Turkey burgers have a reputation for being dry and lacking flavor compared to classic beef burgers. But with a few simple tricks, you can make turkey burgers that are super juicy, packed with flavor, and give beef burgers a run for their money.
As a long-time turkey burger lover and homemade burger enthusiast, I’ve discovered some key techniques that take turkey burgers from dull to delicious. Follow these tips and you’ll be biting into tender, mouthwatering turkey burgers in no time.
Choose the Right Ground Turkey
Not all ground turkey is created equal when it comes to moisture and flavor. Here are some tips for choosing the best ground turkey for juicy burgers
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Opt for ground breast meat over ground whole turkey. Breast meat is leaner and won’t dry out as easily.
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Look for 93% lean ground turkey. This provides a balance of moisture and fat for flavor. Going above 93% can cause dryness.
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Avoid pre-formed patties and tubes of ground turkey. Opt for fresh, loose ground turkey for the best texture.
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Organic, free-range, or heritage breed turkey can provide more flavor.
Mix In Flavor Boosters
Since turkey is milder than beef, it benefits from added flavor. Mix in a combo of savory ingredients like:
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Finely diced onions and garlic – caramelize them first for added moisture
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Spices like cumin, paprika, chili powder, curry powder, etc.
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Fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, basil, oregano, rosemary
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Umami flavors from Worcestershire, soy sauce, fish sauce, tomato paste
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Grated Parmesan or crumbled feta cheese
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Chopped mushrooms, peppers, or other veggies
Use a Binding Agent
A binding agent helps keep turkey burgers tender and moist. Popular options include:
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1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise or aioli
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1 lightly beaten egg
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2-3 tablespoons breadcrumbs or panko
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2-3 tablespoons Greek yogurt or sour cream
Don’t Overwork the Meat
Resist the urge to handle the meat too much when mixing. Gently combine ingredients just until blended. Overworking causes the proteins to toughen, resulting in dense, dry patties.
Make a Dimple In the Center
Before cooking, use your thumb to make a small indent in the center of each patty. This prevents the burgers from puffing up and drying out. The cracked center cooks faster, allowing the middle to finish at the same time as the outer edges.
Add a Flour Dredge
Just before cooking, dredge each patty lightly in flour on both sides, shaking off any excess. This helps form a nice sear while keeping the patties tender and moist inside. The flour particles create steam pockets that keep juices in.
Cook At Moderate Heat
Avoid high heat when cooking turkey burgers, as it can make the exterior tough while leaving the inside underdone. Medium heat allows the burgers to cook gently and evenly for perfect doneness.
Don’t Press Down While Cooking
Resist the urge to press on turkey burgers as they cook. This squeezes out all their juices, leaving them dry and bland. Let them cook undisturbed for maximum moisture.
Cook Until 165°F Internal Temp
Since ground turkey can contain bacteria, it’s important to cook patties to an internal temperature of 165°F as measured by a meat thermometer. This ensures safety while avoiding overcooking.
Let Them Rest Before Serving
As with beef burgers, letting turkey patties rest for 5 minutes after cooking allows juices to re-distribute so they don’t run out when you bite in. This helps lock in moisture and flavor.
Load Up On Juicy Toppings
Choose moist, flavorful toppings that complement the turkey flavor rather than hide it. Ideas include:
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Melty cheese slices like cheddar, Swiss, pepper jack
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Caramelized onions, grilled peppers, or sautéed mushrooms
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Thick tomato slices, lettuce leaves, crunchy pickles
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Savory aioli, pesto mayo, guacamole, salsa
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Fried egg, crispy bacon, sliced avocado
Make Turkey Burger Juice Pouches
Here is an extra technique if you want turkey burgers oozing with juice:
Make small pouches in the center of each patty using plastic wrap or foil. Fill with a teaspoon of broth, juice, or melted butter before cooking. Remove pouches before serving.
Cook Turkey Burgers on a Flat Top Grill
Cooking turkey burgers on a flat top grill rather than an open flame allows the patties to simmer in their own juices as they cook. This infuses them with extra moisture and flavor.
Grill Them on a BBQ Plank
Grilling turkey patties directly on a cedar BBQ plank prevents drying while adding a subtle wood-smoked taste. Soak planks beforehand so they don’t burn.
The Best Turkey Burger Recipe
To try out these turkey burger tips, check out this delicious, foolproof turkey burger recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs or panko
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp dried Italian herbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Flour for dredging
- Burger buns and toppings
Instructions:
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Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Let cool.
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Gently mix turkey, cooled onion/garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire, and seasonings in a bowl until just combined.
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Divide into 4 patties. Make a dimple in each patty.
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Dredge patties lightly in flour on both sides, shaking off excess.
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Cook patties on a flat top or lightly oiled skillet over medium heat for 5-7 minutes per side, until 165°F internal temp.
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Let patties rest for 5 minutes before serving on buns with desired toppings.
Follow these tips and you’ll be sinking your teeth into juicy, flavor-packed turkey burgers that give beef burgers a real run for their money. Dinnertime just got a whole lot more delicious!
My Goals and Discoveries
Pleasantly coarse texture
A few tablespoons of panko bread crumbs break up the finely ground turkey; gently tossing all the ingredients together and using a light touch to shape the patties helps keep the texture loose.
