burrell's turkey burger recipe
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, cut into ¼-inch dice
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely chopped
  • 2 pounds ground turkey; I used 85% lean (The original recipe calls for 1½ pounds. I felt the overall burger saltiness was better balanced using 2 pounds.)
  • ¼ cup soy sauce (How much you use depends on the variety of soy sauce, so use less then scale up if you need to after tasting a cooked test patty.)
  • 1 tablespoon sambal oelek or sriracha sauce, if you want some heat
  • 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
  • One 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped
  • a large handful of fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
  • buns, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, mustard, ketchup
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F to keep the first batch of burgers warm.
  2. For the burgers: Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil. Add the onions, season with salt and bring to a medium-high heat. Cook the onions until they are soft, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes; do not burn. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the turkey, soy sauce, sambal oelek/sriracha, ginger, water chestnuts, cilantro and the cooked onions and garlic. (Reserve the onion pan to cook the burgers in later.) Anne recommends adding one-quarter to one-half cup water here for moistness, but I did not do this step and felt the end product was very moist. If you are using very lean meat, you should consider adding the water. Using your hands, squish everything together until really well combined. A caveat: don't overmix as your meat will become tough.
  4. Make and cook a little tester patty to be sure that the turkey is really well seasoned. Re-season if needed. When the burger mix is seasoned appropriately, form into 6 to 8 patties.
  5. Coat the sauté pan with new olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat. Place the burgers in the pan. Don't crowd the pan, or the burgers will steam. Cook the burgers for about 5 to 6 minutes on each side. When done, place in oven to keep warm while you cook the other burgers.
  6. Serve with your choice of condiments. I prefer a whole-wheat bun over a white bun for these to hold up against the burger juiciness with less bun sogginess. Some sogginess from condiments and burger juice can be prevented from creating an upper bun-cheese and lower bun-lettuce barriers. You don't want your bun to fall apart with meat juice while eating! My photo shows a white bun, per Eat's request and his tacit abhorrence of wheaty buns.
  7. UPDATE 11/2015: I had a friend try a freeze-thaw on the uncooked burgers to see how they held up. They were perfect! I recommend freezing the raw patties individually on a sheet pan, then wrapping solo in plastic and foil to help combat freezer burn. I expect they'd last frozen for about 3 months. Before cooking, thaw in fridge overnight.
Recipe by story of a kitchen at https://www.storyofakitchen.com/meat-recipes/burrells-turkey-burger-recipe/