Turkey Burgers with Spinach & Feta

I know a lot of people think that turkey burgers are automatically dry, that’s true if you treat them as you do beef, which is wrong on its own. I should mention that you prep the burgers ahead of time, by making them into patties the morning before, the night before or a minimum of 5 hours in the fridge. Trust me, making them into patties and setting them in the fridge helps the patties stay firmly together. Please don’t skip this step, its especially useful if grilling the burgers.

Grab a large bowl and add the turkey meat, chopped fresh spinach, feta crumbles, garlic, breadcrumbs , black pepper & olive oil. Mix the meat together, then make 4 balls with the meat mixture and then flatten a bit down. Place patties on a plate, cover with saran wrap and place in the fridge a minimum 5 hours (doing this the night before or the morning of will be best).

You don’t have to do this step, but I toasted the buns in my cast iron skillet. I find that buns don’t fit in toasters and honestly, I only want the one side toasted. I just sprayed a little cooking spray and toasted them for about 3 minutes on a low setting. While I was toasting the buns I went ahead and sliced the toppings we were going to use to top the burger. (I did not use the tomato, but my significant other did. Cucumber may sound odd, but it pairs really well with the flavors and the feta in the burger.)

Preheat a cast iron skillet or a bbq grill, cover pan in a thin layer of olive oil or spray the grates of the grill with olive oil. Grill burgers till burgers are no longer pink, about 5-8 minutes each side, for the grill and 10 minutes each side on the stove. If cooking burgers on the stove, use a lower setting to crisp the outside slowly and to give the turkey enough time to cook. Burgers are ready when internal temperature of the turkey reaches 165°F. (Check burgers with thermometer in different spots because if you go through a piece of feta and not meat, the temp will be colder.)

Serve burgers on a bun of your choice. Lather bun with mayonnaise, top with cucumber & onions.. or add any topping you like. I love cheese on my burgers, but with the feta cheese in the mixture, cheese on top is definitely not needed.

** You can make the burger patties ahead of time and freeze them to use at a later date. Just make the patties, place a piece of parchment paper between the patties, wrap in saran wrap and freeze RAW. To cook the frozen burgers, DEFROST them in the fridge before cooking, do not cook frozen, they will not cook right.