These wonderful, jazzed-up turkey burgers are on my grill every summer and in my grill pan every winter. Often, turkey or chicken burgers end up bland and dry, even when not overcooked, but these don’t. Sometimes ground poultry doesn’t hold together the way ground beef does, but these do without the overhandling that leads to hockey pucks.
Some of their moisture comes from within, from a fabulously spicy sauce. A small amount of quick-cooking oats — my favorite binder for meatloaves — holds them together without any need to overhandle the mixture. They’re fast, easy and healthful but most of all, they are bursting with flavor. Sometimes I eat them on their own, not as a sandwich, and crumbled leftovers are always welcome in salads, nachos and tacos.
I’ve had this recipe for years and my only notation where I got it is this: turkey organization. I assume it’s a trade group, although which one I don’t know, but I’m indebted to whoever first mixed up these ingredients and wrote them down. The original is for broiled burgers and they certainly can be made that way, but when I think of burgers I think of grilling.
Spicy Turkey Burgers
1 pound ground turkey [I use 93% lean, all breast is too dry ~ ella]
1/4 cup/20g quick-cooking oats
Sauce
1/2 cup/136g ketchup
1 tablespoon vinegar [I use white]
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
In a small bowl or a glass measuring cup, mix together all sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Mix together ground turkey and oats. Add half of the sauce and blend thoroughly. Form into four patties.
Grill or broil 5 – 7 minutes. Flip and brush on remaining sauce. Grill another 5 – 7 minutes. If you like spicy stuff as much as Ella does, keep some of the sauce to use as a condiment for more kick.
Ella’s tip: To avoid that risen center with any grilled burger, use your thumb to make an indentation in the center before putting them on the grill. You’ll have flat burgers forever!
Copyright (C) 2008 From Scratch All Rights Reserved 
Print This Post
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum. We sho’ nuff love the turkey burgers in this house. I tried the sauce and it is seriously yum. Oddly enough, quick cooking oats is my choice for turkey meatloaf too – only because husbing brought them home from the market and this Irish girl would DIE before she cooked oatmeal from anything other than steel cut or old fashioned rolled. So had to use them for something!
Love the new look by the way. Very classy.
pbsweeney’s last blog post..In Beauty
I’m so glad you liked the sauce. Seriously yum is a perfect description. Thanks for letting me know.
I’m only half Irish but I am wholly in agreement about oats. I keep the quick cooking on hand only for binder and a few baking recipes that use them. Nothing, nothing beats steel cut oats for breakfast unless it’s steel cut oats with bacon on the side!
And thank you for the feedback on the new look. It was time. Y’know?