Healthy Turkey Burger Recipe

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I can make some mean turkey burgers! I first started my weight-loss journey back in 2010, and one of the first things I did to begin lowering my fat and calories was swapping out ground beef for ground turkey.

In the beginning, I wasn’t always as successful with making that swap. Often, I was left with dried-out meat, no flavor, and nobody in my household that would eat it.

However, I have learned many tips and tricks for getting the juiciest, most flavorful ground turkey burger over the years. Actually, I’ve become quite the expert in ground turkey recipes! 

Today, I’m going to show you how to make the best turkey burger recipe. If you have a turkey burger skeptic on your hands, then definitely make this recipe, and I bet you can change their mind! 

Once you have this recipe in your repertoire, here are some other turkey burger recipes to put on the summer grill menu – Greek Turkey Burgers, Buffalo Turkey Burgers, Italian Turkey Burger or Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Turkey Burgers. Or check out all of my ground turkey recipes.

Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe

• Low carb, low fat, and high protein. This healthy turkey burger recipe will fill you up and keep you full. And, they taste great on their own without any bread. So, they are great options for a low-carb or keto diet.
• Gluten-free. There are no breadcrumbs in this gluten free turkey burger.
• Versatile. Turkey burgers are literally a blank canvas. You can add just about any flavor or ingredient to ground turkey and have endless recipe creations. It’s a great way to use up leftover sauces or other ingredients in the refrigerator and pantry.
• Easy to meal prep. Turkey burgers only take about 5 minutes to mix up. You can make the patties ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to grill or freeze to have prepared for a future dinner. One of my favorite ways to meal prep turkey burgers is to make them entirely ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator for a quick heat and eat dinner. See more ground turkey meal prep ideas.

Ingredients

Lean ground turkey. Before we get into any cooking techniques or seasonings, let’s start with the type of ground turkey that works best for making the juiciest turkey burger recipes.

When I choose ground turkey, I always look for the ground turkey with higher fat content – 90% lean and 10% fat. 

The higher the fat ratio, the juicier and more flavorful the turkey burgers will be. The leaner the meat, the less fat it has, which means the drier the burger will be.

When you’re making a turkey burger, you want more fat because you have to cook it thoroughly. You can’t cook turkey burgers medium or medium-rare, so it’s essential to have higher fat content or add fat into the ground turkey to make sure that it stays moist.

The next thing is you want to choose a ground turkey that has a coarse grind, not a finer one.

A coarser grind makes the burgers easier to handle when putting the mixture together and forming the patties. Ground turkey that has a finer grind tends to have more liquid and is a lot mushier. 

Not saying you can’t use this type of ground turkey for burgers, but the mixture will be harder to handle, so you might need to add a binder like eggs or breadcrumbs to form the patties. Also, if there is extra liquid in the turkey burger package, then make sure to drain that entirely before making the patties.

I prefer keeping the turkey burgers gluten-free, so I don’t like using a breadcrumb binder when making burgers. For this reason, I tend to purchase a coarser ground turkey.

I also purchase organic ground turkey when I can.

Organic ground turkey has fantastic flavor, great texture, and all the organic brands I’ve purchased come in a larger grind.

My favorite brands to purchase are Nature’s Rancher that I get from Whole Foods, Wegman’s organic turkey breast, and Butcher Box Online Meat Delivery. Butcher Box now has ground turkey, so I add at least four packages in every order.

Milk or heavy cream. This is my secret ingredient to moist, juicy turkey burgers. One tablespoon of milk or cream will add just enough fat to keep the ground turkey from drying out. I use this tip even when I’m making a healthy beef burger recipe. It especially helpful when you’re using extra lean ground turkey.

Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Ground turkey is super bland, so it needs spices to perk the flavor up. This is the turkey burger seasoning I use to create the best favor.

Worcestershire sauce. This is another secret ingredient I use to add flavor to turkey burgers – it gives a meaty flavor that resembles a beef burger that everyone loves. 

How to Make a Healthy Turkey Burger Recipe

• In a large mixing bowl, mix the lean ground turkey, spices, cream, and Worcestershire sauce.
• Divide the turkey meat into four sections and then form them into patties.
• Heat the grill to medium-high heat and let it heat up for 5 minutes.
• Place the turkey patties on the grill and cook for 5 minutes per side. 
• Let the turkey burgers sit for 1-2 minutes, and then enjoy on your favorite hamburger bun with ketchup, tomato, lettuce, and all your favorite burger toppings!

You can make the turkey burgers using an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan. My favorite way to cook turkey burgers is indoors with my Lodge Cast Iron grill pan. I live in Buffalo, NY, so I don’t grill outside year-round, so having a grill pan is essential. I’ve used this grill pan for a long time, and it makes it very easy to cook turkey burgers and recipes like wraps, quesadillas, vegetables, and even steaks.