These grilled Middle Eastern turkey burgers are flavor-packed and simple to make! Serve them with sliced red onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes for a totally fresh take on burger night.
Here at Healthy Seasonal Recipes we know our ground turkey recipes! Our readers tell us they buy turkey every week and love finding new ways to make a meal with it. Over the years we have created dozens of ways to transform this healthy protein into a fast and tasty weeknight dinner. If you haven’t already, try our Turkey Tacos, Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers or Turkey Enchiladas to name a few. This Middle Eastern Turkey Hamburger is next in our collection of healthy ground turkey recipes.
Why We Love This Recipe For Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers
This turkey burger recipe is a delightful year-round weeknight dinner, but it’s especially good when the weather starts to warm up and you can start to enjoy grilling again. Whether it’s an after-school meal or you’re inviting friends over for a cookout, these burgers are a well-loved option.
Recipe Highlights
- Weeknight Meal: Easy to make and on the table in under an hour.
- Nourishing: Between the turkey and bulgur wheat, these burgers are packed with protein and fiber that will leave you feeling satiated.
- Family Friendly: Everyone loves a burger! Since turkey is leaner than red meat you can feel great about serving this dish to your family.
- Customizable: Feel free to personalize your burgers with your family’s favorite condiments and toppings.
Ingredients For Mid East Turkey Burgers
- Fine Bulgur Wheat: Bulgur is rich with fiber and, in this recipe, is an alternative to bread crumbs. The fine wheat will help bind the turkey burger patties together.
- Lean Ground Turkey: I used 85% Lean Ground Turkey. It’s a tender and juicy alternative to red meat. You can use 90% lean to shave off extra fat and calories.
- Olive Oil, Garlic & Onion: The dream team! Cook these ingredients together for an aromatic base that adds flavor and moisture. This is one of the keys to this recipe that I learned working in the EatingWell test kitchen when I was testing burger recipes Steve Raichlen.
- Toasted Pine Nuts: These burgers are inspired by Kibbeh, a traditional Lebanese dish made with ground lamb, pinenuts and bulgur.
- Herbs: The use of fresh parsley and chopped mint adds a light herbal flavor to the burgers and really leans into the Lebanese-inspired flavor profile.
- Seasonings: Of course, you’ll need salt and ground pepper, but don’t leave out the cinnamon and ground allspice. Like my Turkey Kofta recipe, these “sweet” spices add authentic Kibbeh flavor to these Middle Eastern Burgers.
- Hamburger Buns: Use the buns of your choice, but make sure to toast them! A few extra minutes make for a delicious restaurant-worthy meal. If you are trying to cut calories, you can serve this salad over greens or cucumber noodles instead of serving it on a bun.
- Toppings: I suggest adding a dollop of labneh or Greek yogurt to your burger, along with sliced red onion, cucumbers, and tomatoes. The best part is that you can let your guests decide how to build their burgers.
Make sure to check out my recommended Serving Suggestions to complete your shopping list.
How To Make These Grilled Turkey Burgers
Step 1: Soak & Drain Bulgur
Place the bulgur in a medium bowl. Pour boiling water over it and let it sit until the bulgur is softened and the water is lukewarm, which should take about 30 minutes. Drain well through a fine mesh sieve, pressing out any excess moisture.
Step 2: Cook Onion & Garlic
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent. This should take about 12 minutes. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and let it cool.
Step 3: Preheat
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.
Step 4: Mix Burger Patties
Combine the drained bulgur with the onion mixture. Add in the turkey, pine nuts, parsley, mint, salt, cinnamon, pepper, and allspice. Knead everything together until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Divide into 4 burgers and place the patties on a baking sheet to easily transfer to the grill.
Step 5: Oil the Grill
Soak a paper towel with oil. Just before adding the burgers to the grill, hold the paper towel with long tongs and drag the oil-soaked towel or a heat-proof brush along the grill grates. Pull the towel or brush toward you to prevent flare-ups from burning your hand. Alternatively you can use a silicone pastry brush.
Step 6: Grill
Immediately place the burgers on the grill and let them cook, undisturbed, until they are browned on the bottom, 4 to 6 minutes. Flip the burgers over and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of each burger registers an internal temperature of 170 degrees F.
Step 7: Serve With Toppings
Serve the burgers on the buns with labneh, red onion, cucumber, and tomatoes. Enjoy!
