I wanted to start this post off by giving mucho credito to the wonderful Iowa Girl Eats for being my inspiration for this recipe. Kristin posted a Copy Cat Trader Joe’s Chili Lime Chicken Burger recipe earlier this week and I was pretty much sold based off of her photos. I had plans to use her exact recipe, however I did my shopping at TJ’s and I couldn’t find ground chicken and decided to go with ground turkey instead. I also completely forgot to add the lime! Hence: Cilantro Chili Turkey Burgers….
After receiving multiple requests to post more meat-based recipes, I thought a “juicy,” healthy turkey burg would be perfect! Not to mention…I’m dating a grill master. *WHAT* Lee’s dating someone? Recipe first, sappy talk second.
Cilantro Chili Turkey Burgers
Ingredients
Burger
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1/2 white onion, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 2 tablespoons canned green chilis
- 1 green pepper, finely diced
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 3 tablespoons cold butter, diced
Avocado Mash
- 1 large avocado, peeled and pitted
- 3 tablespoons canned green chilis
- 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- First, preheat the grill to 375ºF.
- Next, prepare the burgers and place all of the ingredients for the burgers in a large bowl and mix all ingredients together. Don’t be afraid to get messy and use your hands.*
- Once all the ingredients are combined, form the burger patties by splitting the turkey burger mixture into 6-8 small balls.
- Then, wet your hands with water and form each ball of meat into small patties (the water helps to keep the turkey patty from sticking to your hands) and place them on a plate.
- Finally, spray a large piece of tin foil with non-stick cooking spray and place the tin foil on the grill.
- Transfer the burger patties to the tin foil on the grill. The temperature of the grill should be roughly 375ºF. Cook each side for about 6-7 minutes covered. This will depend on the thickness of your burger.
- While the burgers are cooking on the grill, prepare the avocado mash by placing the avocado in a small bowl and mash it with a fork. Add the green chilis and salt to the avocado and mix well.
- Once the burgers have reached an internal temperature of 160ºF, remove the burgers from the grill and let them sit for 5 minutes.
- Serve the burgers on a bun or a lettuce wrap and serve with avocado mash.
Tips & Notes
*These turkey burgers are a bit more wet than other burgers. Don’t worry ,grilling them will firm them up nicely!
I prepared the patties and handed the reigns over to Blake. He is one fantastic griller. I have never had a piece of meat that was under or over cooked.
I ended up making another version of my Healthy Fiesta Lime Rice as a side dish (recipe later). My plate was spinach + rice + burg.
I also topped it with some balsamic!
Blake’s not g/f, so he had his with a grilled whole wheat bun.
Okay, okay. Enough about food…on to the juicy stuff. I am sure you have been wondering who this cute Blake guy is. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about him in almost every post for the last few months. Well, he is someone very special to my heart. He’s actually my first EVER “official” boyfriend. I’ve dated quite a bit, but never nothing has ever turned into anything serious.
I’ve actually almost told you guys about Blake 4 or 5 times now, but didn’t know how to do it. At one point, I was going to name a post: “I’m dating someone,” but I thought that was a little too awkward. Not sure why I chose tonight, but what the hell.
We were actually “set up” by our mutual friend, Linley, back in October, but I was kinda-sorta seeing someone else and I’m not really in to dating multiple people at once. The first time we met was at a happy hour, but I didn’t really give Blake the time of day. I was definitely playing the “I don’t want to be anything more than friends” card. Anyways, long story short, Blake and I kept in touch for the next few months and he finally won my heart over (I was single at the time of course). I guess you could say we’ve been dating since the first of the year and became “official boyfriend/girlfriend” on Valentine’s Day (1, 2, 3 *awwwww*) and have been falling hard ever since.
How could I not be attracted to someone who 1.) likes quinoa 2.) works out 3.) is a Kansas boy 4.) likes to clean 5.) loves his family 6.) genuinely likes his job and 7.) doesn’t think I’m crazy for taking pictures of the things I eat. Blake is extremely supportive and thinks FFF is the greatest thing and that just makes me happy. Plus, he will pretty much eat anything I make 🙂 Anyways, I could go on and on about Blake, but I’ll let you get to know him through my future posts.
It was nice to finally get that off my chest. I feel like I’ve been lying to you!
What is your favorite kind of meat?
Who is your favorite blogger to get recipe-inspiration from?
Parece super sabroso, lo intentaré !!