Make your next cookout a multicultural affair. These Tabouleh Turkey Burgers with Feta and Harissa are a fresh take on the classic grilled burger.
Tabouleh Turkey Burgers ditch the standard lettuce, tomato and onion for a Lebanese parsley salad. But why stop there? Harissa replaces ketchup and feta is the big cheese.
One of the things I love about American cuisine is that it is so multicultural. Our food is a melting pot of flavors.
When I create recipes, I take inspiration from a variety of cuisines. My options are nearly limitless in the age of supermarkets and Amazon Pantry! So just about every time I have to categorize a recipe, I’m stumped. Why do I have to choose just one? Good news is I don’t have to! Fusion is the bees knees!
Mixing flavors and reinventing old classics is second nature to me. So recently, when I was thinking about burgers, tabouleh popped into my head, I thought why not? So we tried it with turkey burgers and found that mixing tabouleh into the ground meat makes a very moist burger. Not always easy with poultry.
But the flavor was a bit lacking. So I went to the fridge for ideas and found harissa and feta. Home run! The harissa adds moisture to the bun while also adding spice and the feta adds needed fat and salt.
It’s fun that this Tabouleh Turkey Burger hops from Lebanon to Tunisia to Greece and then back to America. Kind of fitting for the upcoming 4th of July celebration, right?
#CookoutWeek is almost over, so make sure to get your entries in for the giveaway. Lots of great barbecue prizes up for grabs! The contest ends Friday night and at that point this blog will turn into a pumpkin. Okay maybe not, but you get my point :-)
Tabouli Turkey Burger Recipe
Ingredients
Tabouli
- ½ cup cooked quinoa
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons scallions , green parts only, thinly sliced
- 2 cups parsley , chopped
- 2 cups tomatoes , diced
- ½ cup mint , chopped
- 1 cucumber , peeled, seeded and diced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Burgers
- 1.6 lbs ground turkey
- 1 cup tabouli
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon harissa
- 4 hamburger rolls
Instructions
Tabouleh
- Combine ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Burgers
- In a bowl, combine ground turkey, 1 cup of tabouleh, lemon juice and salt and pepper.
- Mix thoroughly and then divide into 4 patties.
- Refrigerate patties for at least 20 minutes before grilling.
- Grill over medium heat, until thermometer reaches 165F.
- Place grilled turkey patties on bun and top with feta, tabouli and harissa.
Notes
- For faster weeknight meals, freeze raw burgers in advance.
- Harissa can be found in the international section of your grocery store or on Amazon.
Nutrition
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Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm says
They sound delicious…..this recipe takes the “melting pot” literally to a whole new direction.
Vintage Kitty says
Wendy I agree. I love fusion food, finding ways to mash-up elements from different cuisines is so much fun.
Erin @ Thanks for Cookin'! says
I haven’t made turkey burgers in ages! Thanks for the mouth watering motivation :D
Vintage Kitty says
Erin, I hope you like them as much as I did. getting the kick of spice from the harissa really made this fun.
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
Sweet glory now that’s a burger that I need ASAP
Ashleigh Burgess says
I am having a good little laugh, I saw this recipe and thought to myself “ugh I am GF I can’t have tabouleh” but you’ve used Quinoa, and I can have that! I am going to make this salad for lunch! (If I had buns I’d make the burgers)
Vintage Kitty says
Absolutely! You just need a GF bun. I guess that’s why I didn’t call out the tabouleh as GF. One of my get less carbs and more protein secrets is throwing quinoa in lots of recipes. I’m always concerned with calling anything GF without knowing every ingredient that goes in the recipe is actually gluten free.