Who says it’s all about the beef?! Elevate your ground turkey to celebrity status with these Gluten Free Pineapple Teriyaki Turkey Burgers.
Braelyn stayed home sick from school today. Poor kid has absolutely no energy and no appetite. You know she’s not feeling well when she passes up both a chocolate chip pumpkin pancake AND a double chocolate banana muffin for breakfast options.
That’s how I can always tell if she is legitimately sick or just being moody…offer her something sweet.
We had a pretty enjoyable morning together (Emry was gone at preschool) playing games like Candyland and Guess Who. Let me just say that I HATE Candyland. That game is sooooo monotonous. And just when you think you are about to win, you get sent back to the start with some stupid character that you drew out of the deck of cards. It’s never ending.
Now Guess Who, on the other hand, is one of my all time favorite games. I played it all the time as a kid. Even though there isn’t too much strategy involved, I always considered myself a baller when it came to playing Guess Who.
I would always first ask the question, “Is yours a girl?” in the slight chance that they had one of the 5 girl characters in the entire game. Eventually my friends and I outlawed that question because it was too easy if you were stuck with Maria, Claire, Anne, Susan, or Anita.
See that right there?!!! I even remember their names! I’m telling you, I am a Guess Who pro.
It was pretty hilarious trying to teach Braelyn how to play the game for the first time. You would think the instructions were pretty straightforward. Guess who your opponent has based off of elimination “yes or no” questions. Basic.
Well…somehow the first 4 rounds that we played, neither of us ended up with the right card at the end.
Me: “Okay Braelyn, is yours Peter?”
Braelyn: “Nope. I have Anne!”
Me: “But I asked if yours has a big nose and you said, ‘no’. Anne has a BIG nose!”
Braelyn: “Oh. Oh yeah. Hmmm…oops…”
Next round:
Me: “Alrighty, I think you have Tom!”
Braelyn: “Haha! Wrong. I have Paul!”
Me: “PAUL?! But you said yours doesn’t have curly hair and Paul has curly hair.”
Braelyn: “Hmmm…well kind of. Maybe. I guess so. But it’s not really curly, it’s just wavy.”
You can imagine our excitement when we hit round 5 and somebody actually guessed right. Haha!
Although it’s entertaining to play pretend people guessing games with your 6 year old, it’s not as equally exciting to have to guess what you’re eating. Food should be straightforward: what you see is what you get.
And that’s what you get with these Gluten Free Pineapple Teriyaki Turkey Burgers. They are as fantastic as they look. The only thing that will leave you wondering is how these can taste just as good as a juicy red meat, beef burger.
Most of the time turkey burgers aren’t too bad because they are masked by all the other toppings and flavors surrounding the meat. Not in this case. In this case, the meat itself is one of the main stars of the burger.
What’s the secret???
Season, season, SEASON!
A turkey burger is just not going to taste as good if all you do is season the outside with salt and pepper. You can get away with that when it comes to ground beef. But, to really make a turkey burger worth the switch, you have to really flavor the INSIDE and outside of the meat. Basically you gotta get your hands dirty and mix and mash different seasonings into the turkey before shaping patties and cooking.
I seasoned these patties with a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried cilantro. After I formed the patties, I also seasoned the outside with a few more shakes of salt and pepper for a savory crust. Once they were properly seasoned, I threw them in a cast iron skillet with olive oil. You could definitely use butter for an even richer flavor.
After cooking the meat in the cast iron skillet, toss your pineapple slices in there to cook in the burger drippings. Oh yeah!
While all this cooking is going on, nuke the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce in the microwave (click here for the recipe), whip up some sriracha mayo, and you are good to assemble the sandwiches once those pineapple rings have glazed over. And speaking of glazed over, you’ll be glazed over in pure satisfaction after finishing one of these burgers. They. Are. The. BOMB!
Well there you have it; a simple, easy, super quick, healthy weeknight meal that leaves you NOT wanting or needing anything more. Ask me if I still want a beef burger for dinner??? GUESS again.
Are you a fan of turkey burgers?
- For patties and cooked pineapple:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb. lean ground turkey
- ¾ teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon dried cilantro, or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped
- 4 fresh pineapple rings, cored and cut ¼" thick
- For sriracha mayo:
- ¼ cup mayo
- 1½-2 teaspoons sriracha
- ¼ teaspoon finely minced garlic
- dash of salt
- dash of pepper
- For sandwich assembly:
- 4 gluten free buns, or other bread preference
- Teriyaki glaze (recipe on Breezy Bakes site)
- Sriracha mayo (recipe above)
- Fresh cilantro
- Avocado
- Arugula or spring mix lettuce
- Cooked pineapple slices (recipe above)
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cilantro. Using hands, mix until well combined. Form 4 patties about ½" thick. Lightly salt and pepper both sides of patties. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once skillet is hot enough that a drop of water sizzles, gently place patties in pan. Reduce heat to slightly below medium. Cook for 5 mins on each side or until cooked through.
- Remove patties from pan and place pineapple rings in same skillet. Cook for 2 minutes on each side until browned and tender.
- While patties are cooking, make sriracha mayo by combining all ingredients and mixing. You may also may teriyaki sauce while patties and pineapple are cooking.
- Prepare buns according to preference. I like to lightly butter and toast mine.
- Assemble burgers with desired toppings and sauces.
