Get the healthy secret to juicy, flavorful turkey burgers. Perfect for grilling and just in time for Father’s Day!
Do you remember that episode of “Parks and Rec” when Chris Traeger went to great lengths to craft the perfect turkey burger and everyone still preferred Ron Swanson’s plain, Food N’ Stuff hamburger? Yeah, that’s a real thing. Turkey burgers that try to replace hamburgers are always going to fall short.
In my opinion, it’s better to think of turkey burgers as a separate category and just enjoy them for what they are rather than comparing them to what they are not. If you feel like a hamburger, eat a hamburger. But if you feel like grilling and want to enjoy something lighter and a bit healthy, then go for the turkey burger and embrace it.
If turkey burgers have a bad reputation it’s because they can be dry, tough and bland. But a dry turkey burger is a bad turkey burger. Turkey burgers don’t have to be dry. When I make them, they are tender, juicy and really flavorful. The secret? Mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms.
And don’t say, “But my family doesn’t like mushrooms.” Guess what? There are people – weird people, but people – in my family who don’t like mushrooms either. But they love these turkey burgers. You can’t even tell the mushrooms are there.
A few years ago, I developed several recipes for a magazine that used The Blend, a cooking technique that combines chopped mushrooms with ground meat to make some beloved dishes lighter, healthier and more sustainable. The Mushroom Council has been advocating for this approach for years. I developed a meatball recipe, a taco filling recipe, but the highlight of the assignment was the turkey burger recipe. Mixing ground turkey with finely chopped mushrooms produced the best turkey burger I had ever eaten. It was a revelation.
The technique is simple, but it does require an extra step or two. I promise you will find the extra work so worthwhile when you bite into the best turkey burger of your life! It starts with sautéing the mushrooms. I have tried this method using both raw and cooked mushrooms and I find the sautéed mushrooms add more flavor and are worth the extra effort.
Next, finely chop the sautéed mushrooms. I actually use my food processor for this step. You want the texture of the ‘shrooms to mimic the texture of ground meat so they disappear into the mixture. I find that the food processor does the best job, but if you don’t have a food processor or hate to get yours dirty, you can chop the mushrooms by hand. Just really chop them fine.
Next, combine the chopped mushrooms with ground turkey – preferably dark meat and I recommend Jennie-O turkey – season, and form into patties. (You can even do all of this in advance and keep the patties chilled for several hours until needed.) Finally, grill, broil, or pan-sear the burgers until you reach an internal temperature of 160 to 165 degrees. This is a food-safety must, guys. No medium-rare turkey burgers!
You can dress your blended turkey burgers up however you wish. Add cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup or, our family’s favorite, barbeque sauce. I promise you will be amazed by how juicy and tender these burgers are and they have tons of savory, umami flavor from the mushrooms. When a turkey burger is this tasty, no one – except maybe Ron Swanson – will miss the beef.
Ingredients
- 2-3 TB extra virgin olive oil
- 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small onion, grated
- 1.5 lb. dark meat ground turkey,
- 1 TB Worcestershire sauce,
- 1 tsp. each garlic powder, salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 TB of the olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add several handfuls of mushrooms, making sure not to crowd the skillet.
- Sauté the mushrooms without moving for 2-3 minutes, until browned. Turn and cook an additional few minutes until browned on the second side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat until all the mushrooms are cooked. (May be done in advance.)
- Finely chop the mushrooms by hand or in the food processor until they resemble ground meat.
- In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms, onion, ground turkey, Worcestershire sauce and spices and mix together with damp hands until thoroughly combined.
- Form mixture into four equal inch-thick patties. (May be done in advance. Cover patties and chill until needed.)
- Grill, broil or pan-sear turkey burgers, turning at least once, until they reach an internal temperature of 160 to 165 degrees.
- Serve warm with your preferred toppings.
