Curried Turkey Burgers

Burger time! I had a dinner request for burgers last week, however I wasn’t in the mood for the same ol’ plain beef variety…so I thought I’d try something new with a healthy curried version adapted from Rachael Ray’s recipe. I changed a few things by adding an egg to help bind the meat, used red onion instead of scallions and added a tablespoon of flaxseed and ground cumin. I topped off our burgers with a yogurt-cucumber dressing instead of mayo and subbed slices of juicy mango for the mango chutney for what I had on hand.

To complete our meal, I made a large batch of my crispy baked sweet potato fries sprinkled with sea salt, ground coriander, cumin and a dash of red pepper. Delish! I only had one gluten free hamburger bun left and we were running a little short on time so the photos are of Chris’s wheat buns sans the red onion since he isn’t a fan. I love the beautiful colors and textures of this dish, definitely a yummy and lighter replacement for a beef burger if you want to give something new a try!

It was raining like crazy around dinner time so I wound up cooking these indoors on a skillet, which worked out well. Since it was really dark out, I had some issues with lighting on my photos so I didn’t have many to choose from for this post – gotta love the weather  🙂

Curried Turkey Burgers (adapted from Rachael Ray’s recipe here)

Ingredients

1 1/3 lbs ground turkey breast (I used 1/2 lean, 1/2 extra lean – you could use ground chicken instead)
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 cup minced red onion
2- 3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro (might could sub parsley or mint if you really dislike cilantro)
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced (could probably sub 1/2 tsp ground ginger)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, finely chopped
sea salt or to taste (it really brings out the flavors of the spices! Don’t skip)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp curry paste or curry powder
extra virgin olive oil for brushing

For serving

5 hamburger buns, toasted if desired (I used Udi’s GF buns for mine but the photos are taken of Chris’s burgers using whole wheat)

leaf lettuce

sliced fresh mango (or mango chutney)

sliced red onion

slice fresh tomato

cucumber-dressing, optional (recipe below)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine ingredients ground turkey through curry paste and form into 5 patties.
2. Brush patties with a little olive oil. Heat a skillet or grill pan and cook patties 5-6 minutes on each side over medium-high heat or until cooked through.
3. For serving, add lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced mango, red onion and cucumber-yogurt dressing on a toasted hamburger bun with the patties and enjoy!

*To make the cucumber-yogurt dressing, combine 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 2 Tbsp mayo and a 1/2 cup finely chopped english cucumber. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve over burgers.