Turkey Burgers My Way

When I planned, last week, to make Turkey Burgers for our Friday night dinner, I had a recipe for them. It had been pulled from a magazine and I was going to make it a Magazine Monday entry.

Then I started making the burgers. And things took a detour.

The final result was a very different burger from the recipes, so it becomes my recipe. And hopefully I remember everything that I did to it!

Turkey Cheeseburgers

1 lb lean ground turkey breast
1/3 cup shredded zucchini
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons bottled Ranch Dressing (I used Hidden Valley, my first time buying this kind.)
1/4 cup bread crumbs (you might need a bit more, depending on how much moisture is in your zucchini and dressing.)
kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
4 cheese buns
4 slices Cheddar cheese
small bunch of baby watercress, washed and spun dry
guacamole, your choice of homemade or store bought (I made mine)
ranch dressing for spreading


Preheat your grill to medium - high heat.

In a medium sized bowl, gently mix together, with your hands, the ground turkey, zucchini, cilantro, dressing, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. If the mixture feels too wet, add a touch more bread crumbs, but only a little as you want the patties to still have some moisture in them, you just don't want them so wet that they stick to everything. Divide into 4 equal portions, then gently shape these portions into patties, leaving an indent in the middle of each patty.

Grill 4-5 minutes per side, until the burgers have cooked through but are not dried out. Place a slice of cheese on top of each burger in the last 2 minutes. When the burgers are cooked through, remove them from the heat and let rest for 3 minutes, tented under foil. This will also help melt the cheese a bit more.

Split the cheese buns and then toast them on the grill briefly.

Serve each burger with a bunch of water cress, a heaping tablespoon or so of guacamole (mine was one ripe avocado, mashed with 2 green onions, 2 tablespoons of minced cilantro, salt, pepper, and a good squeeze of lime juice, basically what I had on hand at the time), and a dollop of Ranch dressing. And plenty of napkins.