Why Should You Grind Your Meat at Home?

Buying ground meat at the supermarket is kind of a crapshoot; unless your butcher grinds to order, there’s no way to know what you’re actually getting. The cut, fat content, and texture of store-ground meat can vary widely.

But when you grind it yourself in a food processor, you control all the variables. That means you can achieve the perfect grind for beef, pork, poultry, and even fish and seafood. Your food processor can also help with thinly slicing meat, which can be a tricky task without a commercial meat slicer or a supersharp chef’s knife and an extremely steady hand. This opens up possibilities for all kinds of dishes in the home kitchen that are otherwise better left to the professionals.

Here are a few tricks we’ve discovered for grinding meat in a food processor.

What Types of Meat Can You Grind in a Food Processor?

We use a food processor to grind all types of meat. The key is to make sure it’s boneless and skinless, and to cut it into chunks before processing. Here are some of our favorites types of meat to grind in a food processor:

• Sirloin steak tips (for Juicy Pub-Style Burgers)
• Boneless, skinless turkey thighs (for Juicy Grilled Turkey Burgers)
• Large shrimp (for Shrimp Burgers)
• Skinless cod fillets (for Lemon-Basil Cod Cakes)
• Pork tenderloin (for Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps)
• Boneless beef short ribs
• Boneless beef chuck-eye roast
• Boneless country-style pork ribs