To foodies, especially burger lovers, May is known as National Hamburger Month. This is likely because it’s the time of the year when the days are longer and the weather is warm enough to start grilling outside. An option for grilling hamburgers has always been the frozen patty. It allows you to save time not having to thaw the ground beef out, divide it up, or season the meat. You can simply remove the patties from the freezer and cook them.
Now that grass fed beef is more available than it’s ever been in modern times, we even have the option of getting it in the form of frozen burger patties. From farmers and ranchers to sustainable prepared food producers and even some brands that previously made conventional frozen burgers, there are a number of choices now. And lately we’ve seen a trend of burgers blends mixing beef and vegetables together.
In alphabetical order, here are the twelve best frozen 100% grass fed burger patties.
50/50 Foods
The story of 50/50 Foods begins with two best friends, Andrew Arentowicz & Stephen Theiss, sitting down for burgers and beer and talking about how they like both meat and vegetables. Andrew & Stephen asked why couldn’t they have BOTH when it comes to burgers. The two then headed to the kitchen to work on a burger which would be the perfect blend of 50% meat and 50% veggies. This became their flagship BOTH Burger, which is half grass bed beef and the other half a mix of roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, riced cauliflower and broccoli, and garlic. Since releasing the BOTH Burger, Andrew & Stephen are now developing 50/50 hot dogs and 50/50 chicken nuggets.
Applegate
In 1987, Stephen McDonnell and his friend Christopher Ely bought Chris’ family business Jugtown Smokehouse, which produced smoked meats without any synthetic nitrates. Stephen started Applegate with the purpose of asking “what if you weren’t afraid to read a hot dog ingredient label?” Next they made deli meat which was antibiotic free, followed by introducing the first widely distributed deli meat with an organic certification. In 2015, all of their beef products became 100% grass fed. Their frozen patties are their most recent grass fed beef additions. Applegate has two different lines, both of which mix beef or turkey with veggies into the patties. The Great Organic Blend Burger has beef mixed with mushrooms. And the Well Carved Burger mixes beef with cauliflower, lentils, spinach, and butternut squash.
Bubba Burger
In the early 90s, Walter “Bubba” Eaves began Bubba Burger to fulfill his dream of creating a perfect and juicy burger which he’d be proud to serve his friends at home. Bubba invented a production method where he felt he could cook the patties after being frozen yet they still remained juicy and flavorful. He was always for choosing the highest meat in his burgers with only whole muscle meat chucks. He refused to use any fillers or trimmings. As Bubba has always prided himself in his patties containing high quality beef, he decided to go a step further in recent years and add burger patties consisting of 100% grass fed beef free of preservatives or added hormones.
Eel River Organic Beef
Eel River Valley native Clint Victorine’s passion for cattle ranching dates back to when he was a member of Future Farmers of America in high school. Clint then went on to major in ag business at Cal Poly followed by a cow calf and stocker cattle operation after his graduation in 1996. In 2000, the Eel River Brewing Company put his grass fed beef on their grill menu and convinced to him move into organic beef. Clint saw the demand and met with some independent ranchers in the Eel River Valley to see they’d be interested in raising their cattle organically. Eel River Organic Beef remains an alliance of small family-owned ranches. In addition to burger patties, Eel River has steaks and hot dogs.
First Light Farms
Wagyu beef is known for being well marbled, having great texture, and tasting flavorful, but not a lot of it is 100% grass fed. The First Light Wagyu Producers Group, a collective of 61 farmers in New Zealand, took up the challenge of raising Wagyu cattle on grass and out of their pens. Their frozen burger patties are among other products they sell, including various cuts of steak, ground beef, hot dogs, and meatballs.
Force of Nature 
The team behind Force of Nature spent six years studying regenerative agriculture and touring ranches around the world before deciding to start their own company. So Force of Nature was founded on the principle of being able to jumpstart a global regenerative supply network. Their main focus in terms of products is ground meat from all types of animals, including a number of wild game. They also sell various cuts of their different animals. And then there’s the Force of Nature frozen patties, which come in their varieties of bison and venison.
