How-To Guides

How to BBQ Steak Burgers

By
Four steak burgers cooking on a barbecue grill, with visible grill marks and a smoky char

Swaledale Steak Burgers BBQ Cooking Time

How to BBQ Steak Burgers: A summertime staple, Swaledale’s Steak Burgers are made for the barbecue — incredibly tender, packed with rich, umami flavour, and expertly blended from four dry-aged cuts of grass-fed beef. Whether you’re cooking for a crowd or indulging in a weekend treat, they’re guaranteed to deliver.

As a rough guide, barbecue your steak burgers for around 3 minutes on each side over direct heat for a perfect medium-rare finish. Aim for a high heat to develop a proper sear and that irresistible charred crust that defines a great BBQ burger.

Want yours cooked medium or well-done? Simply leave them on the grill for an extra minute or two per side — but always resist the urge to press the burger, which forces out those precious juices.

Pair with toasted buns, melted cheese, and a punchy sauce like Henry Harris’ Aioli for the ultimate BBQ steak burger experience.

The Best Way to BBQ Steak Burgers

  1. Let your steak burger patties sit at room temperature for 20–30 minutes before cooking — this takes the chill off and encourages even cooking.
  2. Lightly rub both sides of the burger with olive oil, then season generously with sea salt and cracked black pepper — treat it like a good steak.
  3. Make sure your barbecue is properly hot before you start. The patties should sizzle on contact, forming that all-important seared crust. If using charcoal, which we recommend for added depth of flavour, wait until the coals have burned down to an even grey-white glow — this is the sweet spot for consistent heat and gentle wood smoke (which we like to think of as a seasoning in its own right).
  4. Place your steak burgers directly over the heat and flip every minute or so to prevent burning and promote an even cook.
  5. Cook for approximately 4–6 minutes total, or until deeply golden and lightly charred on both sides.
  6. Once cooked to your liking, remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. This lets the juices redistribute for a juicier, more flavourful burger. For best results, rest the burger inside your toasted bun — it’ll catch any delicious juices as they escape.

Top Tips for Barbecuing the Perfect Steak Burger

Start with high heat
Make sure your coals or gas BBQ are properly heated before adding the burgers. A ripping-hot grill is essential for achieving a rich crust and that unmistakable charred flavour.

Avoid pressing the patty
Don’t press down on the burger while cooking — you’ll squeeze out the delicious juices and fat that keep it succulent. Let the heat do the work.

Flip more than once
Flipping your steak burger every 30–60 seconds can lead to a more even cook and better crust development. Just make sure you’re not flipping too early — wait until the patty naturally releases from the grill.

Melt your cheese properly
If you’re making cheeseburgers, add your cheese just before the end of cooking. Covering the burger with an upturned metal bowl or pan traps the heat and melts the cheese evenly.

Toast your buns
Brush the cut sides with melted butter, olive oil, or mayonnaise, and toast face-down on the grill for about 10 seconds. This adds both flavour and structural integrity.

Let it rest
Give your steak burger a 2–3 minute rest before serving — just like you would a good steak. It keeps the juices locked in and ensures every bite is as flavourful as the last.

Sauce smartly
A well-made sauce is the unsung hero of any great burger. Try Henry Harris’ Aioli — rich, garlicky, and perfect for spreading on a toasted bun. It pairs beautifully with the umami depth of our steak burgers.

Build with balance
Stack smart: lettuce under the patty to catch juices, cheese melted onto the burger for cohesion, and tangy toppings like pickles or slaw on top to cut through the richness.

Order meat online

Jorge hails from the Black Mountains where he grew up surrounded by hardy, native livestock. His passion for cookery was sparked by his upbringing, but developed and intensified alongside his respect for British breeds, and zeal for nose-to-tail eating.

In 2009 trained chef Jorge launched Swaledale in Haworth, and took his native-breed led whole-carcass butchery philosophy to high profile restaurateurs. Jorge is a passionate procurer and hanger of meat, and is keen to showcase the sublime taste and texture that comes from ageing, higher fat content, and an older carcass. Jorge proudly invests in native-breeds, as maintaining their market demand is crucial to their very survival.

