Spicy Turkey Burgers

I realize that summer is on the way out the door and it's probably a bit late to be busting out another burger recipe now. Where was this tasty turkey burger recipe a month ago, huh??

Well, this has been a weird summer for us and we haven't even grilled all that much. The weather has been wacky, Shack has been working too much and we have been on a terrible eating schedule with too many days of super late lunches and then no real dinners. Better late than never though.

I don't know where the original recipe for these things came from so I can't give credit because I have been making them and tweaking the original recipe for years. For the most part, I have a hard time selling a poultry burger to Shack. He likes his burgers out of freshly ground beef with nothing but a good whack of salt and always says turkey burgers are dry. Of course, every time I make these ( I never actually tell him we are having turkey burgers before hand so he can't complain) he eats it with gusto and appears to love them. I like it because I can actually eat an entire burger without getting a tummy ache, which often happens with a regular burger. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the taste of beef but if I eat too much of it at one sitting, it doesn't always end well for me.

These make a great lunch for The Kid as well, so I always make the full recipe, cook 3 or 4 or them for dinner and then I pop the rest in the freezer so I can take one out when I want to send it in his magical thermos bento. To freeze them, I put a piece of parchment on a tray and lay the burgers out on top. If you freeze them like this, you can pop the frozen burgers into a freezer bag and just take out one at a time as needed. I have found these amazing freezer bags called Ziplock Perfect Portions and I am using them like crazy. I hate it when I put items like these burgers into a bag and then once I open it once to get a burger out, air gets in and the remaining items start getting freezer burn. These bags seems to put a stop to that problem and, therefore, I love them. 

You can also use this turkey mixture to make meatloaf or meatballs if that appeals to you. If you make it into a meatloaf or meatballs, just throw in two beaten eggs and a cup of fresh bread crumbs, brush some thai sweet chili sauce on top before you bake it and you are golden.

These burgers are mildly spicy as is but feel free to add more jalapeno pepper and I think the original recipe called for an entire tbls of dry hot mustard so you can go up to a tbls safely. I cut it back a bit because of The Kid, although he is getting better about heat in his food all time. They are juicy and full of flavour and I really love the crunch and the touch of acidity that the pickled vegetables add as well. If you are going to make the pickled daikon and carrot make it in the morning if you can't actually make it the day before. It really needs a full day to sit at the very least.

Spicy Turkey Burgers

makes 8 burgers

2 pounds lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
2 fresh green chile peppers,diced
1 medium red onion, diced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finelychopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tsp ground dry hot mustard
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

garnish: 

Thai sweet chili sauce 

Pickled Daikon and Carrot

Preheat the grill 

Mix all of the ingredients together in a big bowl. Lightly oil the grate and grill them for about 5 minutes per side or until done (the juice will run clear)

Toast your buns lightly and put some thai sweet chili sauce on the bottom bun before topping it with a turkey burger. Mound some pickled daikon and carrot on the burger and put on the top bun.

freeze raw burgers individually on a tray and throw in a freezer bag