Juicy mouthfeel and rich flavor
Baking soda and gelatin keep the meat moist; help with browning, richness, and savory flavor; and provide a juicy mouthfeel. Melted butter adds richness, and soy sauce and Parmesan contribute savoriness.
Evenly cooked meat
Starting the patties in a cold skillet means the exteriors can slowly start to brown while the interiors rise in temperature to 160 degrees. Covering the skillet envelops the burgers in steam so that they cook quickly and evenly.
Confession time: I genuinely enjoy turkey burgers. If you’ve encountered a truly bad version (plenty exist) or consider it a punishment to eat a burger made from anything but beef, hear me out: There’s a lot to like about a well‑made turkey burger. Think a light, juicy texture; savory meat; and a tender, well‑browned crust.
For turkey burger success, you must first make peace with the obvious: Ground turkey isn’t ground beef. It’s very wet—71 percent water versus 66 percent for beef—which makes it hard to work with, yet it can easily cook up dry. That’s because ground turkey must be cooked to 160 degrees. At that temperature, nearly all the turkey’s abundant moisture will have been squeezed out by contracting proteins. Thorough mixing also causes the myosin (a sticky protein) in the ground turkey to link up tightly, so the burger turns dense.
Many recipes mitigate dry, compact patties by adding mix-ins such as vegetables, beans, and grains that either contribute or trap moisture or break up the texture of the patty. Unfortunately, with too many additions, the result often resembles a veggie burger, perpetuating the idea that ground turkey makes a laughable meal for a meat lover. It’s true that to make an extraordinary burger, ground turkey needs a little help. The key is to choose the right mix-ins and use as little of them as you can get away with.
Pulsing a whole cut of turkey in the food processor would have allowed me to produce a coarse grind for a loose-textured patty, but that was too much trouble for an everyday recipe, so I set my sights on improving the preground stuff. Just like packaged ground beef, packaged ground turkey is blended to have a range of fat contents. I knew that the 99 percent lean type was a nonstarter; the greater amount of fat in 93 percent lean turkey (more widely available than 85 percent lean) would provide more flavor and moisture.
To address the dense consistency that the sticky myosin produces, I added panko bread crumbs, which physically disrupted the proteins and made the meat feel coarse and light (rather than tough and dense) on the tongue. For 1 pound of turkey, 3 tablespoons of panko did the job without making the burgers taste bready.
But panko wasn’t a panacea. Kneading and squeezing the turkey to evenly incorporate the bread crumbs created too sturdy a myosin gel, resulting in a springy, sausage-like consistency. To get around this, I broke the slab of ground turkey into ½-inch pieces prior to adding the panko. This exposed more surface area for even dispersal of the crumbs, reduced the amount of mixing required, and kept the meat loose.
Now the turkey had a pleasant texture, but after reaching 160 degrees, it still wasn’t juicy. A couple of test kitchen tricks took care of that. First, I bathed the meat in a solution of baking soda dissolved in a teaspoon of water. The baking soda solution raised the pH, changing the protein structure and enabling the meat to better retain moisture. (It also sped up the Maillard reaction, providing better browning.) Second, I added a bit of unflavored gelatin to hold moisture, creating a juicy mouthfeel.
Fat and Flavor Boosters
A satisfying burger needs some richness, so next I added a bit of melted butter. A single tablespoon solidified when it hit the cold meat, creating tiny particles of fat throughout the patties that remelted during cooking to produce a rich taste and texture.
Ground turkey is full of moisture—more so than ground beef—but since you have to cook it to 160 degrees, it’s virtually impossible to keep the juices in the meat unless you give it some help. Here’s how we deliver all the qualities that make a turkey burger taste good—really good.
To augment the meat’s savoriness, I experimented with glutamate-rich soy sauce, Parmesan, and ground shiitake mushrooms separately and in combination. The mushrooms overwhelmed the meat, but 1½ tablespoons of soy sauce together with 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan packed a solid umami punch without being overpowering. When shaping the patties, I used a gentle hand to keep the burger mix coarse and loose.
We often cook burgers by searing the patties in a sizzling-hot skillet. The outside of the meat quickly browns while the interior stays cooler. But the interior of a turkey burger needs to be cooked thoroughly, and in a hot skillet the exterior is likely to overcook and turn leathery by the time the interior is done. Unless I wanted to negate all the advances I had already made, I needed to come up with a new method.
Juicy Turkey Burger Recipe
FAQ
How do you keep turkey burgers from drying out?
Adding a healthy fat to the meat is the key to keeping your burger nice and juicy. You can use olive oil as listed, or try another healthy fat like avocado oil.
How do you keep ground turkey moist?
Processing ground turkey with salt (and the other ingredients) made a noticeable difference in preserving moisture.Jan 9, 2024
How to make turkey tender and juicy?
One of the best ways is to cook it breast down so all of the yummy juices drip inside if the bird that usually dries out. About 30 minutes before it is done, put the bird legs down, baste the top with butter several times over 30 minutes so you get a golden and crispy skin on the top.
Are turkey burgers supposed to be juicy?
The burgers are a bit sticky (which means they are moist and will be nice and juicy), so it’s helpful to shape them with lightly moistened hands. Use ground turkey thighs in this recipe. Turkey breast is too lean and will produce dry burgers.