Air Fryer Hamburgers are a quick and easy way to get a juicy, flavorful dinner on the table fast. They cook up tender and delicious with minimal prep, making them perfect for hamburgers, cheeseburgers, or sliders any night of the week.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Juicy, beefy burgers with a well-seasoned center and nicely browned edges.
- Why Make It: The air fryer cooks burgers fast without heating the whole kitchen. Even frozen patties turn out tasty with just a little extra cook time!
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly and easy to make with simple ingredients.
- Prep Note: Form patties with a slight indent in the center so they cook more evenly.
- Serving Suggestion: Pile onto toasted buns with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles with your favorite burger sauce.
Simple All Beef Patty Ingredients
- Beef: Just like our favorite hamburger recipe, we like to use an 80/20 blend for the right amount of fat to keep the patties juicy without too much grease runoff. For a lighter option, try ground turkey for turkey burgers.
- Seasoning: Add in salt & pepper with a dash of onion and garlic powder. Fresh onion and garlic don’t have enough time to cook, so we opt for powders in this recipe. Or try our signature hamburger seasoning!
- BBQ sauce (optional): Helps with caramelization and tastes great. I love this homemade barbecue sauce, but any store brand works, too!
Toppings
Make a DIY burger bar by arranging lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and pickles on a serving platter so everyone can help themselves!
- Zesty: Jalapenos, green chilies, sauerkraut, Chipotle aioli, or a homemade garlic aioli
- Savory: Roasted red bell peppers, fried egg (so good!), bacon, sautéed or air-fried mushrooms
How To Air Fry Hamburgers
- Combine all of the ingredients and form into 4 equally sized patties.
- Place prepared hamburger patties in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Cook until they reach 160°F (full recipe below).
- Top with cheese if desired, cook 1 more minute before serving.
Best Air Fryer Recipes
Did you enjoy these Air Fryer Hamburgers? Leave a comment and a rating below.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef 80/20
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce optional
For Serving
- 4 hamburger buns
- toppings as desired
Instructions
- Combine beef, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder in a medium bowl.
- Form into 4 patties, about ½" thick. Make a small indent in the middle of the patty with your thumb. Brush patties with barbecue sauce if using.
- Preheat the air fryer to 370°F. Add patties in a single layer to the basket.
- Cook 6 minutes. Flip burgers over and cook an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until beef reaches 160°F.
- Add cheese if using and cook 1 minute more. Serve on buns.
Notes
- Ensure you use meat with a little bit of fat (80/20) so the burgers stay moist.
- Air Fryers can vary, so check your burgers early to ensure they don’t overcook. If your burgers are thicker, add more time.
- These were tested in a Cosori 5.8QT Air Fryer.
- Frozen burger patties can be cooked in the air fryer. They’ll need to add about 5 to 7 minutes, depending on thickness. Use a meat thermometer to ensure doneness.
- If you prefer them more well done, cook longer. If you prefer them with a bit of pink, cook for a little bit less time.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Super awesome Recipes. That you so much!
Sounds great, but I have a question. My air fryer is a ‘basket/basket’ type; good for things like fries, etc., but when I tried to make beef in it it stuck to the grating and I wound up losing a lot of it. Should I use parchment paper in the basket or would it make them sit in the grease then? I make your meatloaf all the time in there, but I put it in one of the solid pans, never the basket.
Hi Patricia, you can spray the basket with cooking oil to help it not stick. I haven’t tried putting parchment down first but that might work well.
best homeburgers we ever had
I think it will be easy to make and yummy
Awesome burger!
So delicious and juicy…better than any restaurant burger!
Made these tonight, these burgers were SO good!! A big thank you!
Excellent, fast & yummy!
Holy smokes. This couldn’t have been easier. The juiciest and best homemade burger I have ever made. And bonus points for air fryer, I use that thing for EVERYTHING. Thank you!
Good recipe
I tried this tonight simply because I had never done it before, it could not have been simpler, I always have a basic seasoning blend on the top of my burgers and not only did they stay on 100%, which in a pan would often fall off about 60%? They cooked perfectly they were juicy easy to flip with a pair of good gripping tongs, and just wonderful. On top of that I cooked four at once with no issue, I happen to have an air fryer toaster oven combo so the thing was big enough for it. This is amazing and I’m probably cooking my burgers this way from now on! It was foolproof!
The easiest most delicious burgers for a quick weekday dinner. I have made this with 80/20 and 90/10 both delicious.
I’m assuming the nutritional value does not include the bun?
The nutritional information includes a hamburger bun estimated at 120 calories, 22 g carbs, 2g fat. This will vary based on the size or brand you purchase.
Need something so they bind together.
They’ll hold together just fine without a binder but you can add something if you’d like.
best burger ever.
I will never pan fry a cheese burger again, Thanks for sharing ✌
Can you do this recipe still with 70/30? I know it’s not as lean, and may cause extra grease.. is it safe for the air fryer? Thank you for sharing, I’ve been looking for a quicker way to make every meal for my family of 6 faster. I appreciate this so much!
It should be safe but it may cause some more shrinkage than expected and more grease.
I have two air fryers. I use one almost exclusively for greasy food (it just works out that way) and have never had any issues. You need to be reasonably sure you have enough of a catch to hold the grease but it’s otherwise no different from anything else.
But as OP said, you will experience a lot more shrinkage. Personally, I make my patties with some bread crumbs so 90/10 is ideal for something like this since the bread will absorb grease.
I am curious about how 96/4 (expensive! and I don’t see it often) would work…
how can I get my burger to stop shrinking? they go in normal size but come out like a hockey puck
That will have to with the type of ground beef you are using. Leaner ground beef will have less fat and water in it and in turn shrink less when cooking. I hope that helps!
Freeze it first. Mine are almost always premade and frozen (I’m way too lazy to make them as I want them!) and there’s a lot less shrinkage.
We got to a blistering heat outside of 8 degrees celcius here in the Niagara region of Canada Lol! So I wanted a barbequed burger so badly. Of course, by dinner time it was dark and cold out there so I used this recipe, as I find a panfried burger doesn’t compare to bbq. This recipe came very close, I think I left the burgers in a minute or two to long, that’s on me. But very tasty and satisfying!
Anything above 0° is bbq weather in my eyes, but I’m glad the air fryer method was just as delish, Lois!
My son just told me that this was the best burger I have ever made. That makes this mom SO happy!
Great help.. thanks
The recipe was OK. However, the blah blah blah was overwhelming! It took me longer to read through the recipe than it did to actually make it. I’m sure Holly is a great cook unfortunately, not so great as a writer.
You can use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post to get right to the recipe. The blah blah blah is information about the recipe for those that need it but feel free to skip past.
Thank you! Perfect.
Love your grace to this rude remark!
that was uncalled for….
The recipe was great! You however are a putz. Holly was too nice to you.
🙄