Thick and Juicy, these Instant Pot Hamburgers are the easiest weeknight dinner. Add all your favorite toppings and skip the drive-thru tonight.
Pair today’s hamburger recipe with a dish of our classic potato salad. Don’t forget to cook up your hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot too.
Instant Pot Hamburgers
I know you’re saying to yourself, “seriously, Aimee…why?”
I recently tried making hamburgers in the Instant Pot, and even though I rolled my eyes thinking, this is dumb…the result surprised me.
Tender, juicy, thick burgers with so much flavor.
Why make them in the Instant Pot?
- Flavorful
- Easy
- No Grease on stove top
- No BBQ grill to clean and prep
My family had no idea these juicy cheeseburgers came straight from the pressure cooker. They tasted like dad’s grilled burgers once they were piled high with all our favorite fixings!
How to Make Burgers in the Instant Pot
STEP 1. Prepare the burgers.
In a mixing bowl, combine lean ground beef with seasoning blend. I like to use McCormick steak seasoning. Use what you love.
I made 5 thick burgers with 2 pounds of meat. You do the math on that one. Needless to say they were a very nice sized patty!
Keep your patties the same size for even cooking!
Add some raw onion slices on top of each burger, if desired. My family doesn’t like onions, but it adds flavor during the cooking process (and you can take them off after if you desire).
Wrap each individual burger patty in foil, folding up the sides so that it is completely sealed. (you could also use parchment paper if you don’t want to use foil)
STEP 2. Pressure Cook.
Add one cup of water to the 6qt Instant Pot (2 cups to an 8qt). Place trivet in pot and stack patties in the pressure cooker.
Lock the lid in place and make sure the valve on top is set to “SEALING.”
Select HIGH PRESSURE for a cook time of 18 minutes. (My patties were very large, depending on the size of the burger, you can adjust this time).
After the cook time is done, do a quick release of pressure with the valve.
Carefully remove each foil patty with a pair of tongs.
If you want cheeseburgers, immediately top the warm burgers with cheese allowing it to melt.
Tips for Perfect Burgers
- Wrap individually in foil, making sure it’s secured
- Add your favorite seasoning to the burger meat
- If you want, top with cheese and place under a broiler to melt, and add a little texture to the burger
- If you want your burger a little pink in the center use less time!
What to Serve with Instant Pot Hamburgers
Typically my family has only made hamburgers for dinner in the summer, when we can pull out our grill. With today’s recipe, you can have delicious burgers any time of year!
If I’m feeling super lazy, we just serve our cheeseburgers with some potato chips. But here are some of our favorite toppings and sides:
- Crispy Bacon
- Cheddar Cheese
- Pimento Cheese Dip– spread this cheese on the warm burger!
- Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles
- Loaded Potato Salad
- Chinese Coleslaw
- Panera Mac and Cheese
You can also whip up a batch of Broccoli Tots while your burgers are cooking in the Instant Pot. My kids LOVE them!
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Instant Pot Hamburgers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 red onion sliced
- 2 Tablespoons McCormick steak seasoning mix
- 1 cup water
- Toppings: buns, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles, etc
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine lean ground beef with seasoning blend. I like to use McCormick steak seasoning. I made 5 thick burgers with 2 lbs of meat. Keep your patties the same size for even cooking!
- Add some raw onion slices on top of each burger, if desired. My family doesn’t like onions, but it adds flavor during the cooking process (and you can take them off after if you desire).
- Wrap each individual burger patty in foil, folding up the sides so that it is completely sealed.
- Add one cup of water to the 6qt Instant Pot (2 cups to an 8qt). Place trivet in pot and stack patties in the pressure cooker.
- Lock the lid in place and make sure the valve on top is set to “SEALING.”
- Select HIGH PRESSURE for a cook time of 18 minutes. (My patties were very large, depending on the size of the burger, you can adjust this time).
- After the cook time is done, do a quick release of pressure with the valve.
- Carefully remove each foil patty with a pair of tongs.
- If you want cheeseburgers, immediately top the warm burgers with cheese allowing it to melt.
Notes
- Top with cheese and place under a broiler to melt. Or just allow cheese to melt naturally from the warm burger.
- If you want your burger a little pink in the center use less time!
Nutrition
Instant Pot Hamburgers are a hassle free way to enjoy a thick and juicy burger without the mess. Delicious and easy!
I wish more recipes with meat would suggest ‘minutes per pound’ for those of us cooking smaller portions. It’s always very confusing how to adjust cooking times fie different sizes. I Google but there is not a lot of information on how to do that.
This idea is good if you are cooking for a lot of people. Grill still taste way batter tho. Also this is good to do if you will be adding more sauce later on, like this will work for Loco Moco where you put on top of rice and gravy and eggs.
Did this method when cooking for 16 people (2 patties per person), all by myself.
I would rather use the grill or stove top if cooking for smaller group… Better taste.
Thank your this recipe!! Definitely a good time hack!
This sounds yummy! We plan to make this soon! Which buns did you use? They look different and great!
Has anyone done these medium rare? That’s the only way we’ll eat burgers or steak in this house. Would 14 mins be enough to cook them?
Can you freeze them in the foil after and just take one out as needed?
I have done that and it worked fine.
Is there any way to do these with something other than aluminum foil, I try to never use aluminum.
You can wrap them in parchment paper!
Love how simple these are. I prefer to unwrap and put in skillet to brown both sides a bit, and melt cheese on them. Delish!
Could you make Beyond Burgers the same way?
What kind of cheese did you use? Looks delicious!
We made these with about a pound and a half of meat and the bottoms were pink even after we put back in IP for 8 more minutes. Any suggestions?
I would make sure that the seal is on correctly, the valve on top is in place and set to Sealing, and that high pressure was chosen. They definitely should not be pink!
I have the Pioneer Woman line of the instant pot, what setting do I need to use to be able to make this. I may have missed it in the recipe, but any help would be great.
I have a PW one too. I only use the manual setting, I have yet to use any of the other presets. 🙂 Most recipes will just tell you a time to use on high pressure, which is manual. Hope that helps!
I have a large family. So I will have more than 5 burgers. Do I need to increase the amount of cooking time?
I made these tonight & this recipe is a WINNER!! The burgers were super juicy & a nice brown color thanks to the seasoning I chose (all-purpose). My family was absolutely shocked when they found out that these burgers had spent ZERO time on the grill. This will be a regular in our household now!
I love to hear this 🙂
I would like to do this 1lb of meat and thin burgers. Any idea for well done on those?
I just did that with a pound of grass-fed beef. High pressure for 15 minutes for 5 patties.
If you’re making more (smaller/thinner) try 12 minutes. Then take one out and try it. If need be, bring back to pressure for 1 or 2 more minutes. Just beware: carefully open over a bowl as the grease pours out.
I am concerned with the fat that will be trapped in the foil.
In my opinion it helps keep em juicy.
Someone said to poke tiny holes in foil to allow for drainage.
Use a very lean ground beef, and drain the excess fat immediately.
What if you make less than 5 burgers, say 3 or 4? What is amount of time?
Same amount of cook time! Unless you make them thicker.
What about frozen beef patties (they’re a quarter pound each)? Would it work to cook from frozen and what would be the cook time? Thanks!
I use a couple of ingredients to improve on this:
1) I use Liquid Smoke to give it a grilled taste.
2) I add Worcestershire sauce to give the burgers a brown grilled look
Great tips!
Would this work for frozen patties as well?
I haven’t tried frozen patties, as I’m not a fan of their texture.
I love the pressure cooker burgers… I own the Ninja Foodi 6 and 8 quarts so when I’m done with pressure I then switch to the air fry lid and use the broil feature for a couple of minutes. Melt cheese. Perfect every time.
That’s awesome!
Do you put liquid smoke in with the water? And if so, how much?
These look delicious. I’m just confused as to how they look nicely browned as opposed to gray, as I would expect them to look in the IP.
They definitely have a grayish tinge. I think the brown bowl and brown cutting board trick our eyes a little bit 🙂
Are these well done? We prefer our burgers medium-rare.
These are well done. Do less time if you want medium-rare.