Turkey Burgers with Garlic Mayo & Recaito: A Char-Broil Kettleman Adventure

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Char-Broil for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Guys, I’m seriously stoked about this post for several reasons. First, I’ve been wanting to share my wife’s insane turkey burger recipe with you for a very long time, and now I get to. Second, we got to make it on an awesome grill provided by Char-Broil. Lastly, is because even my oldest son, the hater of all things mushroom, ate this up like it was going out of style.  It’s an all-around win, and I’m glad to have been a part of it.

So here’s the deal. I was asked by the fine folks at IZEA to write a recipe featuring the new Char-Broil Kettleman Grill. (Yeah. Insert man-squeal here.) I get to try out a new grill and get paid for it! Serious bonus, even if it was just a mediocre rig. But it’s not guys. This thing is awesome. But more on that in a minute.

Today’s recipe is a family favorite with a few unexpected twists that, if anything, made it far better than every version of my wife’s turkey burgers that have come before. And that’s saying a lot. Her regular turkey burgers are epic. These are monumental.

We start with a few simple ingredients. All are available at whatever store you happen to frequent:

Grab the mushrooms and a chopped onion and cook them in a little butter until they’re all happy and golden.

Then you mix ’em in with some ground turkey, breadcrumbs, seasonings and an egg for every pound of turkey you use. Make patties sized for the buns you have on hand…

(As a side note, the hands in the picture above belong to a USA Today best-selling romance author. And I’m lucky enough to be her husband.)

Once you’ve got the patties made, stack them on a plate with foil or parchment between them so they won’t stick together and put them in the fridge. Then fire up the grill and get a good bed of coals going.

Once your coals are ready, spread them out and put the grate on the grill.  Be sure to let the grate heat up before you toss the turkey burgers on it. You want those lovely grill marks, and you’re not going to get them on a cold grill.

Close the lid and let the turkey burgers cook for about 5 minutes. You want to make sure they’re cooked thoroughly.

Give those burgers a flip and marvel at the beautiful grill marks you have because you let everything get happy before you tossed the food on the grill.

After another five minutes or so, your turkey burgers are ready to assemble. This is where a few specialty ingredients come in.

The garlic mayo is simple. Just mix a teaspoon of minced garlic with three tablespoons of real mayo and you’re all set. But the star of the show in this case is the recaito, or Puerto Rican culantro paste.

Recaito is made with peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro (culantro, if available) and then more peppers. It’s kind of like chimichuri, but not. Actually, I can’t really explain it. It’s amazing, but until you’ve tried it, you just can’t grasp it. Sorry, I know I’m supposed to tell you what it tastes like, but it’s just sort of magic on the tongue. You’ll have to find some and try it.

You can get recaito on amazon, just search for “Goya Recaito.”

Now it’s time to assemble.

Spread a bit of garlic mayo on the bottom of each bun. Top it with a turkey burger patty and plop a healthy amount of recaito over that. Cover with the other half of the bun and you have something very near perfection.

I’m serious guys. These turkey burgers are freaking amazing. But before I get to the recipe, I want to take a minute to talk about the grill we cooked it on.

We were given a brand-new model of the Kettleman charcoal grill made by Char-Broil to make this recipe. It’s a solid, heavy piece of equipment that I’m very proud to have in my cooking arsenal. You can pick one up at Lowe’s or get it shipped to you from www.charbroil.com for $139 bucks. Yep, not too expensive for a grill of this caliber. Trust me. I’ve owned many, and this one is at the top of my list.

We got the grill in a box, but assembling it only took a few minutes. The instructions were clear and even with limited tools it goes together well.

The charcoal grate (the bottom wire rack that holds the coals in place) is spaced tightly, meaning that you get all the heat the coals are going to give you before they slip through to the ash collector on the bottom. The cooking grate is stamped steel, not some flimsy wire thing. This makes for great grill marks and even heat distribution.

It’s almost like using a grill pan, Yeah, it’s that easy. But seriously take a minute to learn more about the Kettleman grill. You’ll be glad you did.  (And ladies. Father’s day is right around the corner. This would make a great gift!)

The grill comes with a guidebook that will help novice charcoal enthusiasts get great results, so don’t worry about mistakes. It really is pretty simple.

Now for the recipe:

Yield: 4 to 8 burgers

Turkey Burgers with Garlic Mayo & Recaito

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 22 minutes

Succulent, savory turkey and mushroom burgers accented with the amazing tastes of garlic mayo and Puerto-rican recaito.

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Ingredients

For the Garlic mayo:

• Three Tablespoons Mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic

For the turkey burgers:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 package (or small can) of mushrooms, chopped (drain first, if canned)
• 2 Tablespoons butter, for cooking
• Hamburger buns, sweet rolls or slider rolls
• Recaito

Instructions

For the Garlic mayo:

1. Mix garlic with mayonnaise and stir to combine. Refrigerate prior to using.

For the Turkey Burgers:

1. Heat your grill or grill pan.
2. Chop onion and mushrooms. Cook in a skillet over medium heat until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are browned. Set aside and let cool.
3. Mix onion mixture, egg, turkey, bread crumbs and seasoning. Blend well.
4. Form turkey patty mixture that will fit the size of your buns (they won't shrink much when cooked).
5. Cook patties 5 minutes per side over direct heat. Be sure that no pink remains (165 degrees F)
6. Split buns. Smear 1 teaspoon garlic mayo on the bottom portion. Place turkey burger on top of the garlic mayo. Spoon 1 teaspoon recaito over the burger and top with the other half of the bun.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 312Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 378mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 18g

What I would have done differently had I thought of it at the time:

Nothing. These little bad boys are perfect just the way they are. But don’t take my word for it. Make these for yourself and taste the wonderment!