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Smashed Turkey Cheeseburgers

  • Ground
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Spring Entertaining
  • Entertaining
  • Barbecue
  • Everyday
  • BBQ

Great tip from Chef Ted Reader: When working with ground meats, practice food safety and always keep the meat refrigerated up until you need to mix, shape, or cook. Makes for easier burger handling too!  

Source: Ted Reader BBQ 

Yield

8 burgers

Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs (907 g) ground Ontario Turkey 
  • 2 green onions, finely chopped 
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh dill 
  • 4 tsp (20 mL) potato or corn starch 
  • 2 tsp (10 mL) salt 
  • 1 tsp (5 mL) ground black pepper 
  • ½ cup (120 mL)  crispy fried onion pieces  
  • 1 medium sized red onion, peeled and super thinly sliced into rings 
  • 1 medium sized sweet onion, peeled and super thinly sliced into rings 
  • 2 tsp (10 mL) vegetable oil 
  • Salt and pepper to taste 
  • 8 slices pancetta 
  • ¼ cup (57 g) softened butter, divided 
  • 8 slices ripe tomato (1 or 2 tomatoes is plenty) 
  • 2 cups (226 g) shredded smoked cheese (smoked cheddar, mozzarella, gouda all work great) 
  • 8 soft hamburger buns 
  • 8 tsp (40 mL) onion dip, store bought works great or take a half a pack of onion soup mix and stir it into some full fat sour cream and add some green onion 
  • Optional toppings as desired 

Gear:  

  • Large cast iron griddle or fry pan - I use grilling stones which achieve the same purpose  
  • Can be done in the house in a regular fry pan 
  • Heavy duty spatula for smashing the burgers

Instructions

  • In a bowl, combine ground turkey, green onion, chopped dill, starch, salt, pepper and crispy fried onions and mix well.  
  • Form the ground turkey mixture into 8 equally sized 4-ounce (120 g) burger balls. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour, to allow the meat to chill and rest…before ya smash the living daylights out of 'em. 
  • In a medium sized bowl, mix the red and sweet sliced onions together. Drizzle with 2 tsp of vegetable oil and season to taste with a little salt and pepper. Divide into 8 equally sized little piles. Set aside 
  • Fry off the pancetta until crisp about 2 to 3 minutes, turning once, set aside keeping warm. 
  • Separate the top from the bottom of the burger buns. Brush the cut side of each top and bottom with a ½ tsp (2.5 mL) of softened butter. Set aside.
  • Fire up your grill to approximately 400-450°F (204-232°C). 
  • Season cast iron pan or griddle with a little vegetable oil or non-stick cooking spray. Place onto gas grill and heat for 10 minutes until a drop of water sizzles evaporates instantly…get it hot, but not scorching hot.  
  • Working quickly and in small batches (2 batches of 4 depending on how big your pan or griddle is) place a mound of sliced onions onto the hot pan. Place a ground turkey burger ball on top of the onions and using your spatula press down/smash the burger ball so that it is flat. 
  • Repeat with another burger. Cook onions and burger for 2 to 4 minutes, flip onions and burger over, and add a knob of butter (about ¼ tsp or 1 mL) on top of each burger. Continue to cook until fully cooked and lightly browned.  
  • Top each burger with a slice of ripe tomato, crispy pancetta, and a quarter cup of shredded cheese. Cover and allow cheese to melt. Remove from pan. Place a buttered bun top and bottom into the pan directly on top of where your burger was cooking and fry buns until golden brown and toasted.  
  • Schmeer some onion dip over the surface of each cut bun and place the smashed stack onto toasted bun bottom. Slap on your favourite toppings, add bun top and chow down 

Need More Help?

Learn everything you need to know about selecting, preparing, and cooking whole turkeys.

Classic Roasted Whole Turkey

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