Fire up the grill with 3-, 4-, 5-ingredient burgers packed with flavor

May has been kind of crazy, hasn’t it?

Less than two weeks ago, Pittsburgh experienced recordsetting cold and a few of us even saw snow showers while running our Saturday morning errands. Now, it’s blue skies and so much sunshine, a welcome remedy to the gloom and doom many of us have been battling in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now that frost advisories are comfortably in our rearview mirror, our noses are warming up, too, in anticipation of all the wonderful smells the three-day Memorial Day weekend unleashes — freshly mowed lawns, the sweet, pungent scent of your neighbor’s privet hedge and sizzling barbecue.

The end of May is when many of us dust off our grills and start cooking outdoors.

The benefits are plenty. Not only does cooking and eating outside make a meal feel more special but also, we tend to consume less fat when proteins are cooked on a grill because the excess drips off the grates.

Memorial Day is the secondmost popular grilling day of the year, trailing only July 4 as the day most American grill owners plan to cook out. While most of us (61 percent) still prefer the ease and sleek chrome finish of a gas grill, according to the Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association, cooking over coals isn’t far behind.

To celebrate summer’s favorite pastime, as well as set the stage for a new generation of barbecue pitmasters, HPBA on May 23 is hosting its first-ever “Back to Barbecue Day,” a national call for home cooks to celebrate the official beginning of grilling season with the largest virtual barbecue cookout.

With social distancing guidelines still in place, you’re probably not going to be feeding a crowd at your Memorial Day cookout. But you’ll still want the meal to feel like a party with a few sizzling dishes.

To help kick off the summer grilling season in style, we’ve come up with three burger recipes that use only as many ingredients as you can tick off on one hand — a three- ingredient chicken burger for those hungry for a patty that’s a little leaner; a four-ingredient bacon cheeseburger for carnivores and Keto devotees; and a five-ingredient veggie burger made with lentils, brown rice and toasted walnuts. (Note: The number refers only to the main components; we didn’t include spices, sauces, toppings or cooking oils in the count. )

The weather’s finally cooperating, folks. Get out there and enjoy it.

Gretchen McKay/Post-Gazette photos Not everyone likes beef, so how about a chicken burger, left, with feta and sun-dried tomatoes instead? A veggie burger, right, made with lentils, walnuts and brown rice, is another tasty alternative.