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
Hot off a cleanse and wanting to keep things healthy, I came across this recipe and made it last night. May I say YUM!!! My husband and 2 sons tend to give me some grief when I make meals “too healthy”. But last night the bugers got rave reviews! I doubled the recipe so all my men had two burgers to satisfy their big appetites. Delicious, flavorful, easy to prepare. Def recommend grilling the pinapple (and yes, I used some light mayo too!). So happy I’ve discovered this blog as I can’t wait to try some of the other healthy recipes the sisters post! 🙂
I stumbled across your blog yesterday while looking for “healthy” ideas to cook some ground turkey. Usually i’m the type of girl that goes for the bag of Doritoes…Dorito’s? Doreetoes? Apparently this computer is telling me I can’t spell…anywho rather than potatoes. (Actually I don’t think potatoes are really healthy either but you catch my drift) I saw this recipe and I HAD to try it. Bad news is I had to settle for a dinner box of carbs that night because I didn’t have all the ingredients (I know i’m a diet newby it was eventually gonna happen lol) So TODAY I made them and they are sooo scrumpdiliumptious! (that’s pronounced scrump-dilly-um-shus) Definition: Heaven in a burger 🙂 You girls are amazing! I’m so glad I came across your blog! It’s definitely going to get me through my diet plan! <3
Oh and I used the homemade teriyaki and it’s to die for 🙂
Hi! Tried these tonight – so yummy! I grilled them & they stuck to the grill…just wonder what you might recommend to prevent the burgers from sticking? Perhaps, grill temp (hi, med, lo would be fine!) would make a difference in this department?
You could adjust the grill temp and you could also lightly brush the grill grate with a little bit of oil.
Hope that helps!
Kate
lol, someone made about nutritional info? ignorance is bliss I guess. I am happy the info is posted. I don’t diet but I don’t want to fill my body with garbage either.
I am making this tonight, hope it works out,looks great!
This is one of our new family favorites. I wanted to let you know of a substitution I made, turned out a masterpeice! I didn’t have bread crumbs on hand because I had used them all for the crispy coconut crusted chicken finger recipe I made last week. I had so much of the cocunut/crumb mixture left over afterwards, I decided to freeze it for next time I made the chicken.
You can already see where this is going, right? Yeah, I subbed those beauties in for the plain bread crumbs, and I cannot tell you what a beautiful flavor the coconut and curry powder added to these juicy burgers! A perfect blend with the pineapple on top – devine!
Thanks for all your inspirational recipes!
So these are in the pan as we speak and have completely fallen apart. Fail. What did I do wrong? I put in the correct amounts of everything. The only difference is my turkey meat was 90/10 instead of 93/7.
Try increasing the bread crumbs next time so they hold their shape better–even up to 1/4 cup. Hope that helps! 🙂
I really love this blog and appreciate you laides posting healthy delicious recipies. I am not dieting but love eating nutritious foods and appreciate your efforts in posting weight watchers points and calories. Please don’t let overly sensitive people prevent you from doing that!
My husband and I love these – so tasty! This time, I had extra mixture left (had to use up a 2lb. package of turkey) and thought, “I bet this would make a great meatloaf.” I was right! I just added pineapple tidbits to the mixture and poured a little teriyaki sauce to glaze the loaf, and voila! Hawaiian Meatloaf!
I love the Blog. I am especially excited for the Weight Watchers Points listed with the recipes. Please DON'T let anyone talk you out of putting them on. Thanks for a great Blog.
Hahaha, yeah, that would be 1/2 c.! 🙂 1/2 by itself doesn’t really do any good, does it? Thanks for calling me out on it! 🙂