Grass Run Farms
Grass Run Farms is a collaboration of family farms. They use affidavits to trace the animals back to the grasses and farms they were raised on. Grass Run Farms believes in raising cows on grass for the health benefits, the environmental advantages of maintaining healthy soil and sequestering carbon, and the way the agricultural method treats livestock humanely. They produce frozen ground beef patties along with fresh ground beef, steaks, roasts, hot dogs, and sausages.
Raise American
Raise American is all about raising the bar extremely high when it comes to beef. All of the meat they supply is 100% grass fed, 100% organic, and 100% sustainable for the planet. Additionally, their beef comes entirely from America with ranches ranging across the country, including Minnesota, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Texas. Raise American has partnerships with its ranchers where they oversee the entire process from the pasture where the cow was born to how the cow is being treated on the farm to how the cow is transported. They’re encouraging all organic beef ranchers to go regenerative in order to revive the soil, replenish the land, and remove greenhouse gases. Raise American president Scott Lively wrote the book For the Love of Beef: The Good, the Bad and the Future of America’s Favorite Meat, which covers everything about beef from the different cuts to the benefits of being grass fed. Their frozen burger patties are one of many of their offerings, which also include steaks, ground beef, hot dogs, and meatballs.
Sun Fed
The Byrne’s and Donati’s were two families who had been ranching in the Sacramento Valley for over 100 years. Matt Byrne and Chris Donati joined together to create Sun Fed Ranch. Sun Fed partners with other family farms which raise cattle in open spaces and adapt to natural weather cycles to sustain the land and grow 100% grass fed and finished beef 365 days a year. Along with frozen patties, Sun Fed has a large line of grass fed beef products, including many cuts of steaks and roasts, bone broths, deli meats, hot dogs, sausages, and prepared meals.
Teton Waters Ranch
Beginning out as an experiment in environmental conservation, Teton Waters Ranch discovered how they can replenish the abused soil of an old potato farm by the means of planting native grasses, cattle rotation, and the livestock fertilizing where they eat. These practices led to a system of food which is both sustainable and healthy. They ended up forming a company which produced hot dogs and sausages made from grass fed and finished beef. Teton Water then expanded their line to include burger blends, giving us a healthy and balanced mix of meats and vegetables. Their burger blends are salt & cracked pepper, mushroom & onion, and a southwest style of mushrooms & poblanos peppers.
Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed
Matt Meier worked for 20 years in conventional food marketing before he returned home to the farm he grew up on. In 2003, he founded Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed with the mission of nourishing the soil, the plants, cattle, and people by holistically grazing cattle for their entire lives. His home farm in Clearwater, MN is one of the 13 Savory Institute hubs in North America as the ranch is a leader in holistic and regenerative grazing practices. Thousand Hills now sources cattle from other family farms which they’ve hand picked for their similar deep commitment to regenerate land and having nutrient rich beef as a result. The farms range from the midwest, northeast, and west regions of the United States. Already 600,000 acres of land has seen positive benefits. Beef patties are part of a diverse amount of products which can be found from Thousand Hills, such as bone broth, chili, ground beef, sausages, steaks, roasts, jerky, and sticks. All of their products are now Land to Market certified regenerative.
Tribali Foods
Tribali founder Angela Mavridis spent her childhood summers in Greece where she saw her grandmother cook everything from scratch with all organic, local, and heirloom ingredients. While at the time she didn’t know it was paleo or what the paleo diet was, it turns out paleo is a Greek word. As an adult, Angela had gone far off track from the nutrient dense Greek/paleo diet as she was often feeling bloated and tired. Then when modern medicine was unable to identify her health conditions, she decided to become a holistic nutritionist and take improving her health into her own hands. Realizing that protein powders, shakes, supplements, and bars weren’t helping, she returned to what she grew up eating in Greece. Angela had been a vegetarian for 35 years, but then discovered pairing clean animal meats with ancestral veggies helped her feel better both physically and emotionally. Shortly after, her digestive issues decreased and she began healing. Angela now runs Tribali Foods which makes patties from a variety of humanely raising animals, including cattle which are 100% grass fed. The beef patties come in they style of Mediterranean and umami. Also, a portion of Tribali’s proceeds go to benefit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.