This souped up, tricked out turkey burger has all the other turkey burgers in tears wondering where they went wrong.
A turkey burger worth singing about. Finally.
Spice it up, Chris.
I’m about to.
Spice it up, Chris
Cuz that’s what I was born to do.
I can’t be the only one that does the running man and sings hip hop songs when they make something delicious for dinner. Right?
Cuz Kriss Kross will make you jump, jump. And so will this turkey burger.
You know how turkey burgers have that reputation of being bland? Boring? Blah? This guy did NOT get the memo. This spice mixture will make you actually crave them.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Try this juicy, spiced up turkey burger for dinner!” quote=”Tweet this burger to the masses.” theme=”style1″]
He does not speak “bland.” No habla “boring.” Spreche kein “blah.” There’s the smokiness from the paprika and the twang from the sumac but the real star is the cumin.
I’m a little picky about getting all those spices distributed evenly in the meat. If you’re like me, here’s what I do. I sprinkle about a third of the spices on top of the meat, then fold it over on itself several times in the bowl. Then repeat (sprinkle, fold.) Then repeat again (sprinkle, fold.) Then I lift the meat out of the bowl and kind of knead it on a plastic cutting board. Flatten it out. Fold it in thirds, like a letter. Flatten again. Fold again. Until it looks even. That whole process only takes five to ten minutes. Then you make your patties and cook them. On a grill, in a pan, on a grill pan. However you like them. In the absence of a grill *sad face*, I love the sear I get from my cast iron grill pan.
Turkey burger recipe with crispy, gluten free fried onions.
So, that right there is enough to make me sing. But did I stop there? No, ma’am, I must confess I did not.
Because there were onions.
These crispy fried onions were inspired by Ree Drummond’s onion strings recipe. I cut her recipe in half because, unfortunately, these guys don’t hold their crispiness overnight. They’re also not low-cal so if I make less, I’ll eat less. I also substitute cornmeal for flour and Aleppo pepper for cayenne. To make them, you slice your onion as thinly as possible. Ree recommends using a mandolin slicer but I don’t have one, so I use my good old chef’s knife and they come out delicious every time.
Then soak the rings in buttermilk for an hour.
While that’s happening, make the coating by mixing cornmeal, salt, black pepper and Aleppo pepper in a bowl. After mixing that thoroughly, I divide the coating into two bowls. Here’s why. You’re going to be dipping the buttermilk onions into the coating and frying them in batches. After a few dips, the coating starts to clump up from the buttermilk and doesn’t adhere to the onions as well as the earlier batches. This makes onions with bald spots. And that makes me sad. By dividing it up, it gets less wet and clumpy and you get more even coating for the whole batch.
After the onions have had their soak, fill a pot with oil (I use grapeseed) so that oil goes about a 1/2 inch up the side of the pot. I use a dutch oven for this because it gives me more surface area than a regular pot. When your oil is hot (so that water sprinkled on it sizzles immediately) take some onions in your tongs and dip them in the cornmeal coating. You can move them around to make sure they’re coated evenly and then drop them into the oil and watch them sizzle. When they turn a light golden brown, which happens pretty quickly, lift them out of the oil and let them sit on a paper towel.
And that’s that. Dinner’s on!
Pin this Spiced Up Turkey Burger to your [Burgers] Pinterest Board.
*I have lots of pictures from and thoughts about my trip to Amsterdam. I’ll share them soon, but this burger demanded my full attention first.*
- 1/2 tablespoon spanish smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground sumac
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 pound ground turkey meat
- 1 large sweet onion , peeled and sliced very thinly
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- black pepper to taste
- 1/4 tablespoon Aleppo pepper
- grapeseed or canola oil for frying
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Combine spices well in a small bowl.
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Sprinkle over meat in thirds and work it into the meat until it is incorporated evenly.
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Make patties and grill/cook to desired doneness.
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Place onions in a shallow dish and cover with buttermilk.
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Let soak about an hour.
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In a small mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, black pepper and Aleppo pepper. Then divide that mixture in half into two separate bowls for dipping onion (further explanation in post if needed.)
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Pour oil into your dutch oven until it reaches about a 1/2 inch up the sides. Heat oil until water sprinkled on top sizzles immediately.
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Dip a portion of buttermilk onions into the cornmeal coating. Coat well, shaking off excess, and fry it in the oil until light golden brown. It doesn't take long but go by color, not time.
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Drain on paper towel.
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Continue in batches until all your onions are fried.
