For The Best Cheeseburgers, Slice That Cheese As Thin As You Can

In order to hand-craft the perfect cheeseburger, you need an adequately cooked beef patty, luscious layers of melted cheese, a few veggies, and your favorite condiments. Among all the essential components that make up this iconic masterpiece, melted cheese serves to be the most necessary ingredient next to the meat itself. One 2021 poll conducted by YouGov discovered that 67% of over 9,000 voters prefer cheese on their beef patties. Yet, how many of us have made a cheeseburger or two with less cheese than anticipated due to melting mishaps?

Many of us have either melted half of the cheese off our burgers while they sear on the stove or grill or waited too long to add this necessary ingredient and end up with a meat patty topped with cold cheese. Luckily you can fix this problem by using more than one piece of cheese. Sounds simple enough right? Most of us may not have even considered thinking ahead and grabbing more than one slice from the refrigerator when it's time to add that delicious, yet necessary ingredient. If you usually cut slices of cheese like Colby or Swiss from a larger block, go for thinner slices to help the cheese melt faster. However, if you want a uniform variety that's already pre-packaged and melts easily, look no further than American cheese.

Gooey, melted cheese on a burger is a universal must, but if you're someone who wants fast, reliable results, American cheese is your best bet. Most processed American cheese includes the addition of extra milk or cream and binding proteins which ultimately causes this iconic variety to melt quickly when exposed to heat. When burgers are on the menu, American cheese is also a convenient choice since most varieties already come in prepackaged, uniform slices. To get the right amount of cheese on your next meaty sandwich, play it safe and use two slices for good measure. Since American cheese has a low melting point, you'll most likely lose a small amount to the bottom of your skillet or grill so using two slices assures you'll experience cheesy goodness in every single bite. 

Even though you wouldn't turn down a warm burger with melted American cheese, you might internally prefer a variety that exudes a sharper bite such as cheddar or mozzarella. When making your own burgers, use a peeler, which is the only tool needed for perfectly sliced cheese every time, or a sharp knife to cut extra thin slices for easy melting. If achieving that quintessential gooey texture still proves to be a bit challenging, there are a few tricks for getting your cheese to melt a bit faster every time burgers are on the menu.

Beyond slicing your cheese super thin, why not grab a heat-proof bowl and use the hack for achieving perfectly melted cheese when grilling burgers? If the weather isn't cooperating and you'd rather cook your burgers on a cast iron skillet indoors, there is one unexpected cheese-melting trick you might want to consider. While uniform cheese slices are always appreciated, adding a splash of water to the mix might speed up the melting process as well. The next time you top hot burger patties with those inevitable slices of cheese, add a splash or two of water and cover the pan. The steam from the added water gets trapped and ultimately aids in the melting process.

If you're still weary about losing some of that precious cheese, you may want to change the way you assemble your burger altogether. While thin slices are also important for this method, instead of adding cheese directly to your burger in the final cooking stage, add it to the top part of your bun and then (once your burger is finished cooking), add the hot patty directly to the cheese-covered bun. The heat from your burger will melt the cheese without losing any precious layers. Regardless of how you assemble your burger, thin, uniform cheese slices will increase the likelihood of melted perfection each and every time.