Tasty Turkey Burgers That Won't Tip the Scales

BBQ season is upon us and between now and the end of September the average person eats their own body weight in meat!...well at least that's what it feels like. BBQs don't have to be the enemy of the weight conscious though and any BBQ we host this year will have some very tasty low fat options. I'm not just talking salad either. We've got low fat recipes for turkey, beef, chicken, fish and even bean burgers for our veggie friends. The secret (which isn't that big a secret really) is buying the leanest mince possible and adding some intensely flavoured ingredients. Most people's local supermarkets and even butchers don't stock the 5% fat versions. I get my 5% fat mince in Tesco in Clarehall in Dublin so if anyone of you know where to get it in your area let us know so we can make sure everyone can get it.

Today I decided to go with turkey burgers as that's what we tend to eat the most. It's a quick easy dinner that leaves you feeling satisfied and indulged. this recipe is adapted from the Alli Diet Cook Book.
Here's one I ate earlier:

The photo doesn't do it justice really. The meat patty is quite large. It's just hidden under all of the toppings.
As you can see I used a Weight Watchers Bagel again. You cna use a small sesame seed bun as well but a bagel is higher in fibre and lower in fat and I think it's a bit more substansial for the calories, leaving you feeling fuller. I always have a packet of these in the cupboard. They are so versatile.

Nutritional Information:

Serves: 4
Prep  time: 10 minutes
cook time 10 - 20 minutes depending on grill


Calories: 378
Fat 14g (unless you use the super lean turkey mince then it's 11g)
Carbs: 39.7g (if you're counting carbs change out  the bagel and go for your usual substitue but you will lose out on fibre)
Protein: 32.54g
Fibre: 9.6g
Sugar: 2.75g


Ingredients:

500g Turkey Mince
50g (5) Spring Onions finely chopped
4 cloves of Garlic (optional) finely chopped
15g (1 tbsp) Sun Dried Tomato Paste (Alca do one and it's with the pestos etc in the supermarket)
10g FRESH parsely (the dried stuff isn't gonna cut it in this recipe) finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
4 Weight Watchers Bagels
75g of salad leaves to serve
4 large tsp of tomato relish (Ballymaloe or Aldi do an excellent budget option)

Method:

1. Mix the turkey, spring onions, garlic, sun dried tomato paste and parsely together and season. Turkey always needs more seasoning than you think so give it a good bit. I use my food processor to do this as it's done in a minute. Divid the mixture into 4 and shape into burgers. I make them wide and about 2 cm thick to help them cook quicker.
2. Place under a grill for 10 minutes on each side or until cooked throughout. I use the George Foreman grill as it cooks it in less than half the time and you will see the oil from the sundried tomato paste dripping out so reducing the fat even further.These also taste great off the BBQ and take between 15 and 20 minutes to cook.
3.Toast the bagels and place burger on one half, spread relish over the top. Top with lettuce and other half of bagel and serve. 

If you can't do without cheese on your burger consider low fat options. I use a low fat cheese triangle spread on the top or broken up and mixed in with the burger meat before it's grilled to get a cheesy flavour throughout. You can add some onion, tomato or mushrooms to your topping without piling on the carbs, fats or calories as well.
If you like a bit of spice swap the sun dried tomato relish for some sweet chill sauce. It's even slightly lower in calories and fat. If you like a smokey flavour try some good quality BBQ sauce. The options are endless just make sure whatever sauce you are mixing in has an intense enough flavour within the 1 tbsp guideline.

Let the BBQs commence!