The burger pictured in this post is served with tomato, lettuce and dijon mustard on a sprouted grain english muffin but, of course, you can customize your buns and condiments to your heart's content. It's also delicious on a bed of wilted spinach sans bun.
homemadefoodjunkie says
August 14, 2015 at 12:37 amThoe onion rings….gotta have em! The burger looks great too but to me it’s all about those crunchy onions!!
Christine says
August 14, 2015 at 6:58 amI know. They really are ridiculously good. On the burger or just on their own. You could dip them, too, if you wanted to go super indulgent!
Heather says
August 13, 2015 at 9:20 pmThis dish looks amazing!! I have never heard of sumac before so I am excited!! I can’t wait to try this!!
Christine says
August 14, 2015 at 6:56 amI’m relatively new to sumac too. It adds a nice tangy heat. These burgers aren’t too spicy because my daughter isn’t there yet in her love of spicy food. You could increase the sumac and the paprika a bit for more heat. Hope you enjoy it!
Prash @ YummilyYours says
August 12, 2015 at 5:07 pmI am madly in love with your crispy onions, lady! I want them on my burger!!!
Christine says
August 12, 2015 at 7:59 pmYou won’t be sorry. You’ll be full, but not sorry.
Madiha says
August 12, 2015 at 2:25 pmThese look amazing and although I’ve had my dinner but I’m drooling here after looking at them!
The fried onions look delicious!
Lovely food!
Christine says
August 12, 2015 at 2:29 pmThank you, Madiha! The onions are insane. I encourage you to try them sometime when you haven’t just eaten 😉
Take Two Tapas says
August 11, 2015 at 9:41 pmCrispy fried onion most def make me want to crank up some hard core rap and fake a beat box. I sing songs to my kids in the am when I am trying to get them up for school. Totally off key and the only way I stop is when they get up. I’m not dancing for dinner unless someone is cooking for me. Usually because I am burning something.
Christine says
August 12, 2015 at 7:44 amYou are too funny. The key is to dance AFTER everything is cooked, potentially even after you’ve eaten.
Gerlinde @ Sunnycovechef says
August 11, 2015 at 12:54 amThose onions look super yummy and I like the different spices you put in the burger.
Christine says
August 11, 2015 at 9:34 amThanks Gerlinde!!
nagimaehashi says
August 10, 2015 at 4:18 amThe fried onions! I’m totally distracted by them! I love the way you coat them with cornmeal!!
No hip hop songs for me. I do the jiggy around the kitchen – even daggier!!!
Christine says
August 10, 2015 at 7:55 amNow I have to go google those words because all I can imagine is you Irish step dancing in your kitchen and I’m pretty sure that’s not what you mean. Although it’s a fun image 😉
crazycatgrrl says
August 7, 2015 at 11:07 pmHomemade crispy fried onions? Those look yummy and much better than the grocery store kind I use in holiday green been casseroles!
Christine says
August 8, 2015 at 6:35 amGive them a try. I have no idea how they make the grocery store kind because these don’t last overnight. But that isn’t a problem at all 😉
rhanawalt says
August 7, 2015 at 8:00 pmThis looks delicious! You go me with the fried onion rings and the spice blend.
Christine says
August 7, 2015 at 8:45 pmThanks, Rachel. The onions are so flavorful. Hope you give them a try.
Manal Obieda says
August 7, 2015 at 3:12 pmOh wow!!! Now that is what I call an ultimate burger!!! The addition of the fried onion rings is awesome…Great photos by the way!!!
Christine says
August 7, 2015 at 3:35 pmManal, thanks so much. I was really nervous about shooting a burger! I took over 200 photos because I was absolutely freaked out. It worked out 😉
cottercrunch says
August 6, 2015 at 2:57 pmthose poor other turkey burgers can’t even measure up. this one is EPIC! haha and i never use that word.
Christine says
August 6, 2015 at 3:00 pmWell then I extra appreciate your comment 😉 Honestly some of those turkey burgers are too dumb to know they’ve been bested. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss.
cherylsir says
August 5, 2015 at 1:35 pmOh my. Those gluten free onions sound ridiculous! Thank you for this ?
Christine says
August 5, 2015 at 4:31 pmThe onions are truly insane. Pretty sure they’re a bazillion calories a pop but if you’re gonna go for it, just go for it. Would be great on top of a salad too.
Dini @ The Flavor Bender says
August 5, 2015 at 12:26 pmI may have to switch our dinner menu and include these!! It looks SO GOOD! And those onions rings?? HELL YES!! 😀
I am definitely a sing and cook kind of girl too… although my taste changes according to my mood – mostly it’s some good Jazz!
Christine says
August 5, 2015 at 12:29 pmI’m not all hip hop all the time either. Variety is the spice of life. Thanks for the love, girl.