Greek Turkey Burgers

This post was originally posted July 11, 2020.

You’re going to start seeing the results of all my months in quarantine here as I reveal the recipes I created, re-created, tested, tested, tested and tested again while living in quarantine. My shelter in place was either robust with productivity or lazy as all hell. The weeks I had loads of ambition and energy, I cooked my butt off. The other weeks I just, gosh, I don’t even know what the heck I did with my days. But during my busy weeks, I created and tested a wealth of recipes, and this is one of them.

These turkey burgers were the result of never being able to find ground meat. While we were quarantined, and certainly the first few scary weeks, we all had a hankering for burgers. And not just any burgers. Our burgers had to be our version of the ultimate burger. Dan would make them by hand (fist size balls he would smash in a screaming hot cast-iron pan for the perfect caramelization) and we’d spend an afternoon caramelizing onions for them. Brioche buns, lots of condiments and a fried egg on mine and that was dinner once a week. Then there was no meat at our grocery stores but a surplus of ground turkey. So there you have it. I created Greek Turkey Burgers because I had no choice. By the end of their testing phase, Scarlett demanded them instead of any other burger. They became her ultimate dinner and I didn’t mind since they were fast to throw together and quick to cook.

I think the flavour really comes from bringing the onion down to a soupy paste. It doesn’t sound appealing, but it’s the best way I can describe it. I used to always throw onions in my food processor when Scarlett was little because she’d pick the “white things” out of any dish that had diced or chopped onion in it. This method permeates the meat with the onion. The addition of the dill seeds also helps make these burgers a flavour bomb. We cram a lot of baby spinach, chopped cucumbers, red onion, crumbled feta and tzatziki into each pita along with our burgers.

Greek Turkey Burgers

You'll never here about blah turkey burgers again with these uber flavourful patties jammeed with dill and oregano. Don't forget all the fixings especially the tzatziki!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Servings: 4 burgers

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 lb. ground turkey meat
• 1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup panko
• 2 tsps dried ground oregano
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dill seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 whole wheat pitas
• 1/2 cup baby spinach
• chopped cucumber
• crumbled feta
• chopped red onion
• tzatziki

Method

 

1. In a food processor, add your onion and process until it's like a paste. It will be very wet.
2. In a medium bowl, add the ground turkey. Using your hands, mix in the onion, panko, dried oregano, garlic powder, dill seeds and salt. Divide the meat into four portions and shape into patties. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.
3. Remove burgers from the refrigerator and cook in skillet over medium high heat for 5 to 6 minutes on each side.
4. Place cooked burger into a pita crammed with baby spinach, cucumber, red onion, crumbled feta and tzatziki.
5. Note: I recommend not skipping refrigerating the burgers since the processed onion make them very wet. The refrigerator helps firm them up a bit so they're easier to cook.