For many years, I’ve wanted to create a turkey burger that is full of flavor– tender, juicy, and the opposite of bland. Recently I discovered the perfect blend of flavors to make even the most boring ground turkey into a scrumptious, savory flavor bomb. I used my mother-in-law’s Ima Burger recipe as a base, then added smoked paprika, Middle Eastern spices and a touch of applesauce. The genius of Ima’s original recipe is the bread soaked in olive oil, which adds heart-healthy fat to the lean turkey meat. Instead of bread crumbs, which can dry out the meat, using bread soaked in olive oil gives the burgers moisture and flavor. Applesauce adds a little more moisture and just a faint touch of sweetness to balance out the spices; the touch of natural sugar also helps to make some great dark grill marks on the burgers. I’m so excited to share this recipe with you… and with 4th of July just around the corner, the timing seemed perfect!
Since we usually serve our meals mezze-style with lots of salads and dips, I generally prefer making my burgers slider-sized. This allows me to enjoy a burger without filling up on it, so I have room for all the other tasty side dishes. Of course, you can make the burgers bigger if you prefer… just substitute regular sized buns and use 1/2 cupful of meat mixture per burger.
I like to serve these spiced-up bad boys topped with freshly sliced tomato, baby kale, and a simple Lemon Herb Mayo sauce. They don’t really need a lot of “dressing up” with so many awesome herbs and spices in the mix. You can of course add your own favorite toppings… dill pickles, ketchup, mustard, sriracha… whatever you fancy! Grill these up for the 4th of July and get ready for a patriotic party in your mouth.
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Spiced Up Turkey Burgers
Ingredients
Turkey Burger Ingredients
- 1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey (1 package)
- 1 slice white bread, crust removed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus more for brushing the burgers)
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons onion, very finely minced
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper, or more to taste
- 1 1/2 tablespoons applesauce
- Vegetable oil, for frying (optional, if not grilling)
- 10 slider-sized buns for serving
Lemon Herb Mayo Ingredients
- 1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise (I like Spectrum)
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
Optional Toppings
- Baby kale or butter lettuce, fresh tomato slices, dill pickle slices
NOTES
Instructions
- Cut the crust off of your piece of bread. Pour olive oil onto a small plate. Soak the crustless bread in the olive oil, turning the slice once, till all the oil is soaked up by the bread.Place ground turkey in a medium mixing bowl. Shred and crumble the oil-soaked bread into tiny pieces and add it to the meat along with the parsley, onion, egg, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and applesauce.
- Stir ingredients with a fork and/or clean hands until the spices and herbs are well blended with the meat. Gather the meat mixture in 1/4 cupfuls and make small, thick patties (they will shrink up to slider sized during cooking). The patties will initially be soft, but will firm up as they grill.
- If grilling, grease the preheated grill well before you start cooking. Cook the patties by grilling or frying (I recommend grilling). I like to brush the burgers with olive oil periodically as they grill to keep them nice and moist.Grill for 15 - 20 minutes or until thoroughly cooked. Cooking times may vary by grill type.
- I also like to grill the buns. If you're doing this, brush the internal sides of the buns lightly with olive oil, then grill them open-side down for 2-3 minutes till they are warm and golden crisp around the edges.If you prefer not to grill the burgers, you can cook them in a skillet using 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. I like using olive oil; any oil with a somewhat high smoke point will do. Heat the oil over medium heat till hot but not smoking. Fry the burgers for 10-15 minutes, flipping occasionally, until thoroughly cooked.
- Serve turkey burgers on slider-sized buns with Lemon Herb Mayonnaise and your choice of toppings.
To Make Lemon Herb Mayonnaise
- Mix mayonnaise together with herbs, lemon juice and lemon zest in a small bowl till well blended. Serve as a sauce for the Turkey Burgers.
Lacuna says
These were fantastic! I made some with just turkey, some with just beef, and some with both. We thought all were perfect. I’ll be making more this weekend. Thanks so much!
