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Turkey Burgers

Turkey Burgers

I’m beefing up deepfriedhoney.com’s turkey recipe collection. Introducing the tastiest, juiciest turkey burgers you’ll ever eat! The most common complaint I hear about Turkey Burgers is that they’re dry. Well, not in my house they’re not.

I truly believe it’s pretty much impossible for these to turn out like hockey pucks. You’d have to just walk away from the stove and decide to watch a movie or something. They’re a bit involved and kinda messy to make, but always worth it in my eyes.

Turkey Burger Ingredients

Feel free to jump to the full recipe, but here are useful notes about the ingredients you will need to make this Turkey Burger recipe:

  • Ground turkey: You can choose to use lean turkey or not; it’s up to you. These are going to be juicy no matter what.
  • Eggs: Beaten eggs serve as a binder in this recipe, to better hold everything together, but I’ve left it out with the same success – the turkey mixture will just be harder to handle before you cook it.
  • Sweet Onion: Grating the onion allows it to serve two purposes: as both a great source of moisture and a boost of flavor. We use sweet onions to ensure that the onion flavor is mild and even people that swear they don’t like onions will be able to enjoy them. If you want a more severe onion flavor in the patty just add some onion powder or use a white onion instead.
  • Parsley, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, cumin, seasoned salt: No one will ever call these flavorless. These seasonings combined usually give off a very ‘southwestern’ feel but not here. They just make for a really flavorful turkey burger, and mesh well with almost any topping variation. Switch them out for your faves tho, or just go simple with salt and pepper!
  • Frozen Butter: It’s easiest to just chuck the cube into the food processor, but you can also grate the butter directly into the turkey mixture. The butter softens and melts while cooking, releasing moisture throughout the cooking process, similar to baking biscuits or pie dough.
  • Flour: Seasoned flour lightly coats the outside of each patty, helping seal the juices in and browning into a nice crust. Do not skip this step.

How to Make Turkey Burgers

Full instructions are included in the recipe below, but here is a basic overview of what you’ll need to do, along with some important tidbits to help you make the most of this recipe:

  • Make the aromatic paste. You could mince and chop and grate everything manually, but if you have a food processor go ahead and pull that baby out. This Turkey Burgers recipe requires enough labor already. We’re going to pulse (1-2 seconds at a time) the onion, garlic, parsley, and butter into a paste. There should be no large pieces of onion or parsley, and the garlic should be evenly distributed throughout. You might have to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently between pulsing.
  • Mix up your patty ingredients. After the paste is prepared, toss it in the bowl with your turkey meat and all of the other ingredients except oil, flour, and kosher salt. Mix it up very well with a silicone spatula. It’ll get kind of sticky, which is why I recommend silicone. Now the patties will seem extremely wet, but this ok. A couple of times when I’ve made this it wants to damn near slip between my fingers so I can’t really shape it into a patty. That’s OK, too!
  • Dust the patties in flour. Transfer the patties to the plate with the seasoned flour, then turn it over. Dust or shake off the excess flour as best you can (even if it seems too thick, don’t worry) and add it to the skillet. Now if the mixture is so loose you can’t form patties, this step can be tricky, but don’t skip it! It’s crucial for these Turkey Burgers! Just gather the meat into your hand, keeping your fingers tightly together, and use your other hand to sprinkle a bit of flour over the exposed surface. Then, place the meat with that exposed side down first. Sprinkle flour over the opposite side and continue cooking.
  • Fry the burger patties. Fry the patties for 5 minutes on this first side. We want to allow the crust to form and the release from the pan so it flips smoothly. Flip the burger and cook for another 3-4 minutes, or until the internal temperature is safe to eat. If adding cheese go ahead and add it during the last couple of minutes and then place a lid on the skillet. The steam will help the cheese melt quickly and evenly. Transfer to a wire rack over a baking sheet before assembling burgers.
  • Assemble and serve. Try some of my topping variations below!

Turkey Burger Variations

Coming up with burger spot menus is a longtime favorite way to pass the time. The variations are endless! With this Turkey Burger recipe, you could…

  • The Classic: Romaine lettuce, tomato, fry sauce, and amerikan cheese. Yellow or white, your choice. Just as you see in all these photos.
  • The Cookout: Caramelized onions, BBQ sauce, yellow mustard, salt, and vinegar potato chips. Don’t knock it ’til you try it, I’m just saying.
  • The Hawaiian: Grilled pineapple, a slice of fried Canadian bacon, sweet teriyaki sauce, sliced red onion, bib lettuce.
  • The Hot AF: Pepper Jack, Ghost Pepper Bacon Jam, fried jalapeno coins, spicy mayo.
Turkey Burgers

Leave a comment and rating if you try it! It’ll help others that come across it know if you think it’s worth trying! Here’s a graphic for your Pinterest board:

Turkey Burgers
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turkey burgers

Turkey Burgers


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Description

If you called this turkey burger dry it would reply “um, never felt that; never been through that; never experienced that emotion… truly… never… don’t know what that is, only know millions have it.”


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 lbs lean ground turkey (I use Butcher Box)
  • 1 medium sweet onion, grated
  • 1/4 C fresh parsley, minced
  • 1/3 C all-purpose flour
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 4 tbsp salted butter, frozen
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp seasoned salt, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt, to taste


Instructions

  1. Begin by tossing the onions, parsley, frozen butter, and garlic into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until it forms a thick paste. 
  2. Add your ground turkey to a bowl and pour in the paste from the food processor. Now sprinkle in all of the seasonings except the kosher salt, the Worcestershire sauce, and the egg. Use a silicone tool to mix everything together. The mixture will be quite loose. We like this. We want it. 
  3. Mix a pinch or so of kosher salt into the flour, then pour the flour into a rimmed dish or plate. Place a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat to let it preheat. 
  4. After a couple of minutes drizzle some oil into the preheated and swirl it around. Remove some of the turkey meat from the bowl and use your hands to shape it into a patty. It will feel very wet and be hard to form. 
  5. After your patty is shaped, either sprinkle a bit of flour over each side or plop it on the plate, flip it over, and then dust off the excess flour. Transfer directly to the skillet. Repeat and add as many burgers to the skillet as you can fit comfortably, without them touching.
  6. Cook the patties for 5 minutes on this first side, then flip and allow to cook until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes more. It’ll depend on the thickness. Juices should run clear and a thermometer inserted into the center should read 160°F. Remove the patties to rest on a plate.
  7. After the first batch, you’ll likely need to reduce the heat to medium for the rest of the burgers, but it depends on your stove and if you used a cast-iron skillet.
  8. For cheeseburgers, place a slice of cheese directly on the patty at the end of its cooking time, then cover the pan with a lid to allow the steam to melt the cheese. Transfer to a wire rack to rest, then assemble your burgers. Dassit. 

Notes

Note: Read the suggestions above the recipe for tips tricks and call-outs to ensure it’s successful for you! 

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