You shouldn’t be afraid to make patties out of turkey burger. I know they can turn out dry and crumbly, but if you add back some healthy fat, such as olive oil, they hold together just fine. An egg will help, too, but I don’t always use one. In this recipe, I use a combination of olive oil, spices, and diced roasted red peppers in my patties. A bit of chevre spread on toasted English muffins, roasted red pepper strips, and baby greens complete the meal. Simple, healthy, and (kind of) elegant.

Ingredients:

1 lb. turkey burger
4 English muffins
1 jar roasted red peppers
chevre
baby greens
olive oil
garlic powder
basil
marjoram
salt
black pepper
egg (optional)

Guidelines:

Light your grill.

With your hands, combine a couple tablespoons olive oil, a couple shakes of garlic powder, basil, and marjoram, a pinch of salt, a couple grinds of black pepper, several tablespoons of diced roasted red peppers, and the turkey burger. (And the egg, if you choose to use.)

Divide the mixture into four equal portions. Place on preheated grill and cook until done. (To be honest, I let my husband handle this part, so I don’t know the exact amount of time it takes, but, depending on the thickness of the burgers, I’d estimate it averages about 12-15 minutes total.)

Slice the remaining roasted red peppers and heat them in a pan over low heat.

Split the English muffins and toast them. Spread a light layer of chevre on each side.

Place the burger on one half of the English muffin. Top burger with roasted red pepper strips and baby greens. Place the other half of the English muffin on top and enjoy!

To spice up these burgers, I add adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles (available in the Latin/Hispanic/Mexican section of your grocery store) directly to the ground meat. I also borrow The Kitchen Sink’s idea for Chipotle “Ketchup.” Her recipe is here. My version is in the guidelines. I’d use this sauce lightly. Too much and it overwhelms the flavors of everything else. Plus, it’s spicy, and if you’re not into heat, it might be too much for you. If you know you won’t dig it, simply leave the sauce off.

Ingredients:

1- 1 ½ lbs turkey burger
1 shallot, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper (to taste)
4 tsp. adobo sauce, divided into 2 tsp. and 2 tsp.
1 tbsp. cilantro, finely chopped
4 oz. sour cream
squirt of lime juice
1 Vidalia onion, sliced into thick rings
smoked cheddar cheese, 2-3 slices per burger
bacon, about ½ lb.
1-2 tomatoes
onion hamburger buns

Guidelines:

Mix the first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Notice that you only use 2 tsp. of the adobo sauce in the meat. Shape the mixture into burgers roughly the same size and thickness. You should have 4-6 burgers.

While the grill heats, prepare the Chipotle sauce. Mix the remaining 2 tsp. adobo sauce with the sour cream and lime juice. Set aside.

If you haven’t already cooked your bacon, get that going, too.

Grill the burgers until done, but still juicy inside. Depending on thickness this doesn’t take long—about 5-7 minutes per side. During the last few minutes of cooking, put the smoked cheddar cheese on top of the burgers. Remove from grill and let rest for a minute.

Grill your thick sliced Vidalia onions, and toast your hamburger buns directly on the grill.

Once everything is cooked, assemble your burgers—bottom bun dressed lightly with sauce, burger with cheese, bacon, onions, a few slices of tomato, top bun dressed lightly with sauce.

Enjoy, and don’t be afraid to get messy!