Melty mozzarella, flavorful pesto and fresh tomatoes… all on top of a grilled turkey burger!
These are great for both a weeknight or weekend meal! We love to enjoy them on crispy lettuce (because we want to drink a beer and… balance!), but they’d be delicious on a toasted bun as well!
These are lean with turkey meat but still feel decadent topped with melty mozzarella cheese. And they come together so quickly with the help of an already prepared pesto. It takes the place of fresh basil here with a pop of flavor.
Feel free to make your own pesto if you’d like. I love to grab the pesto from Costco, but like all the goodness at Costco, there’s a lot in that jar. My little trick for saving all the unused pesto: I grab an ice cube tray (they have perfectly good ones at the dollar store… win!) and fill the ice cube tray with my unused pesto. Just freeze the pesto, transfer the little tasty cubes of pesto to a ziploc bag and leave them in the freezer until you need a big hit of basil flavor. Fire up the grill! Turn the grill to high and let it heat to 450-500 degrees. Prep the turkey burgers. Separate the ground turkey meat into 4 equal sections (for this, I basically just score it with my hand and make a cross in the meat to equally separate it). Gently roll each ¼ in your hands and form into patties. I always put a little thumbprint (even bigger than a thumbprint) in the center of my burgers. It makes the middle part of the burger just a bit thinner than the outside, helping to make the the burger cook evenly and the patty to be an even thickness when it’s all grilled and ready. Liberally salt and pepper the top of the turkey patties. Sprinkle the tops of the patties with red pepper flakes. Use as much or as little as you’d like depending on how spicy you’d like to make the burgers. Once the grill is hot, place the turkey patties on the grill seasoned side down. Grill 4-5 minutes on the first side. While the burgers cook, slice up the mozzarella (they don’t need to be pretty slices). Slice your buns if you’re using buns or you can place these delicious burgers on crisp pieces on lettuce. Once you flip the burgers, top them with a thick slice of mozzarella cheese. Cook on the second side for 3-4 minutes, or until the turkey is just cooked through and the cheese is melted*. Remove from the grill and top them each with ½ tbsp of pesto and sliced tomatoes, if using. Enjoy immediately! *Tip: If the burger is already cooked and you still need the cheese to melt- take the burgers off the grill and just tent them with foil. It will keep them warm and melt the cheese a bit without overcooking the turkey burgers. It gives you a little time to prep the rest of dinner too, if needed!
Grilled Turkey Caprese Burgers
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