How To Grill Hamburgers On Pellet Grill? (With Video)

Who doesn’t love eating hamburgers? You can add cheese, bacon, jalapeños, and etc. Everyone loves them and the best part is they don’t take very long and they taste amazing when you grill them on a pellet grill.

Today, I’m going to share how to grill hamburgers on a pellet grill that will have a great smoky flavor!

how to grill hamburgers on a pellet grill

How To Grill Hamburgers On A Pellet Grill?

Choose a high-quality beef prep the beef before turning on the grill. You can buy pre-formed patties, but I prefer to make my own. Season them with salt and pepper or whatever spices you want. To grill the burgers, you’ll cook them on the grill at 400℉ – 450℉.

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Sounds easy right?

Well, it is and I’m going to share the exact process I used to grill burgers on my wood pellet grill.

These tips work for any pellet grill, even if you’re not cooking on a Pit Boss!

But first, here are some quick tips if you’re in a hurry to use your wood pellet smoker. If you don’t have a smoker grill yet, be sure to check out some of the best smoker grills on the market to find the right one.

If you prefer to watch our video of grilling a hamburger on the Pit Boss, you can do so here.

Tips for Grilling A Burger On A Wood Pellet Smoker

There are a few things to keep in mind when grilling a burger on a wood pellet smoker.

These are the most important tips to keep in mind:

  1. Set the temperature to 400 – 450 degrees. You still get the great smoky flavor. Here’s how to smoke the burgers, if you prefer to cook them at a low and slow speed and want the smoke ring.
  2. It’s completely normal for the burger to have a reddish color as it cooks.
  3. Don’t touch the barrel lid as it gets really hot when you’re grilling. I burnt myself the first time I used my Pit Boss.
  4. Use a meat thermometer so you know when your burger is done to your desired doneness. Cutting into the burger will let the juices escape and will cause the burger to be dry.
  5. Don’t forget to run the natural burn off after cooking the burgers or anytime you use the grill.

If you prefer more step by step tutorials, then keep reading.

Seasoning The Patties

Rub Some Burger Seasoning
Season the hamburgers with your favorite seasoning.

I chose to season ours with a Burger & Fry seasoning called “Rub Some Burger” that I picked up at Lowe’s when we picked up an accessory for the beer can chicken we’re cooking this weekend.

If you want to try the same rub I used, you can get it here on Amazon.

Once you’ve seasoned your hamburgers, it’s time to go outside and turn on the grill.

Before you turn on the smoker, you want to make sure that it has plenty of pellets to complete the job.

Best Pellets To Use For Hamburgers?

competition blend Pit Boss wood pellets
We love using the competition blend for grilling hamburgers.

At the time of this writing, we only have the Apple and Competition hardwood pellets available to use.

We’ve already used the grill to cook a Boston butt, ribeyes, hamburgers, steaks, and chicken drumettes and have cooked everything with the competition blend.

When we cooked the Boston butt, we experimented with the Apple wood chips, but really couldn’t tell a difference in the flavor.

Now, we prefer to use the Competition blend because it works great for all types of meat and vegetables.

Whatever flavor you choose, just make sure your Pit Boss doesn’t run out of pellets while cooking.

Preheating The Pit Boss

Turn on your wood pellet smoker and turn the temperature controller to 400℉ – 450℉. It’ll take about 5 minutes for the grill to warm up.

Once it’s reached the proper temperature, it’s time to put the burgers on the grill.

If you’re only cooking a few hamburgers, I recommend just cooking them on the bottom rack. They’re closer to the flame and will come out with that great smoky flavor!

How Long To Cook Hamburgers On A Pit Boss Pellet Grill?

seasoned hamburger patties
Cook the burgers for about 2 minutes on each side.

Set the timer on your phone for two minutes. Once the timer goes off, you’ll want to flip the burger and set the timer again for another two minutes. In total, it takes about 4 minutes to cook a burger on the Pit Boss wood pellet grill when grilling at 400℉ – 450℉.

It doesn’t take long to cook a burger on a wood pellet smoker.

The first time we cooked hamburgers, we actually overcooked them. We left them on the grill for 3 minutes on each side and they were overcooked, according to our liking.

How long it takes to cook a burger will depend on several different factors:

  • The thickness of the patty.
  • How do you prefer the patty to be cooked? (rare, medium-rare, and etc.)
  • Grill temperature.
  • The outside temperature.

Checking The Meat

Speaking of how long to cook a burger. If this is your first time cooking with a pellet grill, you want to make sure you have a meat temperature to know when the meat is done.

I’ve cooked hamburgers a few times already, so I know that my burgers are to my liking at 4 minutes.

Here’s a table that shows the preferred internal temperatures for meat, based on the recommendations of the USDA.

Beef & LambInternal Temperature
Rare120 125℉
Medium Rare130 – 135℉
Medium140 – 145℉
Medium Well150 – 155℉
Well Done160-165℉

According to the USDA, the minimum way to eat a hamburger is well done or 160 F/71 C. The Pit Boss comes with a thermometer you can use, without having to buy one.

Personally, I hate well done hamburgers because they are too dry. I prefer some pink in my burgers like this.

medium rare hamburgers
We prefer our hamburgers medium rare which is an internal temperature of 130 – 135℉.

This is the great thing about cooking your own burgers at home, you can cook them the way you want. Some restaurants won’t serve medium well burgers.

Resting Period

Once the burgers are done, remove them from the grill and let them rest for 3-5 minutes in foil. This is the hard part for me, especially, if I’m hungry.

According to Cooks Illustrated, the resting process allows the proteins to relax, which allows some of the juices to stay in the meat.

Natural Burn Off Process

After every cook, you want to do a natural burn off to help clean up the grill. Turn the temperature up to 500℉ and close the lid.

Set your phone to 5 minutes and just let the smoker so it can cook off any remnants from the cook. Once the timer goes off, you can turn off the smoker and let it cool down before covering it with the cover.

What To Serve With Homemade Hamburgers?

The great thing about burgers, you can serve them with pretty much anything. You can do homemade french fries, potato chips, side salad, beans or anything you want.

We ate ours with french fries!

You can even cook bacon and put it on your burgers.

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