Bacon Ranch Turkey Burgers Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep turkey burgers from falling apart? ›

Simply stir in an egg or two or add bread crumbs! You can do either by themselves and it will stay together great, but sometimes I do both just to add some texture!

Use breadcrumbs to bind the patties together and help them retain their shape. Fresh breadcrumbs (made from fresh bread pulsed in the food processor or torn into small bits) are best here, as they retain some moisture which helps to keep them from drying out the burger.

Just like in a traditional meatloaf, you need something to hold the meat together. Try adding some dry breadcrumbs to the turkey mixture before you shape the patties. The crumbs will absorb the moisture and, together with the egg, will act like glue and help your burgers maintain their shape on the grill.

Add a spoonful of mayonnaise.

Most recipes use egg to bind ground turkey, helping the meat to form into cohesive, juicy patties. And isn't mayonnaise really just an emulsification of egg yolk, oil, and acid?

Breadcrumbs are not usually included in a traditional burger patty mixture, but their addition to this recipe helps give the cooked patties a lighter, more tender texture. If making these burgers gluten free (and serving with a GF bun), you can omit them.

Egg: An egg lends moisture and helps bind the patties together. Seasonings, herbs, and sauces: These hamburgers are flavored with an envelope of dry onion soup mix, fresh garlic, garlic powder, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, crushed dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Eggs: Eggs are a common binder in both meatloaf and burgers. They help to bind the ingredients together and add moisture.

However, as a general rule of thumb, for every pound of ground beef, you can use 1 to 2 eggs to bind the ingredients together and add moisture to the meat. For hamburgers, a common ratio is 1 egg for every 1 to 1.5 pounds of ground beef. This will help bind the meat together and keep the burgers moist.

Add 1 egg yolk per pound of hamburger. It won't add appreciably to the fat content and will bind the meat beautifully. The other thing you can do is add canned, drained, crushed black beans or chickpeas to the hamburger. The starch from the beans will bind the meat together and add an interesting taste.

Ground Turkey: The key to juicier turkey burgers is choosing the right lean-to-fat ratio. Packaged ground turkey is often a mix of light and dark meat, but you'll want to choose one that's 93% lean and 7% fat. This makes for a moist and succulent texture.

What makes ground turkey juicy? ›

Process the Ground Meat for Juicier Texture

Instead of blending the mix with our hands, we reground the meat with seasonings in a food processor. Grinding meat develops myosin, a sticky meat protein that traps water and fat, keeping it juicy.

Both turkey and chicken have a much lower fat content than beef, which is why they're so prone to drying out. In theory, using ground dark meat poultry solves this, but I've never seen it at any of my local grocery stores and suspect you haven't either.

One of the most common substitutes is breadcrumbs, but sometimes the breadcrumbs can fall off when the burgers are cooking if there are too many or they are too dry. Other popular substitutions for eggs include cornstarch, flour, ketchup, porridge oats, cracker crumbs, and ground flaxseed.

If you opt to use a low-fat ground beef or another base for your burgers, you may need to add an egg to prevent the patty from crumbling during cooking. The University of California San Diego says that while you don't have to add an egg, you could add an egg or two or just the egg whites to your burger recipe.

Add oil to a hot pan then add your ground turkey meat to it on medium high heat. Keep the meat moving around the pan and as it cooks it will naturally brown and fall apart.

If you brine the turkey for too long then it can start to have a negative effect and the proteins in the meat will start to break down, causing the meat to fall apart.

If you want to use a binder in your meat, but don't want to use egg, other alternatives are flour such as wheat flour, cracker crumbs, or even oatmeal.