This Simple Addition Turns Your Burger Into A Mouthwatering Masterpiece

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Cheese is among the most natural toppings for a beef patty, but it can also work wonders mixed into the meat. Take ricotta, which makes for a tender, impossibly juicy handheld that rivals the best restaurant burgers you can find. Even if you have a homemade burger recipe you swear by, this mouthwatering hack is worth a shot.

Ricotta cheese infuses the mince with plenty of moisture, making for a light, tender consistency. It's the same reason ricotta cheese is such a popular meatball ingredient, as it prevents the meat from turning out tough and dense. The cheese also acts as a binder for the burger (similar to egg and breadcrumbs in meatballs), so the patty will stay intact as it's eaten. 

Ricotta cheese impacts the taste of the burger as well. It offers richness and salty, savory goodness to the meat without overwhelming the flavor. Ricotta is naturally creamy and mild, so it has a big impact without being conspicuous. Mixing ricotta into burger meat bulks it up with additional volume and protein, allowing you to stretch the beef. This is a clever way to use leftover ricotta cheese (because we know there's a half-empty tub languishing in your fridge somewhere), and it can turn even the most classic ground beef recipes more drool-worthy.

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Experts suggest using anywhere from 2 tablespoons to ½ a cup – or even a full cup — of ricotta cheese per pound of ground beef. Chef Andrew Zimmern calls for 2 tablespoons of cheese in his turkey burger recipe, plus ¼ cup on top. BBC Food's Nigel Slater recommends a 1:2 ratio of ricotta to beef, along with briny capers and fresh rosemary.

To play up the indulgence, you could alternatively stuff the burgers with ricotta (and perhaps some mozzarella), Juicy Lucy-style,  instead of mixing them together. This way, it'll ooze out when you take a bite, for a photo-worthy presentation and supremely silky texture. As long as the beef is the main component, you can tinker with the amount of cheese because its effects are basically foolproof.

That said, the type of ricotta you use is important. Ricotta's luscious, hardy texture is courtesy of fat, and it'll hold its own better in the pan if it's made from whole milk, so use full-fat ricotta cheese instead of low-fat or fat-free. It may also help to include another binder in your burger meat, like egg, to help the mixture cling together. Finally, you should drain the ricotta as you would for lasagna before adding it to the meat, since the extra moisture could compromise the structure of the patty.