"Burger Men" patties on a cast iron skillet with American cheese Overalls.

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OK, I have to share how these fun burger patties came about. If you honestly don’t want all the fun details you can jump to the Details Part or

It was a Friday night and my husband and I were hanging out at a friend’s house. At some point, it was decided burgers were going to be made. Apparently… earlier that day our friend Beth wanted to buy a burger patty maker which she ended up not getting. I wasn’t there for that part so that’s all I really have on that. But either way… Since she didn’t have this patty maker, she decided she would make burgers out of a cookie cutter. Trying to figure out the shape to use we all thought a gingerbread man cookie cutter was a fantastic idea. She and I even made cheese overalls and ketchup bow ties. We all agreed that Burger “Meat Men” was a fantastic thing. Honestly… It was delicious and fun.

My dear friend Beth holding a burger man

Image of the burgers cooking with American Cheese overalls

Finsihed burger man has cheese overalls and a ketchup bow-tie

Of course, this needed to be documented… so I went back and recreated it, but with a circle cutter. Honestly… now that I’ve done it this way… I may never go back to mashing burger meat into a patty. It wasn’t more time. I actually handled the burgers far less than when I patty them and my burgers were perfect sizes! Also for those of you who hate touching meat… this is for you, it’s very minimal.

Really you can use any cookie you want. Hence the burger men. For round burger patties, I have a set of round cookie cutters that are different size circles. I love this set. I use it for everything from scones to biscuits to now, burgers!

I recommend going a size just a little bigger than the buns. Your burgers will shrink due to the fat mixed into the burgers. In the images below in the “Making Burger Pattie Details” I used the 4.1-inch diameter round.

Making Burger Patties Details

Here is the gist of the process itself, I included photos just in case you needed more detail. Don’t need this part? Skip over to the recipe.

There are two ways you can do this. Roll the meat out then cut out each shape. Or using the cookie cutter as a mold, smash the meat into the cutter.

Rolling out the Meat

To start, I took burger meat (I have to defrost mine first because I get mine from half a cow that we buy from a local butcher).
Then, on a piece of parchment paper, I push all the meat together into a cohesive lump so that it doesn’t fall apart (your meat might come from the grocery store and may already be in a good state where you can skip this part, mine are in tubes so I have to mash it together).
Next, cover with another piece of parchment paper and roll out to about 1/4 of an inch or the thickness of your cookie cutter. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be fairly even.

Ground beef in-between to pieces of parchment paper. rolled out with a rolling pin.

burger meat rolled out and ready to be cut.

Now, you’re going to cut the meat. I personally didn’t have any problems doing it without freezing. If you find your meat isn’t staying together or the cookie cutter isn’t really cutting, freeze the meat for 15-20 minutes then cut.
Continue reading to see how to deal with leftover meat.”scraps”.

Pressing the cookie cutter into the ground beef rolled out.

the cutter pulled away from the ground beef. to show the patty being formed with the cutter.

Smashing the Meat into the Cutter

Take the meat, split it into equal amounts and smash it into the cookie cutter until it hits the edges. then pat around until the meat is an even thickness.

image of the cutter with small bunches of leftover meat.

smashing the meat into the cookie cutter.

getting ready to lift the cookie cutter after evening the out the meat to the shape of the cutter.

Finished product displayed. Perfectly round and flat.

burger patties finished on a pan ready to be cooked — Ready for the pan!

Cook or Freeze Burger Patties

Now that the burger patties are done, you can cook them or freeze them. I used a cast iron skillet and fish spatula (my go-tos for indoor burgers). Of course, if you are able to… grill them! You’ll want to season them before you cook them, I just used salt and pepper.

Burger patties in a hot skillet searing and cooking.

image of a fish spatula waiting for to flip the patties.

Burger patties flipped and cooked on one side.

You can also freeze them. I highly recommend lying them in one flat layer on a silicon mat and rimmed baking sheet. Freezing them for an hour. Then you can stack the patties on each other (still frozen). Store them in a freezer-safe bag (you can also use pieces of parchment paper to help keep them separate).

If you freeze ground beef and keep it frozen it will keep safe indefinitely. It is best if used within 4 months.

Image of our dinner with the burger patties I cut using the cookie cutters.

Let me know what you thought! Your star ratings with your comments are tremendously helpful! I love seeing friends and family come together over food. If you take a picture, tag me on Instagram or Facebook! Use @alwaysjennsmith & #alwaysjennsmith. You can also share it directly on the Pinterest Pin!

Cookie Cutter Burgers

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Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 6 (2.5 oz) patties 1x

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Description

Your kids (and YOU) are gonna love making burgers out of fun shapes. This also makes creating perfectly round burger patties even easier.

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 lb of ground beef (I recommend 80/20 for the best burgers, but you can also use ground turkey or chicken.)
Salt and pepper (this will be to preference)
any other seasoning you may like.

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

To start, I took burger meat (I have to defrost mine because I get mine from my half a cow I buy from a local butcher).
Then, on a piece of parchment paper, I push all the meat together into a cohesive lump so that it doesn’t fall apart ( you meat might come from the grocery store and may already be in a good state where you can skip this part, mine are in tubes so I have to mash it together).
Next, cover with another piece of parchament paper and roll out to about 1/4 of an inch or the thickness of your cookie cutter. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be fairly even.
Now, you’re going to cut the meat. I personally didn’t have any problems doing it without freezing, but if you find your meat isn’t stying together or the cookie cutter isn’t really cuttin, try freezing for 15-20 minutes then cut the meat.
check out Smashing the Meat into the Cutter to see how to deal with leftover meat.
Take the meat, split it into equal amounts and smash it into the cookie cutter until it hits the edges. then pat around until the meat is an even thickness.

Notes

*Cooking time will vary on you and how you like your burger.

Deciding Size

I recommend going a size just a little bigger than the buns because your burgers will shrink due to the fat mixed into the burgers. In the images below in the “Making Burger Details” I used the 4.1-inch diameter round.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Category: Bar Food, BBQ, Dinner, Main Course, Party Food, Picnic
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 192
Sodium: 51
Fat: 15
Saturated Fat: 6
Protein: 13
Cholesterol: 54

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