Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

Trust me when I say these Hawaiian Turkey Burgers will be your new go-to for burger night! The burgers themselves are only 5 ingredients and they’re SO flavorful! They get topped with grilled pineapple, avocado, red onion, and a handful of greens! They’re a serious flavor explosion in all of the best ways!

My mom used to make a similar burger pretty often growing up and I still think about them – they are SO good. The combination of umami flavors from the soy and hoisin, mixed with the caramelized grilled pineapple is pretty magical. And the burgers themselves are only 5 ingredients! Super easy and delicious is what I’m all about recently.

These burgers honestly could not be easier and you won’t believe the flavor! One thing I will say: make sure you use lean ground turkey, and not the 99% lean ground turkey breast. Having the little bit of extra fat in there really helps in terms of flavor, and I find that ground turkey breast is just sooo dry and generally just not very good. Unless you’re putting it in a chili or something with lots of flavor, and spices.

So use the 93% stuff here! Trust me, it makes alllll the difference.

For the burger mixture, all we need is lean ground turkey, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, and hoisin! Hoisin is one of my favorite ingredients – it’s soooo darn good, and it gives everything such a sweet and caramelized flavor.

I make these burgers on the stovetop, but you could certainly grill them too! Especially since we’re grilling the pineapple. I happen to live in a condo where we can’t have grills (so sad!), so I use an indoor grill pan for the pineapple. You do you though!

Toppings are pretty much always my favorite part. They just tie everything together and make food more fun. In this case, grilled pineapple is the star of the show (so caramelly and sweet!), and we’ve got avocado too (always a good decision), red onion, and greens!

I personally don’t think that these burgers need a sauce, because the burgers themselves are juicy, the grilled pineapple is SUPER juicy, and the avocado is creamy, but if you’re a burger-with-sauce kind of person, the sauce I made for these burgers would be amazing here! Basically just mayo and BBQ sauce mixed together! So so so good.

I am getting soooo excited for summer and grilling season! These would be a perfect thing to make this weekend for Memorial Day festivities – you can make the burger patties ahead of time, throw them in the fridge, slice up your pineapple, and then grill everything when you’re ready! And just have the toppings set up bar-style! So fun.

And if you need a side to make with these, this is SO good and it’s mayo-less, so perfect for parties and picnics!

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Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

Trust me when I say these Hawaiian Turkey Burgers will be your new go-to for burger night! The burgers themselves are only 5 ingredients and they're SO flavorful! They get topped with grilled pineapple, avocado, red onion, and a handful of greens! They're a serious flavor explosion in all of the best ways!

Course Burger, Main, Main Course

Cuisine Hawaiian

Keyword avocado burgers, burger with hoisin, easy burger recipe, easy turkey burger recipe, grilled pineapple burgers, hawaiian burger recipe, hawaiian turkey burgers, healthy turkey burger recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Servings 4

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the burgers

• 1 pound lean ground turkey*
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon avocado or olive oil

For the toppings

• nonstick spray
• 1 pineapple, cored and cut into 1/2'' thick slices
• 1 avocado, thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• greens of your choice (I used mixed greens, but romaine or butter lettuce would work great)
• 4 buns of your choice (I used brioche)

Instructions

1. Begin by making the burgers. To a medium bowl, add the turkey, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, hoisin, salt, and pepper. Mix to combine (it's easiest to use your hands!). Divide the mixture into 4 equal parts and form into patties. I find that ground turkey can be super sticky, so if you wet your hands first before forming the patties, it really helps!

2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Once hot, add your burgers and cook for 4-5 minutes per side, or until depply golden and caramelized on each side.

3. While the burgers are cooking, preheat a grill pan or outdoor grill to medium-high heat. If you're using a grill pan, spray lightly with nonstick spray. Grill your pineapple for 3-5 minutes per side (depending on your grill), or until grill marks appear.

4. To serve, place a handful of greens on the bottom bun, followed by the burger, a grilled pineapple slice, a slice of red onion, and slices of avocado on top. (Bonus points if you grill your burger bun!)

Recipe Notes

*Be sure to use 92 or 93% lean ground turkey, not the 99% lean ground turkey breast, because your burgers would be super dry!
*If you don't want to cook your burgers a skillet as the recipe is written, you can grill them on an outdoor grill or grill pan with your pineapple, I just find that turkey burgers stick more on a grill.