Flying on Jess Fuel

Fueling my Navy pilot, one meal at a time...

Navigation
  • Home
  • A little about us…
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Gardening

Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

May 31, 2011 by jessfuel 12 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, Nick and I spent Memorial Day weekend camping in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. It was hot, it was buggy, and the obnoxious rednecks in the campsite next to us stayed up til 3 am yelling at each other over who lost the cap to the vodka bottle.

But we were in good company, and had plenty of good food, so we couldn’t really complain. We had lots of fun with 4 of our new friends! We didn’t quite want the weekend to end, so we invited them all over for dinner last night, and I made some yummy grilled turkey burgers!

A few years ago, when I first started really getting into food, I subscribed to a daily newsletter called Hungry Girl, which promised to send me delicious, healthy recipes every day. The problem is, Hungry Girl’s definition of “healthy” is low-calorie, fake-sugar-and-preservative-laden grub that you can eat in mass quantities while not gaining any weight, but surely giving yourself a good case of stomach cancer. Not so healthy in my mind. So while I peruse the email every day, rarely do I see anything that I actually want to make.

Last week, however, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a recipe for Greek Turkey Burgers, which sounded awesome and didn’t seem to contain any artificial ingredients! I sent the email to my “to make” folder, but it didn’t sit there long. The burgers seemed like the perfect meal to make for a crowd, especially on a weekend known for grilling and BBQ’s.

Of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I used whole eggs instead of the suggested boxed egg whites, and regular feta cheese. (I’m not sure you could even find fat-free feta cheese anywhere in the state of Oklahoma). I adjusted some of the measurements and played with the spices, but personally I think all my tweaks made these burgers even better!

To go along with the burgers, I made a Tzatziki sauce. I’ve made this sauce twice before, long before my blogging days. Once to go on top of homemade falafel, and once to go with chicken souvlaki pitas. I knew it would go perfectly on these burgers!

I had one little hiccup along the way… apparently the only two fresh herbs Oklahomans use are parsley and cilantro. After visiting 3 supermarkets and almost blowing a gasket, I went to Lowes and bought a mint plant. Now that the ordeal is over, I’m actually kind of glad. Can anyone say, mojitos???

I’m not sure where this recipe even came from. I have a big binder of recipes cut out from magazines, printed offline, and painstakingly handwritten from who knows where. This recipe is nicely taped in my book. Now that I have the blog, I have easy access to all my favorite recipes, but before it existed, this old book was my only source.

Tzatziki Sauce

  • 1 cup peeled, grated cucumber, excess water drained
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • salt and pepper, to taste

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.

Mix well and refrigerate one hour before serving. That was really hard, right?

While the sauce is chilling, you can get to work on the burgers…

Greek Turkey Burgers

(adapted from Hungry Girl)

makes 10-12 burgers

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 4 cups chopped spinach leaves
  • 2.5 lbs ground turkey
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add the spinach, and cook until wilted, about 3-4 minutes. Set the mixture aside, and let it cool.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, eggs, oregano, salt and pepper. (I added another egg after the picture).

Use your hands to mix everything together. Then add the spinach mix and feta, and mix again.

Form burgers into patties of desired size. I used a half cup measuring cup as a scoop and ended up with 11 burgers. Spray each side of the burgers with nonstick spray (preferably the olive oil variety).

Heat the grill to medium heat. Grill the burgers about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Stack the burgers up and serve them to a crowd!

I served the burgers on toasted whole wheat buns, with lettuce, tomato, and big dollops of Tzatziki sauce. I’m always a little scared making a brand new recipe for people I don’t know really well… but everyone loved these! A great end to a great weekend!

You Might Also Like:

Key West Grilled Chicken Skewers
Paprika Shrimp with Citrus Cilantro Quinoa
Quinoa and Black Bean Veggie Burgers
Grilled Apricot Caprese Salad

Share this:

  • Share
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Print
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Chicken & Poultry Tagged With: burgers, grilling, turkey

« Tomato Basil Quinoa Salad
Spiced Grilled Veggies »

Comments

  1. Mallory says

    May 31, 2011 at 8:28 am

    Jess, these were amazing. Thanks again for having us over! We’re already planning when we’re going to try to make these ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  2. Tara Woodruff says

    June 15, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    OMG!! I can not wait to try this!!!! Thank you!!

    Reply
  3. Mallory says

    September 29, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    We made these again tonight. SO GOOD. One of my favorite Jess Recipes.

    Reply
  4. JILL says

    April 16, 2013 at 3:16 pm

    these look yummy ! i am makin turkey burgers tonight
    my mom is visiting, and she is NOT happy , but these look like they might change her mind.

    Reply
    • jessfuel says

      April 16, 2013 at 5:31 pm

      They’re really good! Turkey burgers might get a bad rap, but these are super flavorful and delicious!

      Reply
  5. Amy says

    July 30, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    I needed tzatziki sauce this weekend (to go with a baked falafel recipe that I found), and I knew you’d have something good! Low and behold, this recipe popped up. I loved it!

    Reply
    • jessfuel says

      August 1, 2014 at 8:45 am

      Wahoo! Yay! I love when people shop the archives. ๐Ÿ™‚ So many delicious things I’ve forgotten about. Which reminds me… I need to make these burgers again soon, it’s been too long.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Spiced Grilled Veggies | Flying on Jess Fuel says:
    June 1, 2011 at 8:04 am

    […] Flying on Jess Fuel Fueling my Navy pilot, one meal at a time… Skip to content HomeA little about us…Recipes ← Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce […]

    Reply
  2. Honey Dijon Potato Salad | Flying on Jess Fuel says:
    June 4, 2011 at 9:03 am

    […] Dijon Potato Salad Posted on June 4, 2011 by Jess| Leave a comment When I broke out my awesome recipe binder the other day to make Tzatziki sauce for my Greek Turkey Burgers, I started looking through it and […]

    Reply
  3. Teriyaki Pineapple Turkey Burgers | Flying on Jess Fuel says:
    June 30, 2011 at 8:15 am

    […] Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce […]

    Reply
  4. Sweet and Sour Chicken | Flying on Jess Fuel says:
    July 22, 2011 at 7:59 am

    […] I saw a recipe for a healthy version of Sweet & Sour Chicken in a Hungry Girl email. I’ve mentioned before that I rarely find anything from HG that isn’t full of some kind of chemicals, but this […]

    Reply
  5. Quinoa Tabbouli | Flying on Jess Fuel says:
    July 26, 2012 at 9:44 am

    […] mint had gotten out of control. It needed to be used. But how? A few things came to mind: mojitos, tzatziki, tabbouli. Oooh, tabbouli sounded […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Fueling my Navy Pilot, one meal at a time…

Welcome to Flying on Jess Fuel! I love to cook and share my recipes and adventures in the kitchen with everyone. Take a look around... you might just find tonight's dinner!

Search Flying on Jess Fuel

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Flying on Jess Fuel and receive notifications of new posts by email.

ABOUT JESS

Jess is home cook, foodie and proud Navy wife. She grew up in Boston and now lives on the West Coast. She loves to blog, travel, read and write. When she's not working or blogging, she can be found running or relaxing with a glass of wine. Read Moreโ€ฆ

Check out these healthy recipes!

Dilly Cucumber Bites
Kale and Black Bean Enchiladas with Avocado Cream and Homemade Enchilada Sauce (Vegan)
Banana Almond Chia Seed Pudding

*Click Here* to read Flying on Jess Fuel’s Privacy Policy.
This site contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase through them, we will receive a small commission.

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Child Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.