separates the two? The Teton Waters Ranch patties have a slightly richer flavor — and not only when compared to Whole Foods; they probably have the richest flavor of the bunch (although, admittedly, not by much). Since these patties are evenly sized, they also cook uniformly. That said, the patty shrunk more than any other, and at 4 ounces it isn't a very big patty to begin with. In all, it's another toss-up, with Teton Waters Ranch edging out Whole Foods Market mostly based on how difficult it was to get the latter's patty removed from the packaging.

I almost certainly will not purchase any of the previous three frozen burger patties again. From this point on, however, I would have few issues buying these brands a second time. Bubba Burger may be the most well-known frozen burger brand out there, with its distinctive irregular-on-purpose shape (intended to resemble a handmade patty). One thing that immediately separates the Bubba Burger from those behind it on the list is the patty size. At one-third of a pound, it's a much more appropriate serving size in my eyes. 

I also like that they are 77% lean and 23% fat, which seems intentional (rather than just opting for an easy multiple). With the higher fat content and bigger size come a few more calories — 420, to be exact. One patty also has 25 grams of protein, 35 grams of fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, and 85 milligrams of sodium. If you're keeping to a diet, this might not be the option for you.

One package of six 100% USDA Choice Beef Chuck patties costs $16.99, which equates to $2.83 per burger — tied for the most expensive of the bunch. So, while these are not the best-tasting, I found that the thicker patty size offers more leeway when cooking, resulting in a juicier burger.

I've had Bubba Burgers before this experiment and I'll probably have them again. But if I'm doing the shopping, I'll be getting one of these top three. I really liked the Red Castle 100% Pure Beef Hamburger. It cooked perfectly with an even crust and it didn't stick to the grill; it also fared well in the taste test. 

What's holding it back is it's not meant to be cooked from frozen and requires some thawing (either in the fridge or microwave). Without this step, the patties are very difficult to separate. I did not wait for them to fully thaw, since I was only cooking one at a time, so I waited only long enough to pry one patty from the rest. I then cooked it from mostly frozen and had none of the issues I did with the Whole Foods patty.

Red Castle Burgers come in a package of eight 4-ounce patties that are 80% lean and 20% fat. They cost $16.99 in all (or about $2.12 per burger, which is on the less expensive side). One patty is 280 calories and has 20 grams of protein, 22 grams of fat, 84 milligrams of cholesterol, and 85 milligrams of sodium.

Until I got to No. 1 on this list, Brooklyn Burger's Original Steakhouse Burger was the only one I wanted to keep eating. (Knowing I had to get through seven different burgers, I was being judicious about how much of each I ate.) At one-third of a pound (like Bubba), this is the ideal burger patty size. Also similar to Bubba, the Brooklyn Burger patty — which is made from USDA Inspected Premium Beef — has a high fat content: 25%. 

As a result, these come in at 440 calories and have 24 grams of protein, 38 grams of fat, 115 milligrams of cholesterol, and 100 milligrams of sodium. Depending on your diet, this might not be the best choice, but if you want a classic, tasty, and juicy burger, you don't want to skip out on Brooklyn Burger. The only reason why Brooklyn Burger Original Steakhouse Burgers are not ranked at the top of the list is their price: $16.99 for six patties (tied for the most expensive per patty at $2.83).

Coming in as the best frozen burger patties you can get at a grocery store is Meyer Natural Angus Premium Ground Beef Patties, which ranked near the top in all the categories I factored. It has some of the same certifications as Whole Foods and Teton Waters Ranch: It is certified Humanely Handled and Animal Welfare Certified; it also contains no added hormones or antibiotics and is vegetarian-fed. Sold in a package of eight 4-ounce patties for $12.99, the per-patty price is $1.62, trailing only Target's Good & Gather.

The frozen patties are easy to handle and are intended to cook from frozen. The final result is an all-around great burger. Along with the Red Castle burger, the Meyer Natural Angus cooks the best, with a perfectly even crust and no sticking. The taste is there, too, making it an easy choice for No. 1. 

Nutritionally, each burger has 290 calories, 19 grams of protein, 23 grams of fat, 80 milligrams of cholesterol, and 75 milligrams of sodium. In my endeavor to clear out my freezer of the remaining 29 frozen burger patties, these will be the first to go. Although buying frozen food in bulk is not always a good idea, I'll be able to experiment with adding tons of sweet flavor to these frozen burger patties.

Due to the weather, I cooked all of these burgers on my two-burner stovetop grill pan. I also wanted to (try to) let the beef shine, so I prepared each burger with only minimal salt and pepper and no cheese. I opted for a plain ballpark-style bun (even though I'd much prefer sesame seeds or a potato bun — Anthony Bourdain approved). Just the same, I used no ketchup, other condiments, or popular burger toppings. 

I cooked each of the patties nearly the same way, only altering the method if the package instructions said so. I tasted each burger as it came off the grill to rate it at its freshest, then stored the patties in a warm oven until all were cooked, in order to taste each again for a final comparison.

The biggest factor was the taste, but I also heavily factored texture (i.e. the crust/grill marks) and juiciness. I considered the ease of cooking and price too. Nutrition was not much of a factor since burgers aren't usually chosen for their healthiness. While "ease of removing the patty from its packaging" was not initially a factor, for two of the burgers it became a nearly crucial component in the ranking.