FAQs and Expert Tips For Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers
Though bulgur is a traditional component of kibbeh, it can be replaced with 1/3 cup almond meal or low carb breadcrumbs to make these burger patties low in carbohydrates. Use your favorite Keto-friendly brand of breadcrumbs. Note: many low carb breadcrumbs are high in sodium, so check your label and adjust the added salt.
You can make these indoors on a grill pan. Note turn your fume hood on high as the pan will make a lot of smoke. The bulgur in these burgers will cause extra browning, so it is important to use medium-high heat and adjust the heat down to prevent it from burning on the outside before cooking through. The time on a grill pan will vary from a barbecue grill because they are usually not as hot. Test with an instant read thermometer to make sure they are cooked to 170 degrees F inside. A high quality ceramic non-stick skillet (I like Green Pan) or well seasoned cast iron skillet is a great alternative to grilling these Middle East turkey burgers!
Pretty much any meat will stick to the grill if you don’t prepare it properly. Make sure to preheat the grill completely. This is key to preventing sticking. As an added measure of precaution, I also add in a instructions to oil the grill in step 5. The other key detail to watch out for is to not turn them too soon. Like my Grilled Lamb Kofta recipe, the key is to let them cook until they release from the grill. That’s when they are ready to be flipped!
What Goes With Middle Eastern Burgers?
Make-Ahead and Freezing
- Make-Ahead: Make your patties up to a day ahead of time and let them rest, covered in an airtight container, in the refrigerator until you’re ready to grill.
- Freezing: Follow the make-ahead instructions above, and then once chilled, you can transfer the patties (wrapped in parchment) to an airtight container or freezer bag where they’ll last up to 3 months. Remove and allow them to defrost in the refrigerator before grilling.
Variations To Try
- If you have an aversion to turkey, use whatever ground meat you have on hand. Lamb or beef work well too! The flavor, cook times, and texture will change slightly, but you can achieve a very similar result with any ground meat.
- Lean into Mediterranean flavors and top your burger with crumbled feta cheese. It’ll add a little saltiness too!
- Add any topping you like! Sun-dried tomatoes, lettuce, red peppers, tzatziki, etc.
- Swap for the seasonings of your choice. If you’d rather go down a garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder kind of route, go for it.
- Use lettuce instead of hamburger buns.
Additional Burger Recipes To Try
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Description
These grilled Middle Eastern turkey burgers are flavor-packed and juicy! Serve them with sliced red onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes for a totally fresh take on burger night.
- 1/3 cup fine bulgur wheat
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for oiling grill rack
- 1 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 pound 85% Lean Ground Turkey
- 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 4 buns, toasted
- Labneh or Greek yogurt
- Sliced red onion, cucumbers and tomatoes for serving
- Place bulgur in a medium bowl. Pour boiling water over it and let sit until the bulgur is softened and the water is lukewarm, about 30 minutes. Drain well through a fine mesh sieve, pressing out any excess moisture.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often until the onion is translucent, about 12 minutes. Scrape into a large bowl. Let cool.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
- Combine the drained bulgur with the onion mixture. Add in turkey, pine nuts, parsley, mint, salt, cinnamon, pepper and allspice. Knead together until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Divide into 4 burgers.
- Soak a paper towel with oil. Just before adding the burgers to the grill, hold the paper towel with long tongs and drag the oil soaked towel or a heat proof brush along the grill grates. Pull the towel or brush toward you to prevent flare ups from burning your hand.
- Immediately place the burgers on the grill and let cook, undisturbed until they are browned on the bottom, 4 to 6 minutes. Flip the burgers over and cook until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of each burger registers 170 degrees F.
- Serve the burgers on the buns with labneh, red onion, cucumber and tomatoes.
Notes
Make-Ahead: Make your patties up to a day ahead of time and let them rest, covered in an airtight container, in the refrigerator until you’re ready to grill.
Freezing: Follow the make-ahead instructions above, and then once chilled, you can transfer the patties (wrapped in parchment) to an airtight container or freezer bag where they’ll last up to 3 months. Remove and allow them to defrost in the refrigerator before grilling.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Active Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Nutrition
- Calories: 375
- Fat: 22 g
- Carbohydrates: 25 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 20 g
About the Author
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
