To be completely honest, this is take #2 of Buffalo Turkey Burgers. The first attempt was not very tasty and I didn’t really think it worthy of publishing. They weren’t a catastrophy, just nothing to write home about. Turns out, the less work I actually do, the better!
My first attempt at these was ruined by my home-made “buffalo wing sauce”. I’ve heard over and over – buffalo wing sauce is just hot sauce and butter. Hot sauce and butter…simple, no? Well, it didn’t work so well in practice. I tried my favorite Cholula in equal parts with butter. It didn’t taste…bad…but it just wasn’t right. And somehow, even with all that spiciness, it imparted nearly no flavor to the burgers. So although they didn’t taste bad, they just weren’t very good.
I promised myself I’d pick up some real buffalo wing-sauce next time we went to our favorite local (OK, nation-wide) hot-wing restaurant. Can you guess where its from? I’ll never tell. And to my delight, it isn’t actually full of sugar or high-fructose-corn-syrup as I’d feared. Just sodium, to be expected.
The burgers are very simple, I didn’t fancy them up with a lot of ingredients. I used grated onion to get strong onion flavor without crispy chunks of onion in the burger. The other main flavoring, as it traditionally accompanies buffalo wings, is blue cheese. Gosh we love blue cheese around here!
Once the burgers are done, just top them with as much wing sauce as your mouth can handle. This can of course be done with a grilled chicken breast to make an at-home version of these “spicy chicken sandwiches” like the ones my husband frequently pays about $7 for at restaurants.
And because I’ve been feeling SOOOO guilty about the lack of anything green on our plates, I made a side of roasted asparagus. Is it bad that I’m already sick of steamed asparagus this year? I love roasted asparagus. Simply roast it at 450F for about 15 minutes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Just turn them once about half-way through cooking.
And the verdict on Buffalo Turkey Burgers take #2? Delicious. Definitely a keeper!
Prep Ranking: #2 – Weeknight Fare
Tastiness Grade: 9/10
Buffalo Turkey Burgers (4 burgers)
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (I prefer Gorganzola, its easy to find)
1/2 onion, grated
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
olive oil for cooking
Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce, your favorite brand, as much as you’d like!
Combine the turkey, blue cheese crumbles, onion, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Mix thouroughly and form into 4 patties. Try to get the cheese to the interior of the burger as much as possible so it doesn’t melt out or burn. Saute over medium heat in a drizzle of olive oil. It will take 6-8 minutes per side.
Once burgers are cooked, place on a hearty bun and drizzle with as much buffalo wing sauce as you’d like. Top with lettuce and/or an onion slice.
I LOVE roasted asparagus, and I love the only turkey burgers I’ve had, which weren’t homemade but from a box (embarrassing, I know). This looks delicious!
We pretty much exclusively eat turkey in the house in the place of ground beef. Its at least slightly healthier but its certainly cheaper around here, by a minimum of $1 per pound. Try them at home! You can make them so many different ways and the turkey just takes on any flavor you put it with.