Find Out If Your Burger Is Cooked Through With A Gentle Squeeze

Trying to figure out if a burger is done without cutting into it can be a struggle. While recipes often provide an estimated cook time, temperatures can easily fluctuate based on a number of variables, from the material of the cooking vessel to the thickness of the patty in question. Thermometers can help determine internal temperature, but if you don't have one of those on hand, you may feel like you're out of luck.

Cutting a patty to check doneness might seem like the only way to ensure a perfectly done burger, but you'd be letting out juicy goodness in the process (and sacrificing the burger's appearance as well). A better way has to do with feel: Just squeeze the burger's sides to determine if it needs a few more minutes or if it's done. Squeezing the patty and checking for a bit of spring — but not too much give — will help you determine if you've hit that medium-rare mark. If you squeeze the top, it'll always feel soft and rare; the sides, however, will firm up as the patty cooks. Just don't burn your fingers!

Of course, the best way of telling whether it's time to take that burger out of the skillet or off the grill is with a thermometer. Meat thermometers can read the internal temperature of a burger, instantly letting you know whether it's safe to eat without having to take a peek inside. According to the USDA, a burger should be cooked to about 160 degrees Fahrenheit; you can remove the burgers at around 155 and allow them to rest off the heat source, and the carry-over heat will take them to 160. 

However, this is if you like your burgers cooked all the way through. For those who like a little pink in your patty, you can remove the burgers as early as 130 degrees Fahrenheit for medium-rare. For medium, kick that up to anywhere from 140 to 145 Fahrenheit.

You can also try to tell by visual cues if the burger is done cooking. If you poke the top of the patty, a little juice should run out of the meat; if the juice is clear, then the burger is well done and finished cooking. Pink juice indicates a medium patty; if red juice shows, it likely needs a few more minutes on the heat.

Beyond checking doneness, there are plenty of other hacks to ensure a perfect patty every time. One way to keep your burger meat moist as it cooks is the ice cube hack: Wrap your raw burger meat around an ice cube before griddling or grilling. As the ice melts inside the burger, it bastes the meat in moisture and keeps it from drying out.

This isn't a failsafe method, though, and there are some caveats; the trick works best with larger, heftier burgers that are cooked a little longer to ensure internal temperatures get hot enough for the ice to fully melt. If you prefer smaller, rarer burgers, you might want to consider a different method.

Another trick? Put a little dimple in the center of your burgers; this keeps the patties from seizing up into a ball and shrinking during the cooking time — and helps them fit inside buns much more snugly.