Tori Avey says
Great Lacuna! I keep waiting for more people to try this recipe, it’s one of my favorite summer foods on the site!
Debbie M. says
Best turkey burgers ever!! Whole wheat bread worked great instead of the white – otherwise stuck to the recipe. Served it with the sriracha mayo you suggest for the beef Ima Burgers and it was great. Had them in pita with cucumber and tomato salad and pickled tomato. Yum.
Tori Avey says
Aren’t they delish Debbie?? One of my favorite recipes!
Kate says
Do you think that quinoa or oats might be able to be substituted for the bread? I’m not sure how these would work with the olive oil if at all, but I was thinking that they may be able to be used for those of us with an aversion to bread products.
Tori Avey says
Hi Kate, I have never tried either substitute so I’m not sure, although oats would probably be closer in terms of texture and flavor. If you try either one please me know how it works for you!
Deborah Liebman says
If I wanted to omit bread (because I don’t eat bread products), what would you substitute?
Tori Avey says
Hi Deborah, unfortunately I do not have a substitute for the bread in this recipe.
Naomi says
These are SO good. Even my picky eater gobbled one up. To me, they have a real Israeli flavor. There were none left.
whitney says
Made these tonight. My husband said it might be the best meal I’ve ever made. Thank you for such a delicious recipe!
Tori Avey says
So happy to hear that Whitney! Thanks for reporting back 🙂
Whitney says
If I don’t have applesauce, is there something close to it that I could substitute? No one in my house eats it and I would prefer not to buy an entire jar for just a small amount…
Tori Avey says
You can just omit it.
shira kestenbaum says
Whitney – you can buy the individual packs of applesauce, that is what i did. I used half of one for the recipe and ate the rest 🙂 and the other packs can wait till my next venture
Gilly Martin says
Tried these yesterday, they were really great!
adn says
Love these! Your food photography is beautiful! I wrote about our turkey burger recipe but they’re the super easy kind! These look amazing. I love your history recipes too!
Hillary @ Easy Peasy Kitchen says
I have the hardest time making ground turkey taste good … or taste like anything at all, for that matter. It can just be so incredibly bland. Looking forward to trying this and getting some serious flavor!
Sarah Silverman says
I just “tasted” a whole one (and not the slider size.) They are fantastic!
Shira Kestenbaum says
Am I the first to actually try these? Well, they definitely get my stamp of approval. Yummy, moist, and very lightly spicy ( I used sugarless applesauce, that may be why). I didn’t have smoked paprika so I used a grill chicken spice instead.
Tori Avey says
So happy you liked them! Sugarless applesauce shouldn’t matter, but the smoked paprika would have added more spice. You can also add additional cayenne for a kick.
Winston Richard says
Wow! Those look amazing!
Amy @ What Jew Wanna Eat says
Interesting combo of ingredients! I love turkey burgers, so hope to try these for sure.
Allen Neuhauser says
I believe this recipe may return me to turkey burgers. I have avoided them because of being bland, dried out. Thank you.
Kari@Loaves n Dishes says
Love, love, love the olive oil soaked bread trick, is it a trick or a tip? Either way I adore the flavor of olive oil, so I can just imagine that these are delish!
Heather Menges says
I gotta eat red, white or blue foods only on the 4th or risk feeling un-american!
Gina Block says
Heather,
Tomatoes are red, the mayo is white, and add some bleu cheese!
There you go! Enjoy.
Rachael J. says
Wow, these look super tasty! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’m definitely going to make these for the 4th! I’ve never been able to stomach beef burgers, so looking forward to this mouth-watering alternative. Happy 4th of July! 🙂
Daniel Waclaw says
Thanks for this! I´ve stuck to one turkey burger recipe for as long as I can remember (just ground turkey and a small can of diced green chilies), so it´ll be nice to change things up a bit this summer!
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