Alex Guarnaschelli’s 1-Ingredient Upgrade for the Juiciest Burgers

The humble burger is an important staple in our lives. At the McDonald’s drive-thru, as a go-to at your favorite restaurant, or anytime someone fires up the grill at a summer barbecue, eating a burger is always a great option. Plus, we likely all have some burger patties stashed in our fridge or freezer right now. 

Because they’re so universal, burgers seem like a simple meal to cook up for dinner (and they are, don’t worry), but there are always little tips and tricks that make them that much better. 

We’re constantly searching for new ways to take our already great foods to the next level—and with burgers, there are so many options.

Maybe you’re looking to make them juicer—like with Matthew McConaughey's recipe, which adds onion soup mix in the ground meat, or the Allrecipes community’s top pick, which includes evaporated milk—or to make the perfect smash burger (hint: use In-N-Out’s method). Whatever the case, there’s a hack for that. 

Recently, we learned a new method for juicy burgers that doesn’t include adding miscellaneous ingredients to your patties—which means you can use it for turkey burgers and even frozen patties, too. All you have to do is simply cook the burgers in chicken stock.

Alex Guarnaschelli's Trick for Juicy Burgers

Chef Alex Guarnaschelli swears by using chicken stock in her burger-cooking method. 

Don’t worry, you don’t cook the burgers in the liquid the whole time or “boil” them, but rather steam the nearly done burgers in the flavorful stock.

“Brown the burgers, put a splash of chicken stock, or even water, in the bottom and cover them for a few minutes. Let them steam a little bit and then put the cheese on and let them melt,” Guarnaschelli told Allrecipes in an interview about her partnership with Nutella to support local fire departments.

It’s well documented that the “Ciao House” judge has been making her turkey burgers this way for years. When the burgers are brown and almost finished cooking, she adds about one and a half cups of chicken stock to the pan, then simmers the burgers in the stock for a few minutes.

“This is the part that makes them 'extra specially' juicy,” she said on “The Kitchen.” “Most of that stock will cook down, it will emerge, but it also finishes cooking the turkey burgers."

She then adds the cheese—her choice is American—while the liquid is still piping hot, but the stove is off. “The steam from the liquid will melt the cheese,” Guarnaschelli explains.

The added moisture keeps your burger from drying out on the grill, but if you want to make it extra juicy and flavorful, Guarnaschelli has one more trick up her sleeve. 

She cooks the chicken broth down to act as a “homemade gravy” and then adds a few spoonfuls to the finished burger.

“Enough to add that last bit of juiciness but not so much that the bun is super soggy,” she said.

More Ways To Use Alex Guarnaschelli's Burger Hack

You’re likely already planning the next time you can try out this burger hack—but here’s the best part: it doesn’t just work for burgers. 

Guarnaschelli developed a souffle pancake recipe for Nutella’s Stacks for Giving Back campaign, which helps local fire departments with their pancake breakfast fundraisers, that uses a very similar trick.

After dropping the pancake batter on a hot griddle, Guarnaschelli covers the pancake and lets it steam low and slow for a few minutes. Obviously, there’s no chicken stock, but the steaming process works a similar magic.

“They get all floofy—they almost look like a very fluffy English muffin,” Guarnaschelli said.

Maybe the moral of the story here is that we should be steaming more foods for the best results.