Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce
I am so excited to share these Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce with you. These seriously taste like a fresh and fancy burger you’d get out at a restaurant, but they’re incredibly easy to make right in the comfort of your own home! They also come together really quickly, though you’ll want to leave some time (at least an hour) for the tzatziki and burger flavors to meld in the refrigerator. The good news is that you can stir together the tzatziki and make the burger patties in 10-15 minutes in the morning and then they’ll be ready to go when you want to use them for dinner. If you’re not 100% sold on turkey burgers, I think these will change your mind! Filled with flavorful Mediterranean seasonings, feta cheese, and eggs and olive oil to keep them moist, these on not your typical turkey burgers. Plus, these hot seasoned burgers are topped with cool, creamy tzatziki sauce with fresh cucumber and dill flavor, and served on a bun with crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes. What more could you want? Well, what if each burger with all the toppings on a bun rings in at just 366 calories or 6 WW Points (or 7 WW Points if following the diabetic Weight Watchers plan)! To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
I used the generic listing for hamburger buns in the WW recipe builder since I know everyone will have different brands available. The buns are listed as 4 points for one, but four of them are 15 points, so on Green they only added 3 points to each burger when the ingredients were entered all together. The bun pictured here is what we happened to have on hand (I love sesame seeds) and added an additional point to my burger on Green. I just wanted to mention that in case you were wondering about the points difference with or without a bun!
In addition to listing the nutrition information and WW SmartPoints for these Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce including all the toppings and the buns, I also listed the info for the patties only. I strongly recommend making them as suggested because it’s seriously SO DELICIOUS, but if you want to eat the burgers without the bun in a lettuce wrap or as a salad, or in a wrap, or however you prefer, I’ve got the points for you.
Looking for more tasty, lightened up recipes with fresh Mediterranean flavors like these Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce? Check out my One-Pot Mediterranean Chicken with Orzo, Spinach and Chicken Phyllo Bake, Greek Chicken Quinoa Salad, Open-Faced Greek Steak Sandwiches, Greek Chicken Tacos, Mediterranean Topped Grilled Chicken, Hummus and Feta Omelet, Greek Layer Dip, and more in the Greek category of my recipe index!
Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb raw 99% lean ground turkey breast
- 1 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
- 1.5 ounces crumbled Feta cheese
- 3 minced garlic cloves, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¾ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup grated and squeezed dry cucumber, Once grated, squeeze it out to remove the liquid so it doesn’t make the tzatziki watery
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon dried dill weed
- 4 hamburger buns
- Lettuce
- Sliced tomatoes
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground turkey, spinach, Feta cheese, 2 minced garlic cloves, egg, olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and rosemary and stir together until thoroughly mixed. Form into four equal patties and place on a platter or cutting mat. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least one hour*.
- *Once you’ve placed the turkey patties in the refrigerator, take out a smaller mixing bowl and combine the Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, remaining minced garlic clove, lemon juice and dill, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour so that the flavors meld together.
- When ready to cook, lightly mist a nonstick grill pan or skillet with cooking spray and bring over medium heat. Place the burger patties on the pan (you may need to work in batches depending on the size of your pan), and cook for 5 minutes. Flip the patties and cook for an additional 5 minutes until the burgers are cooked through.
- To build each burger, place a couple leaves of lettuce on the bottom half of a burger bun and top with two slices of tomato. Add the cooked burger patty and top with 2 ½ tablespoons of tzatziki sauce (from step 2) followed by the top of the burger bun. Dig in!
Notes
366 calories, 29 g carbs, 6 g sugars, 8 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 39 g protein, 2 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) Nutrition Information per (1 burger patty only) serving:
211 calories, 2 g carbs, 0 g sugars, 8 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 30 g protein, 0 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com) MYWW SMARTPOINTS PER (1 burger on a bun with toppings) SERVING: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 8 SmartPoints/ Blue: 6 SmartPoints/ Purple: 6 SmartPoints MYWW SMARTPOINTS PER (1 Burger patty only) SERVING: (SP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Green: 5 SmartPoints/ Blue: 2 SmartPoints/ Purple: 2 SmartPoints Weight Watchers Points Plus:
9 per (1 burger on a bun with toppings) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
5 per (1 burger patty only) serving (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition info below) Adapted from Family Food on the Table and Foodie Crush
Can you make the burgers and freeze them uncooked?
I haven’t personally done that, but I’d assume so!
Do you think I could use frozen spinach if I thaw it first and squeeze the excess liquid? If so, how much do you think i should use? Thank you!
We love everything Greek, and these sound incredible, & also easy. I might even add a few chopped (& blotted dry) olives into the mixture. Can’t wait to make these. Thanks Emily 🙂
I don’t like dill. Think I could leave it out or add something else to take its place?
I’ve sometimes seen people make tzatziki sauce with mint instead of dill, but I’ve never tried it so I’m not sure how that would be. You could try making it without the dill (it will still have the lemon and garlic flavors so I’m sure it will still taste good) or adding in another herb you do like such as parsley or basil.
I make it will dries chives because my husband hates dill. We love that substitute!
Another awesome topper is if you pan roast some grape tomatoes diced up with diced onion, garlic and then a little bit of low fat cream cheese. It makes a killer tomato spread that pairs beautifully with the feta and spinach in the burger.
Made these tonight on the actual grill instead of on a pan. They were absolutely delicious. Followed recipe exactly. Thank you for another hit!
These were SO good. Very flavorful burgers and not dry like ground turkey can sometimes be.
What buns do you use to make it only 6 points for blue?
Not sure if you live near a Kroger, but the Kroger brand buns are only 3 points.
I made these the other night (along with your Greek orzo on the side) and they were AWESOME! I realized way too late that I didn’t have rosemary so I just skipped it. My husband told me this was the best meal I’d ever cooked for him. I strongly recommend trying this one out!!
Made these lastnight and they were a HIT!! So delicious!! They will definitely be in rotation from now on.
This burger is probably the best turkey burger I have ever had. Made it for the family yesterday and we all loved it. The Tzatziki tastes like it needs a little more season by itself, but with the burger, OMG, the perfect marriage.
This is my first time trying a recipe of yours and I’m in love!! I definitely underestimated how much cucumbers I would need and it took longer than expected to grate & squeeze it, but the burgers were quite good — so worth it in the end!!
So good! I made these into meatballs for lunches to put on salads, in a wrap, or just with hummus and veggies
These are fantastic! Family had them last night and are asking for more. Incredible flavor and I did use frozen spinach, squeezing out the excess water.
These were SO delicious. I’ll for sure be making again.
Disappointed in these burgers, they need a filler or something, mine fell completely apart 🙁
Can they be made with ground chicken instead?
Sure!
Made it with ground chicken breast, and it was delicious!!! Even the kidlet liked it! Thanks.
Omgggggg SOOOO DELICIOUS!!!!! Definitely a staple for me!!!
I love these! I used to buy the Wegmans pre-made Greek turkey burgers but these taste so much better and I know what’s in them. Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes!
These were so delish!!! Made this on the grill. Just made a light dill mayo instead of the sauce since I don’t love cucumber. It was amazing. Don’t even need a bun, that good!
Made last night. The hubby had 2 and he hates ground turkey
These were sooo good! Made them tonight for dinner and they were gone in minutes!
I’ve made these a few times now, they are so good! I just love tzatziki sauce too! Even though they are turkey they are not dry like turkey can be. I posted a review of this recipe on my blog, they are so good!