As a teen, I was confused when I read a box of taco directions. I remember the step after cooking the ground beef was something like “drain off the water.” What water? It only took one time, and then I knew what water they were referring to. Cooking ground beef often results in gray, rubbery nubbins, and browning it is even harder because of that pool of liquid. Luckily, there’s an easy remedy for this problem: Cook faster, more tender ground beef with a sprinkle of baking soda.
Ground turkey can sometimes be dry and bland. But with one simple ingredient – baking soda – you can transform it into juicy,flavorful meat that your family will love. Here’s everything you need to know about how to properly add baking soda to ground turkey.
Why Use Baking Soda?
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, an alkaline substance that raises the pH of meat. This prevents the proteins from binding too tightly when cooked, which makes the meat dry and tough.
Adding just a small amount of baking soda to ground turkey before cooking helps break down the proteins, tenderizing the meat. This allows the ground turkey to better retain its natural juices and moisture during cooking. The result is turkey that is incredibly tender, juicy, and packed with flavor.
The alkaline environment created by the baking soda also promotes browning and the Maillard reaction. This reaction produces hundreds of complex, tasty flavor compounds not found in raw meat. Better browning equals better flavor.
The Ideal Baking Soda Ratio
When adding baking soda to ground turkey, too much can make the meat taste bitter Too little won’t have a noticeable tenderizing effect
The ideal baking soda to meat ratio is:
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda per 12 ounces ground turkey
For larger batches, simply scale up the quantities. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for 24 ounces of ground turkey, 3/4 teaspoon for 36 ounces, and so on.
As long as you stick to a ratio of 1/4 teaspoon per 12 ounces of meat, you can tenderize any amount of ground turkey.
How to Add Baking Soda to Ground Turkey
Adding baking soda to your ground turkey is simple:
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Sprinkle – Evenly sprinkle the measured amount of baking soda over the raw ground turkey.
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Mix – Thoroughly mix the baking soda into the meat using your hands or a spoon. Ensure it’s evenly distributed.
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Rest – Let the ground turkey sit for 15 minutes after mixing in the baking soda. This gives it time to work its tenderizing magic.
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Cook – Cook the ground turkey as usual, whether pan-frying, baking, or grilling. The baking soda will keep it juicy.
And that’s it! With just a dash of baking soda, you’ll get the most tender, moist, and delicious ground turkey.
Tips and Tricks
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For sliced meats like chicken breasts, mix the baking soda with 1-2 tbsp water first. This helps distribute it evenly when brushing on.
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Don’t overdo the baking soda. Too much can make the turkey taste soapy or bitter. Stick to the recommended 1/4 tsp per 12 oz ratio.
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Add any extra seasonings after mixing in the baking soda, not before.
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Rinse off any visible baking soda before eating. A quick rinse prevents sodium overload.
Why Baking Soda Browns and Tenderizes Meat
Baking soda provides two major benefits when added to ground turkey:
Tenderizing – Baking soda changes the pH of the meat, causing muscle proteins to repel instead of bind when heated. Less protein tightening equals more tender meat.
Browning – The alkaline environment created by baking soda accelerates the Maillard reaction, resulting in faster, more flavorful browning.
So baking soda both physically tenderizes the meat through pH change and chemically enhances flavor through browning reactions. It’s a double whammy that takes your ground turkey from bland and boring to restaurant-quality delicious.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much baking soda do I use on ground turkey?
Use 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per 12 ounces of raw ground turkey. Mix thoroughly and let sit 15 minutes before cooking.
When should I add baking soda to ground turkey?
Add baking soda just before cooking, after the ground turkey is portioned. Do not add it to turkey that is already cooked.
What happens if I use too much baking soda?
Excess baking soda can make the turkey taste bitter, alkaline, or soapy. It can also cause the meat to brown too fast, resulting in a dry, tough texture.
Can I tenderize whole turkeys with baking soda?
Yes, rub a thin coating of baking soda on whole turkeys before roasting. Use 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of turkey. Rinse before carving and eating.
Does baking soda only work on ground meats?
No, baking soda can also tenderize and brown sliced pork, chicken, steak, and other meats. Use approximately 1/4 – 1/2 tsp per 1 pound of cut meat.
Make Flavorful, Juicy Ground Turkey Dishes
With the baking soda trick, you can now upgrade bland ground turkey to become deliciously juicy and packed with flavor. Use it to make exceptional turkey burgers, meatballs, tacos, casseroles, and more!
Your family will never guess that such simple, succulent ground turkey meals came from such a cheap pantry staple. Baking soda is an inexpensive but highly effective secret weapon for making tender, browned meat dishes people will rave about.
Give this easy cooking hack a try next time you’ve got ground turkey on the menu. Enjoy your new go-to method for incredibly tender, moist and tasty turkey dishes!
The best way to cook ground beef
I have no issues making this claim: This is the best way to cook ground beef. Full stop. Baking soda is a household chemical most folks have readily available in the kitchen (and if you don’t it’s about $1.50 at the grocery store). This method requires the tiniest amount to be effective (more on that in a moment), and it results in not only beautifully browned, crisped edges on your ground beef, but those morsels are soft, juicy, and more flavorful than when they steam in their own liquid mess.
I first became aware of baking soda’s cooking benefits from America’s Test Kitchen because it can speed up the cooking of tough vegetables. There’s a lot more it can do with meat—and that includes sliced or ground beef, chicken, and pork too. The way I do it is by dumping the ground meat into a large frying pan. (Crowding any ingredient, whether veggie or meat, is a surefire way to create steam and that delays browning, so give your food plenty of space.) Break up the meat with the heat off, and then sprinkle on a small amount of baking soda. America’s Test Kitchen recommends about a quarter teaspoon for every 12 ounces of meat, so for 16 ounces of beef I eyeballed a heaping quarter-teaspoon.
Sprinkle the bicarb as widely as you can to cover the most meat surface as possible. It’s impossible to cover every spot, and thats okay, itll still work wonders. Toss, flip, and stir the meat around to mix up the meat with the baking soda and let it sit for 15 minutes. When the timer is up, turn on the flame and cook as usual.
I cooked two batches of meat to show the difference—one with the baking soda treatment and one without. For the baking soda batch, I sprinkled it on and waited 15 minutes. Then I turned the flame onto about medium heat and started stirring and breaking up the meat as it began to cook. Not only did the meat cook quickly, but I started seeing browning within the first two minutes; a lot of the meat was still raw in areas.
The entire pan of meat was cooked in five minutes, and I crisped it for two extra minutes. There was only one moment where I could see some liquid emerge, but it was nothing you would equate to a pool.
For the regular ground meat, I simply started cooking it over medium heat, breaking it apart and stirring. Things were looking the same for the first minute, minus the browning. Then just before the final parts turned gray, a great puddle of liquid formed. That liquid is supposed to be inside your meat, by the way. Instead, it fills the pan before the meat can start browning and further delays that browning. That pan took an extra five minutes and the meat pieces were noticeably tough.
