Jerk Turkey Burgers

Dreaming of vacation? Let’s bring the islands home with these Caribbean burgers! I am by no means Jamaican, but I wanted to try a Jamaican jerk burger. I don’t like super spicy food so I made my own jerk seasoning without the heat. These burgers were a hit!

The Good? These burgers are made with lean ground turkey and have folate rich zucchini in them. I first learned about putting zucchini in burgers from Skinnytaste and turkey burgers have never been the same! If you’re concerned about calories, use sandwich slims or lettuce wraps in place of the potato bread buns.

Time: 20 mins
Difficulty: medium
Print

Ingredients:
1 lb 85% lean ground turkey
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 T Jamaican Jerk seasoning of choice ( I made my own)
1/4 c bread crumbs
olive oil
4 slices of fresh pineapple
4 slices of pepper jack cheese
1 T Jamaican Jerk sauce
4 potato bread buns
lettuce, optional

Jerk Seasoning
1 T smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 T thyme
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 T ground ginger
1/2 T black pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions:
In medium bowl, grate zucchini and squeeze out excess liquid with a paper towel. In the same bowl, add ground turkey, bread crumbs and jerk seasoning. Combine all ingredients and form 4 patties. In large skillet, heat 1 T olive oil. Add patties and cook 6-8 minutes on each side until done. Top cooked patties with pepper jack cheese and melt. Build burgers with lettuce, pineapple, and jerk sauce*
*** I mixed 1 T of BBQ sauce with 1 tsp of jerk sauce to control some of the heat