Stuffed Turkey Burgers

Wouldn’t it be awesome if these turkey burgers were stuffed with traditional stuffing and I could call them Thanksgiving burgers? Meh, maybe not. It’s probably better that they’re stuffed with goat cheese. Does that mean I should call them goatsgiving burgers? No, that sounds like some kind of ritual animal sacrifice.

But an FYI, since I brought it up: Thanksgiving is 87 days away. In case you were counting the days to turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. Yep, I’m jumping on the fall bandwagon.

This recipe is from an awesome fellow blogger, Katie at Blonde Ambition. I was excited to see a way to use turkey other than sandwiches and also excited to see how short the ingredient list was, which is a key deciding factor when picking out dinner. Included on the ingredient list was zucchini! What, what?! Vegetables in my burger? Done and done.

Katie used gorgonzola in her recipe and distributed it throughout the burger mix. I happened to have extra goat cheese laying around, so I decided it might be fun to go “stuffed” style with discs of goat cheese in the middle, but I bet Katie’s original recipe is just as tasty, because blue cheese and turkey are a superb combo. Plus, incorporating the cheese into the mix instead of stuffing saves you that tricky step.

I had some sun dried tomatoes around too, so I added those.

And since I still have some Paleo love in me, I served my sliders over a bed of spinach with a bit of mustard.

These freeze quite well, which is perfect for someone like me, eating dinner for one. Just make sure you let the burger patty thaw for a bit before cooking.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers
adapted from Blonde Ambition

Ingredients
20 oz package lean ground turkey
1/2 small red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 zucchini, shredded (should be about 1 cup shredded)
3 oz goat cheese
5 basil leaves, thinly sliced
4 sundried tomatoes

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl with clean hands until just mixed. Don’t overwork the meat. Separate mixture into 5 equal sized portions. Flatten, place a disc of goat cheese in the center, then wrap meat around the cheese. Katie recommends you put a dent in the middle of your burgers to prevent them from getting too thick in the middle.

Prepare pan or grill, or wrap burgers in saran wrap and foil to freeze.
If preparing immediately, heat up grill or pan over medium high heat. Add burger and cook on each side until done, 7-9 minutes per side or until the internal temperature is 165 F.
Serve on a bun or greens. Or a fork.

Tags: burger, cheese, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, turkey, zucchini