Flavorful & Healthy- Grilled Chili Lime Turkey Burgers

We have all had a grilled turkey burger that is dry, overcooked, and under-seasoned! Let me save you from that fate ever again with this amazing recipe for Grilled Chili Lime Turkey Burgers. This is a perfectly seasoned and flavorful, juicy turkey burger recipe.

To make sure you end up with a well seasoned and flavorful grilled turkey burger I fill it with garlic, fresh lime zest, green chilies, and chili powder. These ingredients make a perfect compliment to the grilled turkey flavor.

Chili Lime Turkey Burgers for Dinner

I am all about balance when I make my weekly meal plan. I do not strive to keep EVERY night low calorie, low carb or even healthy! Sometimes we have Sloppy Joes and fries or grilled steak and Cheesy Potato Casserole. Then sometimes we have Salad or Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast and Grilled Fresh Veggies.

I love this recipe for Chili Lime Turkey Burgers as a more “healthy” option to mix into our weekly meal plan. The lean ground turkey is a great healthy meat option and by adding all the seasonings and spices it still tastes decadent.

When we have these grilled turkey burgers for dinner I like to have baked sweet potato fries and skewered & grilled onions and peppers.

…However, in all honesty, if I’m too tired to make all those sides- I might just pull out some tortilla chips with  salsa and guacamole to have on the side!…it’s better than the alternative- cereal!

How to Make Chili Lime Turkey Burgers

I like to start my turkey burgers with 1 pound of 93% lean ground turkey. I think it has a little bit more flavor than the 99% lean ground turkey and will help your burgers from drying out and becoming rubbery on the grill.

Drain a 4 ounce can of diced green chilies by pouring it into a fine mesh sieve. Using the back of a spoon press the green chilies to get as much liquid out as possible. If you have too much liquid in your turkey burgers they will not stick together.

Place your ground turkey in a mixing bowl. Add the lime zest, drained green chilies, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and chili powder.

**Kitchen Tip: Lime zest can stick in one clump, so sprinkle it across the bowl of ground turkey. That way it is distributed evenly and you do not end up with all the zest in one burger!

Using clean hands lightly mix the ground turkey mixture until the seasonings and chilies are incorporated evenly. Overmixing will create a tough turkey burger.

Now for the fun part…forming the patties:

I have always tried, in futility, to form uniform burger patties by hand. They always ended up in sad shapes and I never achieved perfectly round patties. That is until I was recipe testing Chili Lime Turkey Burgers, because you know I wanted “pretty” burgers for my pics. I found that I could use one of my medium sized round cookie cutters as a patty mold! I love it when I can get more than one use out of a kitchen gadget!

If you are fancy and have a burger mold like this one here from Amazon, great, use that!

But if you are ratchet like me just find a medium sized round cookie cutter. Divide your ground turkey mixture into 4 equal portions. Set the cookie cutter on baking sheet. Press the first portion of ground turkey into the “mold”. Remove the mold and wallah, you have uniform turkey burger patties.

**Kitchen Tip: Cut a large piece of parchment paper into 4 small squares. Place them under each patty or between each patty if you are stacking the turkey burgers. This will make it super easy to pick up the raw turkey patties and put them on the grill without having them stick to the sheet pan!

Now press your thumb into the middle of each patty and make a small dent. That will help the burgers from shrinking into fat little hockey pucks on the grill.

Do NOT skip this step….Prep the grill grate by brushing it with a little olive oil. I also brush the raw turkey burger patties with olive oil. This will prevent the burgers from sticking to the grill.

Grill the turkey burgers over medium heat for about 14 minutes, 7 minutes per side. Make sure your burgers are cooked thru to 165 degree internal temperature.

Let the burgers rest for about 5 minutes, uncovered, before serving.

Toppings for your Chili Lime Turkey Burger

I like to top my Chili Lime Turkey Burgers with pico de gallo, guacamole and lettuce. The pico de gallo and guacamole compliment the flavors in the grilled turkey burger perfectly, and the lettuce adds a little crunch. Some other good toppings for this burger would be:

• Melted pepper jack cheese
• Pickled jalapenos
• Salsa
• Fresh Jalapenos for spice!
• A squeeze of fresh lime juice
• Pickled banana pepper rings
• Red onions
• Crumbled queso fresco
• Fresh sliced avocado
• Grilled onion slices

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I hope you give this recipe for Chili Lime Turkey Burgers a try in your kitchen… or on your grill!

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