Jorge studied Creative Writing at Leeds University, and is a former Welsh athletics champion. He lives with his wife, ceramicist Amy Thomas, and their three children – Fynn, Bea, and Matilda – on a remote grouse moor in West Yorkshire.

Instagram

  • Always good to welcome chefs to the butchery. Earlier this week the teams from @llewelynslondon came up to see us. We showed them around the cutting room, talked through how we work, then headed up the hill for a bit of cooking and conversation. For many chefs it is the first chance to see the whole journey. From the farms and fields where the animals are raised, through our ageing rooms, and finally into the kitchens that cook it. If you are a chef and fancy a visit this year, you would be very welcome. Send us a message and we will put the kettle on.
  • March sits between seasons. Winter has not quite loosened its grip, and there is still time, and need, for fortifying pleasures. A bowl of chicken broth is one of them. It begins with a proper chicken stock. Just bones and time in the pot, slowly giving up their flavour until the liquid runs clear and deeply savoury. If you watched our earlier film on how to break down a whole chicken, this is where the rest of it finds its purpose. From there the broth is built. Pearl barley for substance. Cavolo nero and turnips for the season. Simple things, allowed to do their work in good stock. Just before serving, a small splash of oloroso lifts the whole bowl.
  • British Pie Week, apparently. We do not usually pay much attention to themed food weeks. We prefer to make and sell things when they feel right. This year is different, thanks to our growing friendship with Yorkshire chef and pie obsessive Josh Whitehead, and his excellent pie project, Finer Pleasures. Josh started @finer_pleasures in 2023 to make pies the way they should be made. Proper fillings, local meat and traditional methods. So we thought we would join in. The pie is a classic. Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom. Brined chicken, smoked ham hock and a rich velouté finished with herbs, mustard and chestnut mushrooms or leeks. A proper pie. Available this week while they last.
  • It’s easy to become disconnected with the restaurants and kitchens where our meat ends up being prepped, cooked and served. Whilst Instagram can give us a certain understanding of how the food looks; we all know that there is no substitute for experiencing it first-hand. And that is what we had the pleasure of doing this week at the Canton Arms. One of London’s great pubs and one of our oldest, most significant customers. We have been suppling them with exceptional meat since nearly the very beginning of the Swaledale journey. Last night was a moment to celebrate that relationship in all its glory; our meat and their cooking and outstanding hospitality coming together for what was a grand evening. We ate, we drank, we chatted in a room that was alive. Long may dining rooms like this thrive and continue to provide people with a space to consume food, booze and hospitality in such a joyous way. It was a special night for us, and we hope for everyone who was there. Thanks to @chargieb , @cantontrish, @petea25 and the @cantonarms team for being total legends xx Ps sorry for not getting any decent pics of the food! Was having too much fun.
  • We have all seen the videos. A chicken arrives. Five neat strokes of a knife. It falls apart as if by magic. That comes from thirty years at the block. Most of us do not have that. So here is a slightly more Radio 4 approach. A calm, sensible way to take a good chicken and break it down at home. Nothing flashy. Just understanding the joints, working with the bone, and giving each part the respect it deserves. When you do that, you open up a week (almost) of meals. Breasts cooked one way. Legs another. A carcass that becomes stock rather than waste. More on that to follow. The only things you truly need are a great chicken and a proper knife. Ours is a beautiful honsuki knife kindly supplied by @kitchenprovisions and it does the job expertly. Sharp. Balanced. Delightful. Watch along as @grylos talks it through.
  • Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
  • Kindred spirits. Hot pans. Spiced mutton. Swaledale x Canton Arms supper. Wednesday 25 February. To book email Thecantonarms@gmail.com @cantonarms
  • Winter and its cold hands have us fully in a tight embrace right now. And so we find ourselves cooking more often than not, to warm our souls. A ham at the weekend is one such thing that does the job. It can be used for all kinds of dishes and provide your weekdays with a plethora of fine sandwiches. But this fine cut also produces something else. An excellent, warming stock that should not be thrown away. In fact, it should be used to make something just as special. A deep, hearty split pea and ham soup. And here is @grylos showing you how to do it. Like most things, if you cook with time and consideration, the by-product is often just as good as the main event.
