I’ll be honest, I struggled a little bit with deciding what to do on this round. Not because of lack of ideas though. It was quite the opposite actually. The difficulty came with trying to narrow it down. Greek cuisine is so ideal for a hot summer month like August. There isn’t a lot of heaviness, and everything is light and leaves you feeling satisfied but not disgusting. While mapping out destinations for this blog, my plan was and is to pair up the well known cuisines of the locations with the seasonal time of year we are currently in. So heavier dishes will be featured during our comfort food time of year which is the cold weather months. When I thought of fresh Greek cuisine, I thought of seafood, salads and of course, lamb. But something pulled me to do a dish that could be grilled easily during these last few weeks of Summer. Or be made up and put in the freezer for a lighter meal going into the fall while we are getting back into the swing of things with school, work and activities.
We love a good turkey burger, myself in particular. My better half just loves a good burger, period. Wegmans, an amazing grocery store that we are huge fans of, make delicious turkey burgers that we are big fans of. This inspired me to make up these Greek Turkey burgers to switch things up. These are healthier then loaded beef ones but have just as much flavor. The tzatziki sauce is also a healthy sauce option that goes equally as well with the fries. As I mentioned, these burgers can easily be frozen and saved for another meal. After they are formed, they can be cooked immediately or refrigerated
Fries are my desert island food. Any kind: waffle, steak, shoestring, battered, sweet potato, loaded, not loaded, with 15 different sauces or plain. You can’t have a good burger without some fries. Adding a bit of dried oregano and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice really brightens up the potatoes. You can of course deep fry these (and add the seasoning afterwards) but I did them in a conventional oven. They can also be done in an air fryer as well. Many don’t realize how easy it is to make your own fries. This recipe used 4 potatoes to make something much healthier and better for you then getting take out.
Some recipes will tell you to just put the potato wedges on the sheet tray and season them on there. That’s fine if you just want one side of your potatoes to have flavor. Putting the potato wedges into a bowl and then tossing them in the seasoning will make a world of difference in flavor. Sure you are dirtying another dish, but trust me, you’ll enjoy these potatoes so much more.
Lastly, this recipe makes four turkey burgers. Feel free to double this up for parties, freezing or if you have teenagers. Same goes for the potatoes! Enjoy!
Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce and Oregano Fries
Serves 4
- 4 cups Fresh Baby Spinach Leaves
- 1 lb Ground Turkey, 94% Lean 6% Fat
- 1/2 cup Feta, crumbled
- 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 4 Garlic Cloves, Minced
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp dried Oregano
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Sprinkle of Salt
- Sprinkle of Roasted Red Pepper Flakes
In a large sauté pan, heat one tsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the baby spinach and saute until all spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and set aside, allowing to cool. Then rough chop before adding to turkey mixture.
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, feta cheese, black pepper, garlic, egg, oregano, lemon, salt, roasted red pepper flakes and spinach once cooled. Mix until all ingredients are combined and then form into 4 patties.
Cook patties until burgers reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Serve with Oregano Fries and Tzatziki Sauce.
Tzatziki Sauce
- 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 Cucumber, Diced Small
- 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Fresh Dill, chopped
- 1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 2 tsp Kosher Salt
Combine all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and serve. Store in an air tight container for longer keep.
Oregano Fries
- 4 Yukon Gold Potatoes
- 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Dried Oregano
Slice potatoes into quarters and then again in half (1/8th’s). Place in bowl and then toss with remaining ingredients. Line and a sheet tray with aluminum foil, spray with oil and place potatoes on tray. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes, turning wedges half way through. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 3 minutes before serving.