Turkey burgers and chips

I’ m a sucker for a beef burger loaded with bacon, cheese and onion rings on a nice bun but they are big ‘no no’ when you’re trying to watch your weight. Now I’m not going to lie, turkey burgers and chips from the Hairy Dieters didn’t exactly have me sprinting into the kitchen to make them, but as a healthy alternative these actually taste pretty good.

At just 2% fat, turkey mince is about as lean as you can get and by dropping the bun in this recipe you even get to have a few home-made ‘paprika’ chips to accompany your burger and mine turned out pretty well. I cheated slightly by using the much cheaper turkey thigh mince in the photograph but this still comes in at only 7% fat.

I would recommend cooking your turkey burgers in the oven as mine were quite wet when shaped into patties and I was concerned about them breaking up if cooked in a frying pan. I’d also argue to cook them for much longer than the 10 minutes suggested cooking time as my burgers looked quite pale when I initially took them out of the oven.

Recipe: Turkey burgers and chips

Calories: 313 calories per portion

Serves: 4

Book: Hairy Dieters – Good Eating

Prep time: Approx 20 mins

Cooking time: Approx 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 4 tsp vegetable oil
• 2 slender leeks (each about 125g) trimmed and finely sliced
• 1 medium courgette (about 150g) trimmed and finely grated
• 500g minced turkey breast
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
• 6 tbsp tomato relish (to serve)
• Large mixed salad (to serve)
• Ground black pepper.

Paprika chips:

• 3 medium potatoes (about 475g)
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp flaked sea salt
• Ground black pepper

Cost per portion: Approx *£2.05 *cost based on Tesco prices (including tomato relish & large mixed salad) – December 2022

Method: Preheat the often to 220 degrees C / Fan 200 degrees C / Gas 7 and get all the ingredients ready for your burgers.

To prepare the chips, peel the potatoes and cut each one into 8-10 long wedges. Put the wedges in a bowl and toss with the oil, then sprinkle with the paprika, salt and black pepper. Scatter the chips over a baking tray and cook for 20-25 minutes until tender and lightly browned, turning them halfway through the cooking time.

While the potatoes are cooking, make the burgers. Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the leeks very gently for 3 minutes until softened but not coloured, stirring regularly.

Tip the leeks into a large bowl and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Add the grated courgette, minced turkey, lemon zest, salt and lots of black pepper to the leeks, then get in there and mix it all well with your hands until thoroughly combined, Form the mince mixture into 8 balls and flatten them into burger shapes.

Brush the remaining oil over a baking tray, place the burgers on the tray and bake them on the shelf about the potatoes for 5 minutes. Carefully turn them over with tongs and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and thoroughly cooked. If you prefer, you could cook the burgers in a frying pan, lightly misted with oil. Fry them for about 5 minutes on each side or until thoroughly cooked.

Serve the burgers hot with the chips, salad and relish.