An easy recipe for juicy Turkey Burgers cooked on the stove, and topped with a creamy avocado spread. This burger carries with it a Southwestern vibe, speckled with green chiles, and seasoned with smoked paprika and cumin for an extra bang of flavor!
Get ready to make your new favorite Turkey Burger at home with this easy-to-follow recipe! An excellent (and healthier) alternative to beef, and a great way to satisfy any summer appetite.
INGREDIENTS
- Ground Turkey -- This recipe calls for 85/15 ground turkey. The more fat, the juicier the burger. However, if you'd like to use ground turkey with less fat to make it healthier, feel free to do so.
- Egg -- The egg serves as the binder, keeping the ground turkey together as it sizzles on the stovetop.
- Green Chiles -- Canned green chiles will give your Turkey Burger and extra oomph of savory flavor, without adding too much extra heat. We use Old El Paso Diced Green Chiles in this burger. You can typically find these cans in the international aisle of your grocery store. However, if you'd like your Turkey Burger on the spicy side, there are spicy green chiles available as well.
- Hamburger Buns
- Oil — Unlike ground beef burgers, you’ll need a little oil in the pan to keep your turkey burger patties from sticking. You can use either Avocado Oil or Canola oil to coat the bottom of your pan.
TURKEY BURGER SEASONING
- Kosher Salt
- Cumin
- Black Pepper
- Smoked Paprika
Ground Turkey is milder in flavor than beef and, therefore, does not require nearly as much seasoning. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t add tons of flavor to ground turkey patties! Especially when you consider the toppings...
TURKEY BURGER CONDIMENTS AND TOPPINGS
- Avocado-Mayonnaise -- A cool and creamy, lime-infused avocado spread is absolutely perfect for topping off your Turkey Burger. It comes together quickly and easily in a food processor or blender.
- Onion — Red onion is the ideal choice for topping burgers, as it’s a touch milder than the others. We advise slicing them as thin as possible to keep them from overpowering the Ground Turkey Patty.
- Tomatoes or Pickled Tomatillos — You can use tomatoes for your Turkey Burger if you’d like, but we really dig on this Southwestern burger is pickled tomatillos. You’ll find tomatillos next to the hot peppers in the produce section of your grocery store. All you need to do a quick pickle on them is 15 minutes, lime juice, and red wine vinegar.
- Cheese -- If you can’t stand the thought of a burger without cheese, a slice of Monterrey Jack or Swiss would be a great addition.
HOW TO MAKE TURKEY BURGERS
- Heat the Oil and Make the Ground Turkey Patties — Add oil to a skillet over medium-high heat. While heating, make the patties. Mix together ground turkey, egg, green chilis, salt, cumin, pepper, and paprika, and form into six turkey patties.
- Cook the Turkey Patties — Add the ground turkey balls to the skillet and flatten as much as possible with the spatula. Cook for 4 minutes, or until browned. Carefully flip and cook the other side until all of the juices have evaporated from the pan and the patty has browned, about 6-8 minutes more. Set aside turkey burgers.
- Toast the Buns — If desired, add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet, cut the buns in half and toast 1-2 minutes on the hot skillet.
- Assemble the Burgers — To assemble your Turkey Burgers, spread a thin layer of avocado-mayo on each bun and the top patties as desired. Serve and enjoy!
Keep in mind, before you begin cooking your ground turkey patties, you’ll want to get some preliminary items out of the way:
- Make the Avocado Mayonnaise — Mash together avocado, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice, and salt until it reaches a spreadable consistency.
- Pickle the Tomatillos (if using) — Spread tomatillo slices across the bottom of a pie dish, or any shallow dish similar in circumference. Sprinkle over vinegar and lime juice and transfer to the refrigerator to marinate!
TURKEY BURGER COOK TIME
Turkey Burger cook time differs from ground beef in that they’re going to take a lit-tle bit longer on the stovetop. There should be absolutely no pink showing through when they are finished cooking. This typically takes 10-12 minutes of cooking over of medium-high heat.
TURKEY BURGER -- INTERNAL TEMPERATURE
If you’re unsure as to whether or not your Turkey Burger has properly cooked through, take the internal temperature using an instant-read thermometer. FoodSafety.gov says the internal temperature of cooked ground turkey should reach 165° before consumption.
ARE TURKEY BURGERS HEALTHY?
According to Livestrong.com, turkey it’s low in cholesterol, high in niacin, vitamin B-6, selenium, phosphorous and contains 48% of your daily protein with just one 4-ounce serving.
If you’re eating the ground turkey patty and the turkey patty alone, you’d be golden in the “healthy” department, but when you add a hamburger bun and a mayonnaise-based spread, you might be detracting from those healthy benefits just a tad.
TURKEY BURGER VS BEEF
Rest assured, if you’re chowing down on a Turkey Burger, you’re still doing better than if you were holding their ground beef counterpart. If the ground turkey is made with white meat only, and not a mix of white meat, dark meat, and skin, that is.
NBCNews.com confirms the saturated fat in Turkey Patties vs. Ground Beef Patties is far lower, as is the calorie count.
5 MORE GROUND TURKEY RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Easy Patty Melts feature quick-cooking ground turkey patties topped with smoky cheese, caramelized onions, and served on wheat toast.
- Sweet Potato and Turkey Hash is savory and filling breakfast recipe with diced sweet potatoes, ground turkey, peppers, onions, and fresh sage. Eat it as is, or top it with a fried egg!
- Healthy Taco Salad with taco-seasoned ground turkey, crisp lettuce, tortilla strips, a homemade Catalina dressing and more!
- Turkey and Black Bean Tostadas are an easy Tex-Mex dinner idea, featuring ground turkey taco meat, a black bean puree, Monterrey Jack cheese, and fresh vegetables.
- Turkey Ricotta Meatballs with Spaghetti Squash is the perfect healthy substitute for spaghetti pasta and ground beef meatballs!
Turkey Burger
Ingredients
For the Pickled Tomatillos (OPTIONAL):
- 5 Tomatillos husks removed and rinsed, sliced into thin rounds
- 2 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
- Juice of a Lime
For the Avocado-Mayo Spread:
- 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
- Avocado diced
- Tbsp Cilantro minced
- Juice of a Lime
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
For the Green Chili Turkey Burgers:
- Red Onion halved and cut into thin slices and set aside
- 1 tbsp Canola Oil
- 2 lbs Ground Turkey very cold
- 1 Egg slightly beaten
- 4.5 oz Canned Chopped Green Chilis
- 1 ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Cumin
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Smoked Paprika
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter separated
- 6 Hamburger Buns preferably fresh from the bakery
Instructions
For the Pickled Tomatillos:
- Spread tomatillo slices across the bottom of a pie dish, or any shallow dish with similar in circumference. Sprinkle over vinegar and lime juice and transfer to the refrigerator to marinate while making other preparations.
For the Avocado Mayonnaise:
- Mash together avocado, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and salt until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Set aside until ready to use.
For the Turkey Burgers:
- Add oil to cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. While heating, make the patties. Mix together ground turkey, egg, green chilis, salt, cumin, pepper, and paprika, and form into six turkey patties.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the oil. As soon as it has melted, add ground turkey balls to the skillet and flatten as much as possible with the spatula. Cook for 4 minutes, or until browned.
- Carefully flip and cook the other side until juices have evaporated, the patty has browned, about 6-8 minutes more. Set aside turkey burgers.
- If desired, add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet, cut buns in half and toast 1-2 minutes on the hot skillet. To assemble burgers, spread a thin layer of avocado-mayo on each bun and top patties with onion and pickled tomatillos. Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition
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