Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

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!