Cooking burgers for a crowd during your backyard barbecue can be stressful – especially if you’re trying to let everyone eat at the same time without the hamburgers and hot dogs getting cold. But it’s doable! These are my best tips for cooking burgers for a lot of people at one time on the griddle.
One of the best things about cooking on a griddle is that you can cook a large amount of food at once – and not have to wash 7 different pots and pans afterwards. But if you’re not familiar with cooking for a crowd, or if you’re a griddle beginner, then you may be nervous about manning the flat top grill by yourself while a line of hungry guests waits for you to finish grilling the burgers.
But if there’s one thing I know well, it’s how to cook for a long line of people! In fact, as a former US Navy cook I regularly prepared meals for thousands of people every single day. And as a restaurant chef, I grilled hundreds of burgers a night over an open flame.
So I’m going to help you nail your backyard barbecue, summer party, or family get-together with some tried-and-true tips! You’ll have hot and juicy burgers to serve your family, friends, or neighbors, even if you’re making 30 or 40 of them.
*And be sure to check out this post for 8 epic griddle burgers plus more tips for how to cook the best burgers on the Blackstone!
Supplies Needed
Cooking the best hamburgers for a large number of people requires a few basic supplies. Here’s what I recommend that you have on hand:
- aluminum foil pans or hotel pans – I like to buy the foil pans in bulk at Costco. The disposable pans are great for cooking side dishes, and you can also use them as melting domes in a pinch. My method for cooking for a crowd uses these pans as a warming station.
- wire cooling racks – These can also be used to create warming stations on the cooler zone of the griddle or grill.
- beef stock – My secret for keeping your burgers fresh and juicy!
- instant read meat thermometer – So you’re not having to guess on the internal temps of your burgers.
- parchment paper – Helpful for prepping your burger patties ahead of time.
- extra propane (or fuel source) – I always like to have an extra tank on hand, just in case the gauge is off. The last thing you want is to be mid-cook and run out of propane. For grilling, stock up on charcoal or wood pellets.
How to Cook Burgers for a Crowd
*These tips are focused on cooking burgers on a griddle, but many of the same ideas apply to using a grill as well.
Step 1: Clean your griddle or grill and check the grease trap.
For griddle cooking, be sure that your cooking surface is well-seasoned and free of rust before your party. You should also check the grease trap to make sure it’s empty. If you’re cooking burgers for a lot of people, you’ll have more grease funneling into the trap than normal, so you’ll also need to check it periodically during cooking to make sure you don’t have any spillover.
Burgers have a higher fat content, so keep grill flare-ups in mind if you’re cooking on a charcoal grill or pellet grill. Be sure to clean your grill out before the big day to remove any excess grease and empty the grease bucket.
Step 2: Plan your cooking space.
This step is a bit like a game of grilling Tetris – you need to determine how best your aluminum foil pans fit on your cooking surface. Before you even fire up the griddle or grill, you can place your empty pans on the griddle top to see how they fit best.
*CHEF’S TIP – I also suggest measuring your griddle or grill surface before you go to the store to buy foil pans… I learned the hard way that not every griddle will fit a full-size pan from front to back.
Depending on how many people you’re serving, plan for one medium or large foil pan for keeping the burgers warm, one smaller pan for sautéed peppers and/or onions, one for hot dog chili, and one for the hot water for holding the hot dogs.
You can also use your oven or pellet grill as a warming oven to keep foods warm while others cook.
Step 3: Mise en place your burger toppings.
Mise en place is a French cooking term that means “to put in place” or “gather”. In a commercial kitchen, the term refers to preparing all of your ingredients before you begin cooking. For burgers and hot dogs, this includes the following prep work:
- Slice onions and tomatoes for burger toppings.
- Wash and cut leaf lettuce.
- Lay out your cheese slices so they are easy to access. If using wrapped American cheese, you can go ahead and unwrap the slices, keeping the plastic piece in between each so they don’t stick together.
- Dish out pickles in a serving bowl.
- Take the foil seals off condiment bottles if they’re brand new.
After the veggies are prepped, I like to arrange them neatly on a serving platter and then plastic wrap the entire dish. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This can be done a few hours in advance or even the day before to save some time during your party.
Step 4: Pre-portion your ground beef.
Whether you’re making smash burgers or regular burgers, you’ll want to portion out and shape the ground beef ahead of time. You can portion the beef out up to 24 hours in advance to save some time and stress on the day of your party.
For regular burgers, you can use a burger press like my favorite Weber burger press to shape the patties. Then stack the patties with parchment paper rounds in between each, and store in an airtight container until ready to cook. *I highly recommend these parchment paper rounds for this!
