The Trick To Keeping Turkey Burgers Intact Without Any Eggs
Turkey burgers are a flavorful way to change things up at your next cookout. They might not be your traditional burger, but ground turkey patties are still packed full of flavor and char up nicely on the grill, or in a pan. However, one of the greatest challenges of making your own turkey burgers is keeping them from falling apart.
The secret to keeping your patties together is to use binding agents like eggs to add moisture that helps the burgers from falling apart. This egg solution creates another problem, though: Too much moisture in the patties, and you end up with something that's closer to a turkey meatloaf patty. Even worse, these overly hydrated patties are more prone to falling apart.
The best turkey burgers are going to have an ideal balance of moisture. An easy way to get the perfect balance without using eggs is to use natural binders like fat — whether that's animal fat or olive oil – combined with dry agents like bread crumbs.
Why do turkey burgers always fall apart?
Turkey burgers are more prone to falling apart because they don't have the same fat content as ground beef patties. Turkey patties tend to dry out more during cooking because of their lean nature. This also causes them to shrink more when cooking, and end up with a texture more akin to a sausage than a tender hamburger due to the higher ratio of proteins. To counter this we can add fat to the ground meat that will lock in more flavor and moisture.
The problem with this is now we need to ensure the higher moisture in the patty won't get in the way of those proteins binding, causing the burger to fall apart. That's why it's important to be careful with what you choose to add. Added fats like olive oil are easy and predictable to measure when working with batches of ground turkey. Knowing exactly how much fat is added to your patties will help you manage moisture levels, and keep your burger in one piece.
Adding binders like breadcrumbs will also help keep that moisture in your burger by soaking up the oil instead of letting it drip onto your grill.
How to make the best turkey burger
Other ways to add fat are to alter your ground turkey mix. Use dark turkey meat: Dark meat has a higher fat content than typical ground turkey breast, and will help keep the burgers nice and juicy. Try olive oil as an option if you can't find ground dark meat, or aren't grinding your own.
Once you've settled on a fat and a binder, mix up your raw meat and start forming patties. Just like when you're shaping beef hamburger patties, you don't want to pack turkey burgers too tightly or too loosely. Too tight and you'll end up with hockey pucks; too loosely and they might still fall apart despite your best efforts.
To form the best burger patties, you'll also want to add a small dimple in the middle. Your meat is going to shrink up slightly when it's cooked. Adding the dimple in the center keeps your patty from bulging up when that happens. It's a simple step, but it will give you perfectly shaped patties coming off the grill and help them cook more consistently.
Making a thicker burger patty will help your patties stick together as well. Thicker burgers tend to hold together more easily as long as you don't flip them too much while they cook.