Should You Season Burgers Before or After Grilling?

Whether you want to impress your friends at your next cookout or simply enjoy a delicious burger, here are a few key tips to help you achieve your burger goals.

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Having manned the grill at various restaurants over the years, I always thought I knew how to make the perfect burger. However, I was recently humbled at a cookout during which my man card was nearly revoked. A friend of mine wanted me to season our burgers before grilling, but I said I would season them afterward. My reasoning was that this is the way I was taught to do it while working in restaurants, and it's a habit I picked up along the way. As it turns out, it was a bad habit that I needed to drop.

When Is the Best Time to Season Your Burgers?

Now, I'm no stranger to pre-seasoning or marinating before grilling. Over the last few years, I've spent many hours slow-smoking meats to, dare I say, perfection. In fact, I got into the habit of dry brining my brisket at least 24 hours before smoking (it makes a big difference). That said, when it comes to just throwing burgers on a grill hot and fast, I've never worried about pre-seasoning. As I said before, it's just something I've never done or thought to do given my past experience.

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According to Food & Wine, the unofficial global authority on food culture, it is recommended that you season your burgers at least 30 minutes and up to two hours before cooking. Like pre-seasoning a brisket or anything else, this lets the salt and seasoning work their way into the meat before grilling. You can season pre-formed patties from the store or even add a spice mix to your own meat blend and form your own patties before grilling.

Other Helpful Tips for Making Delicious Burgers

Food & Wine offers a few other recommendations for those looking to take their burger game to the next level. For example, the website encourages folks to try chilling their burgers prior to grilling, so you get a bit more control over achieving a well-browned exterior before the interior goes too far. If you like pink or "medium" burgers, I would imagine this tip could help achieve those results.

Additionally, Food & Wine recommends letting your burgers "rest" following their time on the grill. The website claims those few minutes of resting time will allow the juices to redistribute throughout the burger and let carryover cooking finish the burger to the perfect temperature. This is something I normally do, but not by any real intent. After pulling my burgers off the grill, I generally take that time to get the buns and condiments ready or throw on another set of burgers.

My Final Thoughts on Pre-Seasoning Burgers

All of these tips sound great, but I feel a blind taste test is needed to determine if pre-seasoning your burgers beforehand really makes that big of a difference. Personally, I've never had an issue seasoning my burgers after cooking, especially because they're usually smothered between buttered brioche buns, ketchup, mustard, onion, and pickle. Either way, it looks like I'll be throwing some burgers on my grill in the near future.