These tasty little turkey burgers will leave your whole family asking for another, which was all part of the plan–they are sliders after all!
These turkey burgers are a favorite at our house. I first made these as sliders after I realized that my younger son was more likely to eat a burger if it was more like a large, flattened meatball. He started eating sliders as if they were indeed meatballs, with the bun and toppings on the side, but eventually I guess was curious to see what the burger would taste like with the bun, and now enjoys the sliders the same way the rest of us do.
Of course, that is another great aspect of these sliders: they can be eaten with buns, such as the delicious brioche bun pictured above, or the healthier whole grain one pictured below…or they can be enjoyed without the bun and instead over a salad, rice, or pasta.
This recipe serves 4 people, yielding 2 sliders per person. Younger kids may be content with 1 while growing teenagers (and hard working dads) may want 3. This recipe is easy to double if you need more or if you want to batch cook and save time later. It really doesn’t take much longer, especially if you have a large skillet or grill and can cook most of them at once. They are perfect for pulling out for a quick lunch or dinner, I usually just reheat them in the microwave.
I like to put a piece of parchment paper on a cutting board or sheet pan when I make the patties. This makes for easier clean-up and helps cut the risk of cross contamination. (And I guess I can’t count because I in the picture below I made 17 patties instead of the intended 16!)
Finally, these turkey burger sliders are a healthy alternative to beef. We love beef sliders as well, but I try to keep our red meat consumption to once or twice per week. The key to a good turkey burger is using a mix of dark and light turkey meat (or a package that says around 94% lean). In addition, adding oil to the ground turkey mixture ensures that the sliders aren’t dry and the parsley, onion, and garlic give them some extra flavor while keeping them mild enough for young taste buds.
This recipe was adapted from Annie’s Eats recipe for Turkey Burgers.
- 2 + 2 teaspoons canola or grapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
- 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 8 slider buns (omit if gluten-free)
- Heat 2 teaspoons of canola oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another 2 minutes, until fragrant, but not browned. Remove from heat, transfer to a large bowl, and let cool.
- Add the ground turkey, 1 tablespoon olive oil, parsley, salt, and pepper, to the bowl with the cooled onion and garlic mixture. Mix everything with a wooden spoon until well combined.
- Form mixture into 8 sliders and place onto a cutting board or sheet pan covered with parchment paper for easy clean up.
- If grilling, oil grates with canola oil before grilling. Then grill for 3-4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. If cooking in a pan, heat nonstick pan over medium heat, add 2 teaspoons of canola oil, and cook for 3-4 minutes per side, or until cooked through.
- Serve with slider buns and suggested toppings.
Avocado, tomato, lettuce, ketchup.
I love turkey burgers and so much fun to make them into sliders – especially for the kids!
Yes, little hands do seem to prefer sliders over traditional sized burgers!
i just want to know the sodium content of this food. This is being planned for a event for Heart Failure patients.
Hi Elaine! The sodium content for 1/4 of the recipe (2 sliders) is about 288 mg. However, that does not factor in the buns and condiments (i.e., ketchup). Hope this helps!