Yoo hoo y’all! It’s Spring and that means it’s time to fire up the grill. I’d be lying if I said that burgers weren’t my favorite thing to grill. Don’t get me wrong I like a good steak and some grilled chicken- there is something about the smoke and the char from the grill that add amazing flavor- but I am pretty much in love with burgers. Always have been. One of the reasons why I’ll never be vegetarian!
While I do love a good beef burger, I’ve been trying cook healthier at home with bikini season upon us and what not (just pretend that the ooey -ooey cheese in the photo is part of that diet. I mean if I’m cutting back elsewhere, I can have a little cheese, right?) Black beans and lean ground turkey were my protein of choice for this meal. I made a huge batch so I could freeze the left over patties- I like to thaw them out and have them as a post-workout snack with no bun and some mustard. Quick and easy through the week!
I used a pretzel bun for these burgers because-well, because I felt like it. I’d go with one of these over the regular grocery store white-bread or potato buns any day. If you have time to make your own buns, congratulations- you’re a super hero. I on the other hand, enjoy taking shortcuts where I can. Hell, I’ll even embarassingly admit I used Kraft American cheese on this burger. (Foodie friends don’t judge, it was the only cheese in the fridge- it’s the boyfriend’s cheese of choice for grilled cheese). If you have sharp cheddar or any other sharp cheese, I think it would pair much better with the spicy flavors in the burger and the onions!
So, for this burger I was originally going to make a pesto- but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a traditional oil pesto with cilantro on a turkey burger. I had just bought an avocado (which was still a little firm, but ended up doing the trick) and thought I could make a sauce with the avocado and cilantro together. I tossed in some ingredients I had in the fridge, and guess what- it was simple and super flavorful and AMAZING. I’ll be making this to douse all of my creations in much more often! I even used some left over as a dipping sauce for some veggies! This aioli is much healthier than a traditional aioli or mayonaise because it doesn’t contain eggs, mayo or oil. Instead, the creaminess of the avocado is a good base and I added a bit of Greek yogurt to add some body. Delicious! Here as you can see in the photo, I’m using my baby Cuisinart food processor. It comes in handy for sauces, nuts, and any kind of small batch mixing and grinding. I probably use it atleast once a week! (A great kitchen investment–> Cuisinart Mini Prep Food Processor on Amazon, $33.72).
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- juice from 1/2 large lime
- 2 heaping tablespoons of plain green yogurt
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Put all ingredients in mini food processor.
- Blend.
- That's it! Voila!
- You can add a bit more yogurt if needed!
As you can see, these burgers are generously topped with sauteed onions. I won’t add a recipe card for the onions because they are so simple and straight forward. Just slice up a large Spanish onion, and saute it in 2 tbsp or olive oil in hot pan until caramelized. This took about 8 minutes. I really like to get that dark brown crisp, caramelly-ness on my onions, but you can just saute until translucent if that’s what floats your boat.
- 3 lbs ground lean turkey
- 1 can of black beans (1/2 rinsed and drained, the other half as is)
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp Worcester
- 1 jalapeno, diced with seeds
- 1 Serrano pepper, diced with seeds
- 1 Tbsp creole seasoning
- 2 cups freshly shredded cheddar
- In food processor, process the 1/2 of the can of beans that have not been rinsed and drained.
- Add the processed bean paste and rest of the ingredients to a large bowl and mix with hands.
- Weigh out each patty at about 7.5 ounces.
- Grill turkey burgers to approximately 165 degrees.
- You can make these patties however large or small to your liking. I did approximately 7.5 ounces per partty and they were a nice and hearty size, leaving us sufficiently full!
- If you'd like the recipe for the healthy cilantro avocado Aioli pictured in the photo above, you can find it posted above if you're already on the blog, or at bighairandfoodiefare.com, search Black bean Turkey Burgers.
- I used a pretzel bun for this burger and topped it with American cheese and caramelized onions. My boyfriend and I both thought this was just as good as a beef burger- the toppings really jazzed it up! These weren't dry like your typically turkey burger either. I hope you enjoy!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and the amount of flavor in this burger. It’s hard to do a nice juicy turkey burger, especially when you buy the “lean” ground turkey. The toppings and bun really just made this burger the tits. I will definitely be making again- maybe even next week. I’ve got my left over patties in the freezer calling my name and whispering about sweet sandwich fantasies. NOM!
cheers and chow down! xo Kelli
