Isn’t it great when a holiday is centered around eating tasty food to celebrate? National Hamburger Day gives you a chance to praise and commemorate the iconic meal. The yummy patty, traditionally made of beef (but also delicious with other options, like bison, tuna, or Beyond Meat!) and sandwiched between two buns deserves recognition. In fact, Americans eat an estimated 50 billion burgers per year, according to the USDA.

National Hamburger Day Facts

So where did it all start? No one knows for sure who created the popular hamburger. However, food historians do agree that the burger was inspired by beef from German Hamburg cows. This beef was minced and combined with spices like garlic, formed into patties, and cooked and served without bread. These were known as Hamburg steaks.

‍

Legend then has it that German immigrants brought the Hamburg steak to America, where it eventually morphed into the burger we know and love today. This occurred during the Industrial Revolution thanks to a food cart operator who started serving Hamburg steak between two buns to make it easier for factory workers to eat standing up. Unfortunately, the food cart operator’s name has sadly been lost to history.

‍

More facts that you might not know about the national holiday and the food it celebrates include:

• The Hamburger Hall of Fame is located in Seymour, Wisconsin, where the first hamburger is claimed to have been made
• Other claims to the first hamburger have been linked to New Haven, Connecticut, Buffalo, New York, and Athens, Texas
• Almost 60% of all sandwiches sold worldwide are hamburgers
• In World War I, hamburgers were called “liberty sandwiches” to remove any reference to German culture or cities

When is National Burger Day?

National Burger Day is on May 28 each year, which falls on a Saturday in 2022 and Sunday in 2023. The day celebrating hamburgers comes at the end of May because it’s National Burger Month. May is also a popular month for hamburger grilling with warmer weather and Memorial Day cookouts, making it the perfect time to celebrate sinking your teeth into a tasty burger.

What to Do on National Burger Day

Given the fact that burgers are so popular, it only seems right that we should celebrate National Burger Day in a big way. This National Burger Day, show your love of burgers by trying one or more of the following ways to celebrate the popular patty.

Craft Your Own Gourmet Burger at Home

A homemade burger made with friends and using premium ingredients tastes better than anything available to buy. Grilled up at home, a gourmet burger is sure to tingle your taste buds. We put together a full guide to crafting your own homemade gourmet burger, so try it out this year! If you don’t have a grill, your burger can taste just as mouthwatering cooked on a skillet. And if you’re vegan, there are plenty of meatless alternatives to the classic burger, like our Beyond Patties that you can use instead.

‍

Some tasty additions sure to create the ultimate gourmet burger include added ingredients like bacon, blue cheese, onion rings, and mushrooms, as well as tasty sauces like barbecue and aioli. Use your imagination and try making a few different burger variations to find your favorite.

‍

If meat isn’t your thing, try a Beyond Burger or whip up homemade gourmet vegan patties. Some tasty versions feature mushrooms, corn, tofu, garbanzo beans, and lentils.

Host a Burger Cookoff

If you’re going to be making your own burgers anyway, why not make it a fun competition? Invite friends and family over to bring their favorite burger styles, along with portable grills. Then elect some judges, and let the fun begin.

‍

Have the head judge turn on a stopwatch and give contest participants 30 minutes to make the ultimate burgers. Then have the judges taste their creations and decide which burger is the best. End the celebration by eating up the contest entries. If you want a surefire win, feel free to use our easy DIY Burger Kit (we won’t tell!).

Burgers All Day

In the true spirit of National Burger Day, vow to eat burgers all day long on May 28th. Start out with a burger patty breakfast, have a double stack burger for lunch, and finish with a gourmet burger for dinner.

‍

If you’d rather not eat red meat all day, chow down on burgers made with alternative ingredients like turkey, chicken, tuna, bison, and meatless/vegan varieties. Either way, you can end the day knowing you did your part to celebrate this most auspicious of holidays.

Visit Your Favorite Local Burger Joint

Last but not least, if you simply don’t feel like cooking, visit your go-to burger joint for a hassle-free meal. At Hopdoddy, we’ll be marking the occasion of National Burger Day by serving what we call the Ultimate — an epic burger that uses an ingredient from every other burger on our menu. However, it’s only available for limited time, so stop by on National Burger Day to try it out!

Level up Your Celebration

To make this celebration even bigger and pair with our Ultimate burger, we’re also holding an Ultimate Grill Giveaway for a lucky Hopdoddy fan. The prize includes a premium Traeger grill, a YETI hard cooler, Doddy DIY Kits, Hopdoddy grilling swag, and more. Visit us at any of our locations in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, or Tennessee to enjoy a delicious burger made with unique and quality ingredients, and enter for a chance to win.

‍