It’s finally time for a recipe! It’s been a while since I’ve made something that felt worthy of sharing, but these burgers were just the thing! I love Mediterranean food and will often do a lemony chicken or chicken souvlaki. But I was craving something different and decide to try out these Greek Turkey Burgers I’d pinned forever ago. I made a bunch of substitutions to work with what I had on hand and it worked out great!
I was able to use some of the produce from my latest hungry harvest, and have a delicious homemade meal done in less than an hour. And I had leftovers for the week! I’ve definitely been working on being more flexible in the kitchen, so I rolled with the fact that I didn’t have several of the ingredients, and we used toasted bread instead of traditional hamburger buns. It was super tasty and would definitely be something I’d make again!
Turkey burgers tend to get a bad reputation for being dry and boring, but a lot of that has to do with how you cook them. Incorporating a bunch of vegetables in these kept them moist and using a cooking thermometer also helped me determine when they were done without overcooking them. I didn’t grow-up using a cooking thermometer, but highly recommend them for taking the guess work out of cooking meats to a safe temperature. Also, serving this with a very flavorful and easy tzatziki is a great way to add extra flavor and moisture.
What are your favorite go-to meals? Have you ever made turkey burgers?
Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki
Makes 6 patties
Adapted from Budget Bytes
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cucumber
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
- 1 lemon, juiced and divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced and divided
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1/2 bell pepper, diced
- 1/4 cup feta, crumbled
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat panko)
- 1 egg
In a small bowl, combine plain yogurt, cucumber, dill, 1/2 the lemon juice, 1/3 of the garlic, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and refrigerate while you make the burgers.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining lemon juice and garlic, ground turkey, onion, bell pepper, feta, oregano, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and egg. Use clean hands to mix until just combined (mixing too much makes the meat tough). Divide the meat mixture into 6 patties.
Grease a large skillet with cooking spray. Heat over medium heat. Add the patties to the hot pan being mindful not to over crowd the pan. Cover and let cook for about 3-4 minutes or until nicely browned. Flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes, or until cooked through. Using a cooking thermometer, they’re done when they’ve reached 165ºF in the center.
Serve the burgers with tzatziki sauce. I used toast because I didn’t have hamburger buns on hand, but serve as desired (also great on a bed of greens).
