Healthy and Simple Turkey Burgers

Ground turkey makes for great burgers and is a healthy substitute for ground beef, but it is a bit drier and flavorful due to it's considerably less fat content. There are many ingredients that can be added to ground turkey and produce great tasting burgers -- so good, in fact, that you won't even know that you aren't eating beef!

I began experimenting with ground turkey last year because I wanted a new like alternative to ground beef and also because I just like experimenting with food. I had tried ground turkey many years ago but, back then, it included light and dark meat, which I really did not care for at the time. I'm not sure if it's just me or if ground turkey has become much better in quality. I notice now that ground turkey is available in all white meat, all dark meat or a combination of the two, which offers a wider range of flavors, not to mention that all white meat is the healthiest of ground turkey options.

Burgers are but one of my experiments with ground turkey and also the focus of this article, so I will only discuss that. I tried to several variations of burgers, but I will just give the recipe for my most basic turkey burger experiment. Feel free to add to or subtract ingredients from my recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey
1 cup bread crumbs (or diced bread or smashed croutons)
2 tablespoons worcestshire sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon oil
salt to taste (after done frying)

Directions:

Thaw ground turkey or microwave it until thawed.

Combine all ingredients, except the oil and salt, thoroughly by hand.

Form into eight equal sized patties and refridgerate until really firm.

Add oil to a skillet on the stove top until hot.

Fry patties until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink.

Serve on burger buns or however you choose with whatever condiments you want.

I add the worcestshire sauce to give the turkey a kick of almost beef-like flavor, at least it does for me -- you be the judge. For even beefier taste, add beef bouillon into the mix but be careful of the salt, so I recommend low-sodium beef bouillon. The bread crumbs give the often tough ground turkey a softer, moister texture. Everything else is optional -- feel free to add more of the seasonings or use fresh garlic and onions. Soy sauce is another alternative.

For even healthier turkey burgers, broil or bake the burgers in the oven or cook on a grill.