Having a package of ready-made patties in your freezer is perfect for those last-minute crazy nights when you need to get dinner to the table fast and don’t want to give in to the siren of fast-food drive-through convenience. Grilling frozen burgers is fast, easy, and delicious when you follow our simple instructions.
🍽️ Why This Works
Fast and Easy for a busy weeknight or weekend lunch. | Move your meal from the freezer to the table in under twenty minutes.
Perfect to have on hand for food emergencies. | College son showing up at ten pm hungry? No problem! Hungry teenager scrounging for extra protein? Grill a frozen burger fast.
Crowd-pleasing. | Everyone loves a good burger, and with high-quality frozen burger patties, you can have them any time the craving strikes or you have a crowd to feed.
🍔 Ingredients
📝 Ingredient Notes
Frozen Burgers – As you can see in the image, we used Bubba Burgers. I definitely recommend a high-quality selection with good beef for grilling frozen burgers.
Buns – We love to get a good bakery bun but you can pick any buns you want.
Butter – Real butter, which will make your burger bun taste like something you would get at a high-end restaurant.
Homemade Burger Sauce – Mix mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, and sugar for a fantastic homemade burger sauce your whole family will love. This is optional but delicious.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
GrillGrate. This handy tool allows food on your grill to cook faster and more evenly, plus you’ll see those pretty grill marks. Turn this over and it turns into a last minute griddle that you can whip up the Travis Scott Burger.
🔥 Instructions
Step One: Season your burgers with your favorite seasoning blend. Salt and pepper is plenty.
Step Two: Heat up the grill on direct heat at 350-375º F and start grilling frozen burgers!
Step Three: Turn every three to five minutes. Rotate them to get criss-cross grill marks. Grill for a total of about 15 minutes, with a target internal temperature of 165ºF.
Step Four: Slice and butter the buns.
Step Five: Grill the buns for a minute or two. This might seem like an annoying extra step, but you will thank me for it later.
Step Six: Serve hot with your favorite toppings!
🌡️ Burger Cooking Chart
| Doneness | Temperature | Appearance |
| Rare | 120-125° | Bright Red |
| Medium Rare | 130-135° | Bright Pink |
| Medium | 140-145 | Slightly Pink |
| Medium Well | 150-155° | Mostly Brown |
| Well Done | 160° | All Brown |
Alternatively, printing the Grilling Time and Temperature Chart and using a handy Internal Meal Thermometer.
❗ Recipe Tips and Tricks
To get perfect criss-cross grill marks on both sides of your burger, flip the burgers every three and a half minutes. When you rotate back to a side that has already been done once, rotate the burger 90º so that the grill marks form a criss-cross pattern. Beautiful!
Make sure you do not press down your burgers when you flip them even though it is tempting. All you are doing is squeezing the juice out, and it will result in a drier burger.
Preheat your grill first. The best way to grill frozen burger patties is to start with a hot grill on medium heat so that you can get the outside of the meat seared right away. That keeps those juices trapped inside.
Starting with fresh meat? Try our Smoked Burgers instead.
Storage and Reheating
After cooking these, you might be wondering what to do with the leftovers. Leftover hamburgers can be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic baggy or airtight container for a few days.
Cooked hamburgers can also be frozen for up to three months and reheated in a microwave or skillet. This is a great way to have a fast meal when you need something in a pinch.
Common Brands
| Bubba | Kirkland (Costco) | Ballpark |
| Applegate | Omaha Steaks |
Additions and Substitutions
I definitely recommend you play around with various dry rubs and seasonings when grilling these. You have so many great options to add flavor and pizazz to your meat! You can stick to salt and pepper if you want to, but you can also dress up your burger with a custom seasoning blend.
Switch up the toppings and you can add endless variety to your burger night. Try one of these combinations.
Mushroom and Swiss Burger: Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions with Baby Swiss.
Hawaiian Sweet: Add a slice of grilled pineapple, a little BBQ sauce, and serve it all on a Hawaiian Sweet Roll bun.
Bacon Classic: American Cheese or Cheddar, Crunchy Bacon, Tomato, Lettuce, and Mayonnaise. This is a classic that is hard to beat.
California Burger: Avocado slices, tomato, lettuce, and onions.
Build-Your-Own: One fun idea is to have a burger-themed party and ask each guest to bring a different burger topping of choice.
For a fun twist on the classic cheeseburger, try our Kobe Beef Cheeseburger Kebabs.
Serving Suggestions
After you finish grilling frozen burgers, the possibilities for topping your hamburger are as endless as your creativity. I love a classic burger with tomato, onion, lettuce, and of course, our homemade burger sauce. But grilling frozen burgers is perfect for any kind of hamburger you love!
Serve up the hamburgers with smoky deviled eggs, smoked potato salad, grilled sweet potatoes or potato kebabs. Curly fries or onion rings in the Air Fryer are always a good choice.
Feeding a big crowd? Make Smoked Hot Dogs for variety.
Recipe FAQ
Your frozen burgers should take about fifteen minutes from frozen. Flip the patties every three to five minutes. Your goal is an internal temperature of 165ºF. Use a probe thermometer to keep a close eye on the burger temp.
Yes. There is no need to thaw them first. Preheat your grill to 350º and cook your burgers from frozen for about fifteen minutes, flipping every three to five minutes.
Yes. Grilling frozen burgers is so easy! Preheat your grill to 350º and cook your burgers from frozen for about fifteen minutes, flipping every three to five minutes.
350-375ºF is perfect for frozen burgers. It cooks them a little more slowly on the outside so that the inside has time to fully thaw and cook.
It doesn’t take any time at all to grill a buttered bun and it’s super glamorous. Plan one or two minutes at the most.
Related Recipes
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How to Grill Frozen Burgers
Equipment
- GrillGrate
Ingredients
- 4 Burger Patties frozen
- 4 Burger Buns
- 4 tbsp Butter
- Toppings your choice
Burger Sauce (optional)
- ½ cup Mayonnaise
- ¼ cup Ketchup
- 2 tsp Relish
- 2 tsp Sugar
Instructions
Frozen Burgers
- Heat grill using direct heat to 350-375°
- Season the frozen burger patties with salt and pepper. Optional: Use your favorite dry rub.
- Place the frozen patties on the grill and turn them over every 3-5 minutes for about 15 minutes. DO NOT PRESS DOWN
- Remove when the internal temperature reaches 165°
- Slather each bun with butter on the cut side. Place it on grill, butter side down, for 1-2 minutes, max.
Burger Sauce (optional)
- Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Serve with hamburgers, hotdogs or as a sandwich spread. Keep in refrigerator for up to one week in a covered container.
Notes
Nutrition
