Turkey Burgers

By Martha Rose Shulman

Updated August 5, 2024

  • A side image of three turkey burgers stacked with lettuce, tomato and pickles.
    Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Simon Andrews.
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Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(5,561)
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Turkey burgers are much leaner than hamburgers, but they can be dry and dull. Moisten them by adding ketchup and a bit of grated onion to the ground turkey — or mayonnaise and a bit of mustard. The idea is to emphasize condiments, and keep the turkey moist.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 burgers

FOR THE BURGERS

  • ½ medium onion

  • 1 pound lean ground turkey

  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 tablespoons ketchup

  • ¾ teaspoon salt

  • Freshly ground pepper to taste

  • 4 hamburger buns, preferably whole wheat

  • 1 tablespoon canola oil, or use pan spray

  • Thin slices of Cheddar, optional

FOR SERVING

  • Sliced tomato

  • Sliced onion

  • Iceberg lettuce

  • Pickles

  • Sliced red pepper

  • Ketchup and mustard

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Grate the onion on the fine holes of a grater. You should have about two tablespoons of grated onion (and a lot of juice, which you can discard). Place in a bowl with the ground turkey, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt and pepper. Using a fork, mix together well. Shape into four patties — the mixture will be quite moist — and press the patties into ½-inch thick rounds.

  2. Step 2

    Heat the canola oil in a nonstick griddle or large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. (Alternately, spray the griddle or pan with pan spray.) When you can feel the heat while holding your hand just above griddle or pan, cook the patties for five minutes on each side, topping with slices of Cheddar, if desired, after the first flip. Serve burgers on buns, with the condiments of your choice.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
5,561 user ratings
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Comments

Ari

I think in the future I'm going to use the phrase "grating an onion" as a metaphor for a nearly impossible task. What mush I did get was delicious and worked well for the patties, but at the risk of sliding layers off while applying pressure and grating my fingers...

vern

The seasoning for the burgers are delicious. For the same results with less time, I baked the patties in the oven first for 30 mins at 375 F and then seared it on my griddle for 2 mins on each side. It came out delicious, moist and full of flavor

KDR

KLK, try the donut method of burger forming. You make the patty and then put a depression in the center - it helps reduce shrinkage and cooks more evenly (which is good since it is poultry).

Don’t Grill Them

These burgers don’t stick together at all. You need to bake them.

douglas

These were amazing, my mother in law was right!!!

Bernice K

This is great. I add two tablespoons of mayo instead of ketchup. I let the burgers firm up on oiled foil on the grill then transfer directly to hot grill. I use seiss cheese and Russian dressing. Delish!

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