For The Juiciest Turkey Burgers, All You Need Is Grated Butter
Turkey burgers often get an unfairly bad rap. Sure, ones that aren't made well can be the driest patty between two buns you'll ever try. But it's not as dire or black and white as that. Many people prefer to cut down on red meat for a variety of reasons that range from personal taste to health concerns and environmental reasons. And ground turkey really can do almost anything ground beef can do, with a lower saturated fat content to boot.
The downside is that — due to that lower saturated fat content — turkey can be dry. Plus, just like chicken, it has to be cooked all the way through, so that nice medium rare burger you're used to eating with beef just isn't possible. Trust us — nobody wants a rare turkey burger. So what's the trick to getting the benefits of turkey with the juicy effect of beef burgers? The answer is always butter. In this case, it's grated butter.
The grate butter hack
Grating butter is far from a unique concept. It's been popularized on social media as the ideal way to spread cold butter on toast. It's long been heralded as a superior way to cook with butter to avoid uneven butter dispersion or some pieces melting before others do. By using it in turkey burgers, the butter melts and adds everything that plain ground turkey lacks — fat that makes the burger juicier (and besides the moisture factor, let's be honest, fat tastes delicious) and flavor.
Before you even add any mix-ins (we'll get to that), the turkey gets an upgrade from the butter that melts as it cooks, and the butter is evenly dispersed, so every bite gets a taste. The ideal ratio is 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter for every pound of ground turkey. That way, you can control the amount of salt that goes in your burger with seasonings and other added ingredients. Just add the butter to the burger mixture, form the patties, and turn on the stove to cook the burgers. Don't forget to baste the burger patty with its own buttery juices as it finishes cooking in the pan on the second side.
Your burger, better
When you grate butter, the butter works in a way that it just won't if you try putting slices of it into a patty. In the latter case, the butter will certainly melt, but because it's tucked away in the center of the burger, it won't be able to evenly permeate the mixture the way grated butter does. If your butter is colder than it is warm, it will be easier to grate. That's because it won't melt against the warmth of your fingertips and become soft and harder to grate.
Now that your burger is set to be juicy and flavorful, go to town with the toppings and mix-ins. Everything from garlic and soy sauce to Worcestershire sauce works with burgers that start out this tasty from the get-go. All that's left is to grab a bun, layer on the toppings, make sure your favorite condiments are close at hand, and dig in.