Always good to welcome chefs to the butchery. Earlier this week the teams from @llewelynslondon came up to see us. We showed them around the cutting room, talked through how we work, then headed up the hill for a bit of cooking and conversation. For many chefs it is the first chance to see the whole journey. From the farms and fields where the animals are raised, through our ageing rooms, and finally into the kitchens that cook it. If you are a chef and fancy a visit this year, you would be very welcome. Send us a message and we will put the kettle on.
Always good to welcome chefs to the butchery. Earlier this week the teams from @llewelynslondon came up to see us. We showed them around the cutting room, talked through how we work, then headed up the hill for a bit of cooking and conversation. For many chefs it is the first chance to see the whole journey. From the farms and fields where the animals are raised, through our ageing rooms, and finally into the kitchens that cook it. If you are a chef and fancy a visit this year, you would be very welcome. Send us a message and we will put the kettle on.
Always good to welcome chefs to the butchery. Earlier this week the teams from @llewelynslondon came up to see us. We showed them around the cutting room, talked through how we work, then headed up the hill for a bit of cooking and conversation. For many chefs it is the first chance to see the whole journey. From the farms and fields where the animals are raised, through our ageing rooms, and finally into the kitchens that cook it. If you are a chef and fancy a visit this year, you would be very welcome. Send us a message and we will put the kettle on.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Always good to welcome chefs to the butchery. Earlier this week the teams from @llewelynslondon came up to see us. We showed them around the cutting room, talked through how we work, then headed up the hill for a bit of cooking and conversation. For many chefs it is the first chance to see the whole journey. From the farms and fields where the animals are raised, through our ageing rooms, and finally into the kitchens that cook it. If you are a chef and fancy a visit this year, you would be very welcome. Send us a message and we will put the kettle on.
5 days ago
49
View on Instagram |
1/8
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
March sits between seasons. Winter has not quite loosened its grip, and there is still time, and need, for fortifying pleasures. A bowl of chicken broth is one of them. It begins with a proper chicken stock. Just bones and time in the pot, slowly giving up their flavour until the liquid runs clear and deeply savoury. If you watched our earlier film on how to break down a whole chicken, this is where the rest of it finds its purpose. From there the broth is built. Pearl barley for substance. Cavolo nero and turnips for the season. Simple things, allowed to do their work in good stock. Just before serving, a small splash of oloroso lifts the whole bowl.
7 days ago
932
View on Instagram |
2/8
British Pie Week, apparently. We do not usually pay much attention to themed food weeks. We prefer to make and sell things when they feel right. This year is different, thanks to our growing friendship with Yorkshire chef and pie obsessive Josh Whitehead, and his excellent pie project, Finer Pleasures. Josh started @finer_pleasures in 2023 to make pies the way they should be made. Proper fillings, local meat and traditional methods. So we thought we would join in. The pie is a classic. Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom. Brined chicken, smoked ham hock and a rich velouté finished with herbs, mustard and chestnut mushrooms or leeks. A proper pie. Available this week while they last.
British Pie Week, apparently. We do not usually pay much attention to themed food weeks. We prefer to make and sell things when they feel right. This year is different, thanks to our growing friendship with Yorkshire chef and pie obsessive Josh Whitehead, and his excellent pie project, Finer Pleasures. Josh started @finer_pleasures in 2023 to make pies the way they should be made. Proper fillings, local meat and traditional methods. So we thought we would join in. The pie is a classic. Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom. Brined chicken, smoked ham hock and a rich velouté finished with herbs, mustard and chestnut mushrooms or leeks. A proper pie. Available this week while they last.
British Pie Week, apparently. We do not usually pay much attention to themed food weeks. We prefer to make and sell things when they feel right. This year is different, thanks to our growing friendship with Yorkshire chef and pie obsessive Josh Whitehead, and his excellent pie project, Finer Pleasures. Josh started @finer_pleasures in 2023 to make pies the way they should be made. Proper fillings, local meat and traditional methods. So we thought we would join in. The pie is a classic. Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom. Brined chicken, smoked ham hock and a rich velouté finished with herbs, mustard and chestnut mushrooms or leeks. A proper pie. Available this week while they last.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