For smash burgers, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup or a kitchen scale to make even balls that weight about 2.5-3 ounces each. Store the balls covered in the refrigerator until ready to use. *NOTE – I like to put my burger balls in a single layer on a large sheet tray and then cover well with plastic wrap to refrigerate. If you stack them, you’ll probably have to re-form them before cooking.
Step 5: Create cooking zones on your grill or griddle.
This is where a four burner griddle comes in handy!
You will need one area for medium-high temperatures to sear or grill the burgers (after they’ve been par-cooked), and a separate cooler zone for keeping food warm.
For griddle cooking, adjust one side of your griddle to medium or medium-high (depending on what type of flat top grill you have). The other side can be turned to low or even turned off – you should still get some residual heat from the other burners.
If you’re using a pellet grill or charcoal grill, set up an area for direct heat cooking, either directly over the fire pot or coals. You will probably need to use your oven or some steam tables as your warming station, as it’s more difficult to create cool zones inside the chamber of your grill or smoker.
Step 6: Set up a warming station.
This is a method that I learned as a cook in the US Navy – we regularly cooked burgers for thousands of hungry servicemen and women while on deployment, and this is how we did it. A method that works perfectly scaled down for your backyard barbecue.
Add about 1/4″ of beef stock or broth to the bottom of an aluminum foil pan. Add in a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce for flavor, or you can also add in a bit of minced garlic, thinly sliced onion, etc. Heat the beef stock in the pan until it’s warm, but not boiling.
*TIP – If you’re cooking a large number of burgers (like more than 25), then you will need to use a full size, longer steam pan for this method.
For your burger buns, have an insulated bag or a cooler nearby to keep your toasted and steamed buns warm for serving.
Step 7: Cook the burgers to medium rare, then hold in the warming station.
One of the biggest challenges of cooking burgers for a crowd is preventing the burgers from overcooking or drying out as you work through batches. But this par cooking and holding in beef broth method really works!
Once your pan of beef stock is hot, and about 30-45 minutes before service begins (depending on how many hamburgers you’re making), start to cook your burgers on the griddle. Be sure to season them at this point. BUT only cook them to medium rare, or about 120°F – there should still be some pink inside.
Then, transfer them to the waiting beef stock pan. I like to stack them up on a diagonal like this:
Keep the pan on the cooler side of your griddle so that it stays warm, and keep the foil lid on the pan as well. As the batches of medium rare burgers finish cooking, you can add them to the pan with the others.
Step 8: Toast the burger buns and keep warm.
Once the burgers are par cooked, toast the buns on the griddle. You can butter the hamburger buns before toasting for extra flavor, or just toast them dry to save time.
As the burger buns finish toasting, stack them with one bottom bun and one top bun and place them back in the plastic bag that they came in. Then place the bag of buns in an insulated bag to keep warm. This method gives you the best soft toasted AND steamed hamburger buns.
Step 9: Sear the burgers until done.
When ready to serve, return the medium rare burgers to the hot griddle for a quick finishing sear. *Now is the time to add cheese if you wish – sear quickly on the first side, and then flip to the second side and immediately add a slice of cheese as the burgers finish cooking.
Sear the burgers on both sides until they reach the final desired temperature. This method adds a beautiful crust, and since the burgers are already par cooked, they don’t take near as long to cook during your party.
Free Cooking for a Crowd Checklist
I know that this is a lot of information to digest, so I made a handy checklist to help you prepare for your summer barbecues when you’re cooking for a lot of guests.
It includes a checklist of common items that you’ll need to host a big gathering of people, as well as step-by-step instructions and my recommended method for cooking burgers and hot dogs for a crowd.
Click HERE for the Free “Flat Top Festivities” Checklist!
More Cooking Tips:
- Embrace high heat when needed – For cooking a larger volume of food, you may need to adjust the burners to high for searing the burgers and hot dogs, especially as the griddle temp dips from adding cold meat.
- Stagger batches – With multiple burgers and hot dogs on the griddle, you’ll need short pauses in between batches for the griddle to reheat.
- Clean as you go – Use those pauses to scrape the griddle down and maintain a great searing surface.
- Watch the grease trap – Cooking for a crowd means much more grease—empty traps frequently!
- Utensil safety – Avoid leaving metal or silicone utensils over active griddle burners to prevent burns.
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Thanks for the printable FLAT TOP festivities. Whenever I cook for a crowd I always forget something I’m constantly running back into the house to get it. With this I’ll have a check list before I start.
Thanks
Dan