Turkey Burgers with Vegetables Inside

Often when I set out to make dinner, I find that I am missing one or two items from the recipe list. Other time I have ground turkey versus tenderloins or some other variation that just doesn’t quite match a recipe. This scenario tends to help me create new recipes of my own through improvisation. (All the time I used to spend watching Food Network comes in handy!)

This recipe for turkey burgers happened to follow that scenario. We had ground turkey, and hamburger buns, so I wanted to make burgers, but not blah burgers.

I was very happy with how these turned out. The turkey burgers with vegetables hidden inside managed to sneak healthy veggies past my picky eaters. It is a recipe that I will make again!

Recipe for Turkey Burgers with Vegetables Hidden Inside

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg (1.25 lbs) ground turkey

¼ C bread crumbs (Just take a piece of bread from the fridge and put it in the blender or food processor.)

1 egg

1 stalk celery, finely diced

2 T-1/4 C red bell pepper, finely diced

1 t onion

1 t salt

2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

2 dashes soy sauce

Hamburger buns

Assorted toppings of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Chop up the red pepper and grind up the bread into crumbs.

Picky eaters? Try these turkey burgers with vegetables hidden inside! My picky eaters loved them.

Combine bread crumbs, egg, celery, red pepper, onion salt, Worcestershire, and soy sauce with the ground turkey until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Heat a pan over medium heat, or I used an electric skillet heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Form turkey mixture into patties. I made 5, but make them the size that you would like remembering that they do shrink during cooking. My rule is form them to about 1/4 inch larger diameter than the bun, and they will cook to the right size.

Cook patties on first side for about 8-10 minutes, covered. Check for browning periodically since every stove top holds temperature differently. I cooked until there was some nice caramelization.

Flip patties when cooked side is browned, and cook another 8 minutes or so on the raw side. Before taking the patties off the heat, cut into the center to be sure the juices run clear, and the meat is cooked through.

For sides, I roasted a bunch of asparagus in olive oil, and made some frozen tater tots. I put both in the oven at the same time at 425 degrees F.

The asparagus was placed in a single layer on a baking sheet, drizzled with olive oil and roasted for 12-14 minutes.

After taking the sides out of the oven, I seasoned the asparagus with one drop of Lemon Vitality essential oil and one drop of Black Pepper essential oil. Have you read up on the benefits of essential oils?

The tater tots were cooked to package instructions.

Finally, the buns were toasted in the toaster.

We enjoyed this meal. The kids ate it as well. That’s something to write about considering their picky eating habits!

I hope your family enjoys it too.

What is your favorite recipe improv you have you have created lately?

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