Oven Baked Turkey Burgers

These oven baked turkey burgers cook on a wire rack at 400°F (200°C) and come out juicy, which is not what most people expect from a sheet pan and a pound of ground turkey.

The moisture comes from grated onion and a panko binder worked into 93/7 turkey, and the juiciness comes from pulling the patties at 165°F (74°C) with a thermometer instead of guessing from the color.

Four burgers take about 35 minutes, including 10 minutes for the patties to chill before they go in.

Why You’ll Love It

• 4 burgers, about 35 minutes, no flipping
• No skillet splatter and no grill
• 93/7 turkey stays moist with grated onion and panko
• Doneness by thermometer, not by color
• Patties freeze raw or cooked
• Sheet pan and rack go in the dishwasher

Ingredients

This makes 4 burgers.

1 pound 93/7 ground turkey (not 99% lean)

⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs

1 large egg

¼ cup grated yellow onion with its juice (about half a medium onion)

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil, for brushing

4 slices cheddar or provolone (optional)

4 burger buns, plus lettuce, tomato, pickles, and sauce for serving

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), line a 13×18 half sheet pan with foil, set an oven-safe stainless wire rack on it, and brush the rack lightly with oil.

2. The rack lets hot air hit all sides of the patty, so the bottoms brown instead of steaming in their own juice on the pan.

3. Grate the onion on the large holes of a box grater straight into a large bowl, juice and all; the juice is the point, since it seasons the meat and keeps it wet.

4. Stir in the panko, egg, Worcestershire, Dijon, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper, then let it sit 2 minutes so the panko soaks up the liquid.

5. Add the turkey and mix with your hands just until the seasoning is evenly distributed, about 30 seconds; overmixing is the most common mistake with turkey and it makes the burgers tough and pasty.

6. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions, about 5 ounces each on a digital kitchen scale, and shape each into a patty about 4 inches across and ¾ inch thick.

7. Press a shallow dimple into the center of each patty with your thumb, because turkey puffs up in the middle as it cooks and the dimple keeps them flat enough to sit on a bun.

8. Put the patties on a plate and chill them 10 minutes; the mixture is soft, and cold patties hold their shape on the rack while warm ones slump.

9. Set the patties on the rack, brush the tops with olive oil, and bake 18 to 22 minutes without flipping.

10. At 18 minutes, push an instant-read meat thermometer into the side of the thickest patty toward the center; they are done at 165°F (74°C), and not before.

11. Do not judge by color, since ground turkey looks pale even when it is fully cooked, and a patty taken to 180°F is dry and chalky; that gap is about 4 minutes in this oven.

12. For cheese, lay a slice on each patty in the last 2 minutes; for more color, switch the oven to broil for 1 to 2 minutes and watch it, which is why the pan is lined with foil and not parchment.

13. Rest the burgers 3 to 4 minutes on the rack while you toast the buns cut side up on a second pan in the hot oven for 2 minutes.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

93/7 is the right lean-to-fat ratio; 99% lean dries out no matter what you add, and 85/15 works and tastes richer but shrinks more on the rack.

If 99% lean is all the store has, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the mix to make up some of the missing fat.

Grated onion dissolves into the meat, while diced onion leaves crunchy pockets that fall out of the patty; if you have no grater, mince the onion as fine as you can and add 1 tablespoon of milk to replace the lost juice.

Regular breadcrumbs work in place of panko at ¼ cup, since they are denser and absorb more.

For gluten-free, use ¼ cup of rolled oats pulsed in a blender or crushed gluten-free crackers at the same amount.

Soy sauce swaps in for the Worcestershire 1:1 and adds the same salty depth, and yellow mustard works for the Dijon if that is what is in the fridge.

Raw frozen patties go straight on the rack at 400°F for 28 to 32 minutes, again until the thermometer reads 165°F.

The thermometer is the whole recipe; turkey has no marbling to forgive overcooking, so the timing range only gets you close.

Serving Ideas

The standard build is a toasted bun, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, and mayo mixed with a teaspoon of Dijon.

A sharp side helps against the rich patty, and Tangy Vinegar Coleslaw No Mayo can be made in the 10 minutes the patties chill.

Savory Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Herbs share the 400°F oven; start them 15 minutes before the burgers go in and both come out together.

For something crunchy instead of fries, Veggie Chips Air Fryer cook on the counter while the oven is busy.

Without a bun, a sliced patty over a chopped salad or crumbled into a rice bowl works for lunch the next day.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Raw patties can be shaped, separated with parchment paper squares, and refrigerated in an airtight container for 1 day.

To freeze raw, set the shaped patties on a sheet pan in the freezer for 1 hour first so they do not fuse, then stack them with parchment between in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.

Cooked burgers keep in the fridge for 4 days.

Reheat cooked patties in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or in the microwave for 60 to 90 seconds covered with a damp paper towel; the microwave alone dries out the edges.

Cooked patties also freeze for 3 months wrapped individually, and they thaw overnight in the fridge.

Cold sliced patty on a salad is fine, so there is no need to reheat them for lunch.

The dimple and the thermometer are doing most of the work here.

Ground turkey goes from juicy to chalky in the few minutes between 165°F and 180°F, and a thermometer is the only way to stop at the right end of that range.