Marinating food is a fantastic way of adding extra flavor and punch to your meal. Marinating your food is super easy and quick to do. Although it is known that chicken is a classic meat that many marinate, can you marinate ground beef?
In this article we will explore if you can marinate ground beef and some of the best ingredients to use when marinating food.
Table of Contents
- Can You Use Marinade On Ground Beef
- Can Ground Beef Be Marinated Overnight?
- Can You Marinate Ground Beef For Hamburgers
- Can You Marinate Ground Beef In Beer
- Can You Marinate Ground Beef With BBQ Sauce
- How Long Can You Marinate Ground Meat?
- How Long Can You Marinate Ground Beef In The Fridge?
- You Can Marinate Ground Beef But Not For Long!
Can You Use Marinade On Ground Beef
It is not recommended that you marinate your ground beef. The marinade could actually split your ground beef. Marinating your ground beef can cause the texture to change. But because the beef will absorb a lot of the marinade, the taste could be too overpowering.
Although, if you do decide to marinate your ground beef it could help to tenderize the beef. Marinating your ground beef could also preserve the moisture in your ground beef.
Using a marinade that is subtle could be the best bet if you would like to marinate your ground beef. A subtle marinade that you could put into your ground beef would involve ingredients such as black pepper or steak seasoning.
If you use marinade on your ground beef, then the fiber in the muscle of the ground beef can break down causing it to soften. Acidic ingredients such as vinegar or juice from fruits can help with this breakdown. This is due to these ingredients containing enzymes that break down muscle tissue.

Can Ground Beef Be Marinated Overnight?
Can you marinate ground beef overnight? The quick answer is that if you marinate the meat for too long it could cause more harm than good.
If you use a marinade that contains alcohol or strong acidic ingredients you should not marinate the ground beef overnight. These ingredients could damage the food.
If you use a marinade containing heavy amounts of salt then you should marinate the ground beef for a maximum of four hours.
Can You Marinate Ground Beef For Hamburgers
Yes, marinating hamburgers can make them very flavorful. It can be the perfect way to customize your burgers to make them taste just how you like them.
If you marinate your burgers and then cook them in a grill, it will be the best way of cooking them to make sure the marinade is the most flavorful. You can use many different types of marinade on your ground beef burgers that can give either a smoky, spicy or sweet flavor to your ground beef burgers.
The ingredients that pair with your ground beef burgers best are richer ingredients, such as red wine, vinegar, worcestershire sauce, garlic and spicy seasoning.
We have a simple recipe that will help you make your ground beef burgers punchy and memorable for all your guests.
Here is a simple step by step recipe to make marinade for your ground beef burgers:
You will need:
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 3 fresh garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onions
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
How to Make Hamburger Marinade:
- Step 1: Mix all the ingredients gently into the ground beef in a large bowl. Try not to touch the meat too much as the meat can turn tough.
- Step 2: Make four burger patties out of the mixture and flatten them so they are thick.
- Step 3: Put pressure on each of the patties in the centre and make a slight dip. The dip/hole in the patties will make sure that the burger patties do not bulge when they are cooking.
- Step 4: Place the four patties into the marinade mix and then place them into the fridge for one hour.
- Step 5: Grill the four burger patties for 5 minutes on each side and then serve.
Can You Marinate Ground Beef In Beer
Beer is a clever ingredient you can use when marinating your ground beef as beer can make your ground beef juicy. Ground beef burgers are a great recipe to use if you want to use beer to marinate. If you use beer when marinating your burgers then the beer can make the burgers very tender.
Here is a simple step by step by recipe you can follow to marinate your burgers in beer:
You will need:
- 500 grams ground beef
- 1 onion
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup beer
How to Marinade Ground Beef in Beer:
- Step 1: Use a large bowl and mix the ground beef with diced onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Step 2: Roll out four beef patties from the mixture.
- Step 3: Use a small bowl and mix the Worcestershire sauce and beer.
- Step 4: Place the four beef ground patties in the Worcestershire sauce and beer mix. Place the four patties in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Step 5: Grill or fry the beef ground patties.

Can You Marinate Ground Beef With BBQ Sauce
You can one hundred percent marinate your ground beef in BBQ sauce. BBQ sauce pairs very nicely with ground beef.
You can add extra ingredients to your BBQ sauce to add a little bit of added flavor when marinating your ground beef. Other ingredients that pair well with BBQ sauce when marinating ground beef is Worchester sauce, black pepper, onion powder, garlic and parsley. You can simply mix these ingredients into a paste and spread across your ground beef to marinate.
How Long Can You Marinate Ground Meat?
How long can you marinate ground beef for? The quick answer is that you can marinate ground beef for however long you want!
Although, the marinade will most likely contain strong ingredients and you will not need to marinate your ground beef for that long before it is ready.
We would recommend marinating your ground beef for a minimum of 6 hours but no longer than 24 hours. It is safe for you to marinate your ground beef for a lot longer but sometimes the marinade can start to break down the fibers in the meat which can cause the meat to chrome lower in quality. If your marinade is on the ground beef for too long it can change the texture of the ground beef, resulting in your ground beef being quite mushy.
How Long Can You Marinate Ground Beef In The Fridge?
You can leave your marinated ground beef in the fridge to store for up to 5 days before it starts to spoil. This advice is given by the United States Department of Agriculture, which states that eating marinated ground beef for up to 5 days will be safe and should not result in food poisoning.
Although you can leave your marinated ground beef in the fridge for up to five days, you will not need to. The marinade will have already flavored the meat. You do not need to wait five days as the marinate will be strong enough that you can cook your meat a few hours after and still achieve the same result.
You Can Marinate Ground Beef But Not For Long!
Yes, you can marinate your ground beef! Marinating ground beef can make your beef more flavorsome and tender. Be warned that if you marinate your ground beef for too long it can change the texture and make your ground beef soggy.
Posts on the blog that may interest you: