It’s finally grilling season in Minnesota again! This past weekend was the first weekend that was warm enough to want to sit out side and the wind had finally died down so we could dust off the ole Weber charcoal grill. Many of you may not know that Minnesota is the #1 turkey producing state in this great Union; some of you probably have heard that Minnesota turkey farms have been hit hard by the latest strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza; even less of you probably know that even though this bird flu is doing a number on one of Minnesota’s most important industries, any turkey products that make it into the market place are safe to eat, influenza is not a food safety issue. So, I decided to support Minnesota this weekend and grill some turkey burgers!
We decided to make these burgers “naked”, or without the bun. Mostly in an effort to cut out some carbs, and also because I have a hard time fitting an entire burger and bun in my stomach in one sitting. Naked burgers are just as delicious, and less filling. Because a plain turkey burger with no bun would just be boring and sad, we added some jalapeno and onion to the meat, and topped it with guacamole. I used Dana’s guac but left out the jalap because I put it in the burger; the guacamole added some really good flavor and cooled down the heat from the jalapeno in the meat.
Here’s what you need:
I made the guac a little chunkier than I normally would if I was using it for just guac and chips. This just means not smashing the avocados as much.
Burgers are pretty simple to make, you just need to mash up everything you want in your burger and press it into a patty. Turkey burgers are a little more difficult because of the lower fat content, they tend not to stick together as well. This is one of the reasons I opted to get lesser-lean ground turkey than I normally would. The egg will also help to make them stick together.
I worked the egg into the turkey before I added the rest of the ingredients because we were also making some blue cheese burgers. You really have to get your hands dirty while you mix the egg into the ground turkey, so make sure you wash your hands well before touching anything else, no one wants a Salmonella or Campylobacter infection.
Next just add whatever you want in your burger, and again work everything together really well.
I used, chopped jalapeno, red onion, kosher salt, and pepper.
We used a burger press to make the patties, but you can also make balls and then flatten them into patties. The burger press actually made the patties a little too thin for the ground turkey, a little thicker patty probably would have held together a bit better.
Now it’s just time to grill them. Place the patties on the grill, about 5 minutes per side.
Pull them off the grill and top them with guacamole, and whatever else you’d like, and enjoy!
Obviously, now would be a good time to put it on a bun if you aren’t interested in nakedness.
- 1 pound ground turkey (use the higher fat content, I used 90/10, you could even use 85/15)
- 1 egg
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 1 small jalapeno, chopped
- Kosher salt
- pepper
- guacamole
- Mix the ground turkey, egg, jalapeno, onion, salt and pepper together in a bowl until everything is well incoporated
- Take a quarter of the mixture and use a burger press to make patties, or roll into a ball and flatten into patties
- Place patties on grill, about 5 minutes per side
- Top with guacamole
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