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I have 40 pounds of decent quality beef patties (75/25) which came from the store as patties and I want to use it for something other than merely burgers.

How can I take a frozen beef patty and turn it into meatballs, meat sauce for pasta, chili, or other recipes which call for ground beef?

Anastasia Zendaya
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seasonedaddict
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    Thaw and use in alternate application? Not sure what you are asking, really. – moscafj Feb 03 '21 at 22:32
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    @moscafj Can that be done though? Can I simply thaw and tear apart like ground beef? For store-bought frozen patties? I haven't done it before, that's why I'm wondering if I can get a similar result as ground beef. – seasonedaddict Feb 03 '21 at 22:34
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    Why not? If it is just ground beef formed into a patty, you can thaw it and do anything you want with it. – moscafj Feb 03 '21 at 22:35
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    @moscafj will it come to a similar result? How should I take it apart? Tear it by hand? – seasonedaddict Feb 03 '21 at 22:37
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    How would you normally handle ground beef? I'm not trying to be flippant....it's ground beef, just formed into a patty. Once thawed, it should come apart fairly easily. – moscafj Feb 03 '21 at 22:39
  • @moscafj store bought patties are like hockey pucks. It's not patties like you make from ground beef. These patties are one solid piece. It was probably never ground beef, as the original beef was probably pulverized and extruded into a hockey puck shape using industrial machines. – seasonedaddict Feb 04 '21 at 18:02
  • Since you have 40 pounds, maybe you can move one from the freezer to the refrigerator, allow it to thaw, trying breaking it apart and using it for an other application, and then answering your own question. We do encourage questioners to answer their own questions here. It seems like a simple experiment worth trying. – moscafj Feb 04 '21 at 19:52

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If the patties are just ground beef, then use them the same way you'd use any other ground beef; pull it apart with your hands or break it up with a spoon or spatula in the pot.

It may be that your burgers include other ingredients for flavour, in which case those other ingredients will also be in whatever you make, but they shouldn't significantly affect the cooking.

Some burger patties could include things like egg or breadcrumbs for binding and to bulk up the mixture, but it doesn't sound like that's the case from your description. If that is the case, then they will still work fine for things like meatballs but might make something like chilli have an odd texture.

dbmag9
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  • They're not ground beef. These are store bought patties. – seasonedaddict Feb 04 '21 at 18:02
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    That explanation isn't very specific; in a UK supermarket 'decent quality beef burgers' would mean primarily beef mince (ground beef) with a few ingredients for flavour. Look at the ingredients list to see which of the three parts of my answer apply; I'm fairly sure at least one will. – dbmag9 Feb 04 '21 at 21:09
  • In the US, it basically means a hockey puck made out of meat with no additional added flavoring. Looks factory made and one piece, not like ground beef made into a patty. More like a machine pulverized and liquified it and poured it into a form to make a hockey puck shape. – seasonedaddict Feb 11 '21 at 23:00