This Store-Bought Seasoning Will Take Your Burger Game To The Next Level

There is nothing like a big, juicy burger, seasoned with little more than salt and pepper, and cooked to medium rare over an open flame. Except for maybe a smash burger, or a double, with tons of melted American cheese. Or one of those towering novelty numbers you need to either unhinge your jaw to actually eat or resort to using a knife and fork like Batman. For the tremendous amount of burgers most people will consume in a lifetime, there are even more ways to dress them up, down, and in-between, or at least change up their flavor with a supermarket staple.

Ranch seasoning, for example, has way more applications than as a salad dressing starter. It can be applied virtually anywhere a little zip is in order, including those hand-crafted patties that you make at home. Whether you're grilling them outdoors, cooking them in a cast iron skillet, or — gasp! — baking them in the oven, preparing flavorful ranch burgers is as easy as tearing open a pouch of seasoning from the grocery store. Plus all the other steps you must take for consistent burger success, of course.

Mixing up your burgers with ranch — just not too much

The first thing you want to do when incorporating a new seasoning is to taste it. Just try a little bit on the tip of a spoon to make sure that it meets your salt and heat requirements. Ranch seasoning skews a bit salty, but it isn't what most people would consider peppery, leaning more toward tangy and herbaceous, so you may want to pull back on the former and add a few more shakes of the latter when seasoning your ground beef for hamburgers.

As always, refrain from overmixing the meat, which is one of the biggest mistakes people make when cooking burgers. Loosely incorporated ground beef with a 20% fat to 80% lean ratio is best for ideal flavor and rendering makes for a tender, juicy burger. Only combine with a few twirls of the spatula until the seasoned meat will hold as loosely formed patties that stay intact. And keep those flips to a minimum if you're looking to create a nice sear; the meat must kiss the hot metal for a bit to develop a notable crust. And, being that ranch burgers hark back to big bowls of veggies, these are great to serve with perky tomatoes and crisp lettuce.

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