These Hawaiian style burgers are made with ground turkey and basted in teriyaki sauce. Toasted buns are topped with burgers, more sauce, and sliced pineapple for a delicious flavor combination that’s super easy to throw together, too! These are a fun family favorite in the summer on the grill, and great for a skillet year round.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground Turkey – This recipe calls for lean ground turkey. The leanest ground turkey you can buy is just turkey breast and has a tendency to be dry and flavorless. Look for turkey that is 93/7 (that’s 93% lean and 7% fat) or even 90/10. This means it has some dark meat mixed in which provides moisture, a touch of fat, and flavor to the final burger.
- Bread Crumbs – Use plain, unseasoned bread crumbs. Panko crumbs would work as well.
- Red or Green Bell Pepper
- Green Onion
- Fresh Ginger Root
- Pineapple Slices – Use pineapple canned in juice. You will need both the fruit and the juice for this recipe.
- Ginger – While you can always use dried ginger in a pinch, fresh ginger packs a flavorful punch, s use it if you can.
- Teriyaki Sauce – You will need a nice, thick teriyaki sauce, not the kind that is thin like plain soy sauce. Look for this in the Asian foods aisle of the grocery store. I usually buy Kikkoman Teriyaki Baste and Glaze. If you want to make your own, try this Teriyaki Sauce.
- Mayonnaise – Mayo is optional, but definitely tasty on the finished burger!
- Hamburger Buns
Instructions
- First, gently combine some ground turkey, bread crumbs, diced bell pepper, green onion, minced ginger, some pineapple juice, and salt. Form into large patties and chill until you’re ready to cook.
- If you can, pop these puppies on the grill until done (4-5 minutes per side, until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F); otherwise, you could put these under the broiler in your oven, a grill pan on your stovetop, or just a frying pan. If desired, grill pineapple in last 5 minutes of cooking. Baste burgers with Teriyaki sauce during last two minutes of grilling. Spread buns with mayonnaise and a little more Teriyaki sauce. Enjoy!
Storing and Other Tips
- Store leftover burger patties in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 3-4 days for best result.
- Make sure to look for turkey that is 93% lean and 7% fat so your burgers stay moist and flavorful.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I make these ahead of time?
You could definitely prep and measure all of your patty ingredients, or even combine them and form the patties, up to a day ahead of time. Store, tightly covered, in the fridge and use a thermometer when cooking to ensure the burgers reach 165°F.
Not everybody in my family likes teriyaki sauce. Can I use something else?
Sweet and sour sauce would probably be delicious here. If you’re serving those that don’t care for sauces, the burgers themselves are flavorful and delicious with just some mayo spread on the bun.
Hawaiian Turkey Burgers
Sweet pineapple and teriyaki come together in these island-inspired Hawaiian Turkey Burgers. They are a fun way to mix things up on the grill!
Servings large burgers
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground turkey
- 1/2 cup plus more if you need it dry bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup red or green bell pepper minced (about 1/2 medium bell pepper)
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root
- 1 small can pineapple slices; reserve juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- Thick Teriyaki sauce like Kikkoman or this recipe
- Mayonnaise optional, but very yummy!
- 4 hamburger buns you can use this recipe if you’re feeling ambitious
Instructions
- Gently combine turkey, bread crumbs, bell pepper, green onion, ginger, 1/4 cup reserved juice from pineapple, and salt. Form into 4 deliciously large patties. Chill until ready to cook.
- Pop burgers on the grill until done (4-5 minutes per side, until they reach an internal temperature of 165° F); otherwise, you could put these under the broiler in your oven, a grill pan on your stovetop, or just a frying pan. If desired, grill pineapple in last 5 minutes of cooking. Baste burgers with Teriyaki sauce during last two minutes of grilling. Spread buns with mayonnaise and a little more Teriyaki sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Store leftover burger patties in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within 3-4 days for best result.
- Make sure to look for turkey that is 93% lean and 7% fat so your burgers stay moist and flavorful.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Burger, Calories: 263kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 32g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 62mg, Sodium: 1250mg, Potassium: 428mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 29IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 70mg, Iron: 3mg
Calories: 263kcal
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Questions & Reviews
Meh, I don’t see what the big deal is. Health info can do anyone good! No matter what your situation is- dieting or not. And I think you are in the minority if you’re not dieting at all. Lucky!
Kate (and Sara)- this looks delicious! As usual, love the blog and all your recipes 🙂
Whoa, diplomatic panties? That sounds a little creepy. I hope you wash them regularly!
Glad to hear it’s only a temporary dip into the diet mentality.
Carry on! Carry on.
My reply would be to tell you to shut up if you don’t like something keep it to your self no one is interested in hearing your nasty comments. Thank You
Okay…putting on my diplomatic panties here…
Ann–We’re truly sorry if including nutritional information rubs you the wrong way. However, we’ve found through numerous emails that people really appreciate us including the nutritional information and WW points.
Normally, we don’t have the time or energy to calculate the nutritional information for all of our recipes (and really, do we want to know how many WW points are in Peppermint Candycane Brownies??), but we’ll continue to do it this month to help people (ourselves included) get back on track to eating right. This isn’t about “diet” food; rather, it’s about good, healthy food that we eat whether we’re dieting or not. We want to showcase some recipes that are healthy without being “diet” recipes.
We hope that this won’t cause you to stop reading altogether! If it really bothers you, please feel free to skip the last paragraph of any post–we won’t be hurt, we promise! We will be sad, however, if you stop coming by!
Ooooh, those look good! I’m kinda squeamish about mushing ground meat around with my hands, but I just might have to for these. I have a fresh pineapple that’s begging to be used and it looks like tomorrow might be warm enough to melt enough snow off my BBQ grill to actually do them outside. Bliss.
I love your blog, read it all the time, drool over your recipes and pictures. And I know that you are trying to be healthy and supportive of people who are dieting….
BUT (I know you could feel it coming)
Could you please please please stop putting the weight watchers points info on your posts? It’s really rubbing me the wrong way. Consider it a way to be supportive of those who are NOT dieting.
My mouth is watering just looking at that pineapple. YUM!
I’ve never made a turkey burger for my family, but i think I could make this and they’ed be happy with it. Thanks!
Aw, I feel so special!!! I had no idea any of you guys even tried these. Well, I’m glad you like them enough to share the recipe here…they ARE yummy!
These look seriously awesome! I would totally love these, yum!!
Well, since I like burgers, but only if I make them myself (no fast food here), then this is on the list for the weekend grill’er… Thanks!