British Pie Week, apparently. We do not usually pay much attention to themed food weeks. We prefer to make and sell things when they feel right. This year is different, thanks to our growing friendship with Yorkshire chef and pie obsessive Josh Whitehead, and his excellent pie project, Finer Pleasures. Josh started @finer_pleasures in 2023 to make pies the way they should be made. Proper fillings, local meat and traditional methods. So we thought we would join in. The pie is a classic. Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom. Brined chicken, smoked ham hock and a rich velouté finished with herbs, mustard and chestnut mushrooms or leeks. A proper pie. Available this week while they last.
2 weeks ago
56
View on Instagram |
3/8
It’s easy to become disconnected with the restaurants and kitchens where our meat ends up being prepped, cooked and served. Whilst Instagram can give us a certain understanding of how the food looks; we all know that there is no substitute for experiencing it first-hand. And that is what we had the pleasure of doing this week at the Canton Arms. One of London’s great pubs and one of our oldest, most significant customers. We have been suppling them with exceptional meat since nearly the very beginning of the Swaledale journey. Last night was a moment to celebrate that relationship in all its glory; our meat and their cooking and outstanding hospitality coming together for what was a grand evening. We ate, we drank, we chatted in a room that was alive. Long may dining rooms like this thrive and continue to provide people with a space to consume food, booze and hospitality in such a joyous way. It was a special night for us, and we hope for everyone who was there. Thanks to @chargieb , @cantontrish, @petea25 and the @cantonarms team for being total legends xx Ps sorry for not getting any decent pics of the food! Was having too much fun.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
It’s easy to become disconnected with the restaurants and kitchens where our meat ends up being prepped, cooked and served. Whilst Instagram can give us a certain understanding of how the food looks; we all know that there is no substitute for experiencing it first-hand. And that is what we had the pleasure of doing this week at the Canton Arms. One of London’s great pubs and one of our oldest, most significant customers. We have been suppling them with exceptional meat since nearly the very beginning of the Swaledale journey. Last night was a moment to celebrate that relationship in all its glory; our meat and their cooking and outstanding hospitality coming together for what was a grand evening. We ate, we drank, we chatted in a room that was alive. Long may dining rooms like this thrive and continue to provide people with a space to consume food, booze and hospitality in such a joyous way. It was a special night for us, and we hope for everyone who was there. Thanks to @chargieb , @cantontrish, @petea25 and the @cantonarms team for being total legends xx Ps sorry for not getting any decent pics of the food! Was having too much fun.
3 weeks ago
1514
View on Instagram |
4/8
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
We have all seen the videos. A chicken arrives. Five neat strokes of a knife. It falls apart as if by magic. That comes from thirty years at the block. Most of us do not have that. So here is a slightly more Radio 4 approach. A calm, sensible way to take a good chicken and break it down at home. Nothing flashy. Just understanding the joints, working with the bone, and giving each part the respect it deserves. When you do that, you open up a week (almost) of meals. Breasts cooked one way. Legs another. A carcass that becomes stock rather than waste. More on that to follow. The only things you truly need are a great chicken and a proper knife. Ours is a beautiful honsuki knife kindly supplied by @kitchenprovisions and it does the job expertly. Sharp. Balanced. Delightful. Watch along as @grylos talks it through.
4 weeks ago
652
View on Instagram |
5/8
Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
1 month ago
511
View on Instagram |
6/8
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Kindred spirits. Hot pans. Spiced mutton. Swaledale x Canton Arms supper. Wednesday 25 February. To book email Thecantonarms@gmail.com @cantonarms
1 month ago
1546
View on Instagram |
7/8
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Winter and its cold hands have us fully in a tight embrace right now. And so we find ourselves cooking more often than not, to warm our souls. A ham at the weekend is one such thing that does the job. It can be used for all kinds of dishes and provide your weekdays with a plethora of fine sandwiches. But this fine cut also produces something else. An excellent, warming stock that should not be thrown away. In fact, it should be used to make something just as special. A deep, hearty split pea and ham soup. And here is @grylos showing you how to do it. Like most things, if you cook with time and consideration, the by-product is often just as good as the main event.
1 month ago
14516
View on Instagram |
8/8