Coles Finest Coarse Ground Angus Burgers earned the top score of 77%
The three frozen patties we included in our test scored lowest
Woolworths Chuck & Brisket Quarter Pound Beef Burgers was the only other product to earn a recommendation
When you’re after an easy meal that doesn’t require too much preparation, a pack of premade beef burgers, some buns and a salad make for a quick dinner that won’t cost a fortune. And judging by the number of different burger patty varieties available at our supermarkets, many of us are choosing this option when we’re short on time and inspiration.
To help you decide which beef patty deserves its place in your bun, we asked three experts to taste-test 14 different options available from the supermarket to help determine which one wins on flavour.
Of the 14 beef patties included in our blind taste test, two received a CHOICE Expert Rating of 70% or more, earning them recommended status.
The most expensive product (per kilogram) in our review – the Coles Finest Coarse Ground Angus Burgers – earned the top score of 77%. The only other patty to be recommended was the Woolworths Chuck & Brisket Quarter Pound Beef Burgers, which scored 70%.
Coles Finest Coarse Ground Angus Burgers
CHOICE Expert Rating: 77% Price per 300g pack: $9.00 Patties per pack: 2 Price per kg: $30
Experts say:
“Raw product has a great overall appearance, and it looks nice and natural with evident fat. The cooked product has a very balanced, mild beef flavour.”
CHOICE Expert Rating: 70% Price per 454g pack: $9 Patties per pack: 4 Price per kg: $19.82
Experts say:
“Raw product has visible mince strands. Lots of herbs. This looks less processed and more natural. When cooked it has a nice beefy flavour and seasoning is balanced.”
While price is not always an indicator of performance, in this test there was some correlation. While the most expensive product per kilogram in our test was the top scorer, the cheapest burgers (all frozen varieties) earned the lowest scores. All of these products also contained the lowest percentages of beef.
Coles Simply Beef Patties
CHOICE Expert Rating: 10% Price per 800g pack: $9.30 Patties per pack: 10 Price per kg: $11.63
Experts say:
“Raw product is grey. The cooked product has an unbalanced flavour and crumby texture.”
“Incredibly mushy, no beef flavour and tasted unnatural.”
Woolworths Beef Burgers
CHOICE Expert Rating: 10% Price per 800g pack: $9.30 Patties per pack: 10 Price per kg: $11.63
Experts say:
“It is a grey/white colour. So unappealing.”
“The cooked aroma isn’t nice and it has a very unbalanced flavour.”
Aldi Taste Nation Homestyle Beef Patties
CHOICE Expert Rating: 23% Price per 750g pack: $8.69 Patties per pack: 6 Price per kg: $11.59
Experts say:
“Very unappealing raw product, grey in colour and nothing like beef.”
“Texture is crumbly, flavour is unbalanced.”
While these frozen burger patties didn’t appeal to our judges, they are certainly a cheap alternative to fresh options and you may find it useful to have them in your freezer for emergencies.
If you have a butcher who makes their own beef patties, they may be worth a try. While we didn’t include any butcher’s products in our full comparison of supermarket products (since they didn’t come from a supermarket), we did ask our experts to try one beef patty sourced from an independent butcher.
Although this product was the most expensive we gave our panel at $33.33/kg, it did earn the highest score (80%) of all the patties sampled.
Another alternative is to make your own burger. These can be as simple to make as seasoning minced beef with salt and pepper
Another alternative is to make your own burger. These can be as simple to make as seasoning minced beef with salt and pepper, and shaping your meat into patties that match the shape of your bun. But recipes that include egg, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and an almost infinite number of flavourings abound.
Of course, if you’re short on time or simply don’t feel like doing much preparation, the supermarket or butcher options might be more appealing, even if you know that you can produce a better (or cheaper) result by making it yourself.
The fresh patties in our test all contained more than 80% beef. Aldi’s Ready Set Cook Beef Burgers had the lowest percentage (83%) and the Woolworths Steakhouse Quarter Pound Beef Burgers had the highest (99%).
None of the three frozen products we looked at contained more than 70% beef.
Other ingredients included water, seasonings and firming and binding agents such as flour, psyllium husk and bamboo fibre.
Some of the patties also included flavourings such as onion, tomato, garlic and a mix of herbs and spices. Antioxidants and preservatives were also present in some of the products we included in our test.
How we test beef patties
Products
We included products labelled as beef patties and excluded any product that included a flavour description (garlic, pepper, or any herbs) or that was described as extra lean.
We chose products that are available nationally through at least one major supermarket chain.
Tasting
Our experts inspected and tasted the samples blind (without knowing the brands) in a randomised order and rated the patties on flavour, texture, aroma and appearance.
Scores
The ratings each product received were based on the scores for each aspect of the judging. The results were weighted as follows:
Flavour: 50%
Appearance: 15%
Texture: 20%
Aroma: 15%
We recommend products with a CHOICE Expert Rating of 70% or more.
Our expert testers
Andrew Bligh has more than 25 years’ experience at Bringelly Pork and Bacon, where he is currently the manager. He has served as a judge through the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) and holds a Certificate III in Meat Retail. He has also completed advanced training in smallgoods and charcuterie production, food sensory evaluation and food safety.
Yiota Papanicolaou is a butcher and owner of Dulwich Hill Gourmet Meats in Sydney. The family-owned business has been running since 1984. An expert in smoking and curing meats, Yiota, along with her husband George and children provide award-winning products including traditional and modern charcuterie.
David Stössel has had a long career in hospitality and has worked closely with leading Australian Chef, Matt Moran, working as general manager at the two-hatted Aria Restaurant Brisbane before moving on to become director of food and dining for Chef Matt Moran and the Solotel Hospitality Group, working across venues including Aria Restaurant, Chiswick Restaurant, and Barangaroo House. He now leads Feather and Bone, Sydney’s leading ethical and sustainable butcher and providore.
Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services.
Find Margaret on LinkedIn.
Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services.
Find Margaret on LinkedIn.
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