Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers can be real dry and crumbly or moist and tender. I found the key making the latter type of turkey burger at home:

  1. Quality ground turkey breast

  2. Cook on a cast iron skillet... the grill chars too easily

Turkey breast isn’t inherently the most flavorful animal protein because of how lean it is. This is where seasoning and cooking method come into play. Of course, adding a slice of pastured bacon never made a meal worse. The nature of ground turkey breast doesn’t do well with add-ins as it tends to crumble when cooked. Seasoning each side of the burger while it’s cooking with onion granules (I use Frontier Co Op brand because granules taste infinitely better than onion powder) and salt will add flavor without compromising structural integrity.

And one final note on turkey.. check with your butcher or at the meat counter of your natural food store for fresh ground turkey. Generally, ground turkey that comes pre-packaged isn’t as high quality of a meat. If you go somewhere like Whole Foods, they rate their meats by quality (Step 1 - Step 5) for consumer transparency. WF’s pre-packaged  turkey is usually rated Step 1 (aka, raised under the worst conditions) and turkey at the meat counter is the same price but rated a Step 3. This scale accounts for the quality of the animal’s diet and their quality of life.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground turkey

  • 1/2 teaspoon onion granules

  • 1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt

  • 1 tablespoon ghee or avocado oil

  • optional: pastured bacon, homemade mayonnaise (working on a recipe post for this!), avocado, butter lettuce, plantains

Method

Take 1 pound of ground turkey (organic and pastured when possible) and divide into four. Shape into patties approximately 1/2” thick.

Heat ghee or avocado oil in a cast iron skillet on medium. Place turkey burgers into the hot oiled skillet and season with half of the salt and onion granules.

Cook for 5 minutes, flip the burgers and season with remaining salt and onion granules. Cook an additional 5 minutes.

Served here “protein-style” with butter lettuce leaves, avocado, bacon, homemade mayonnaise, and plantains.

recipes, mainsKristine Kunzerprotein, gluten free, grain free, burgers, turkeyComment