I suppose you’re wondering how I came up with the idea to make beet and turkey sliders. Here’s how they came about. My brother had a bountiful harvest of beets and he shared the bounty with us. I mean, he was very generous…
When our friend Mircea was making borscht the other week, he mentioned mixing beets and ground meat together to make a burger or meatball. Seeing the sheer volume of beets left to process and knowing there was a pound of ground turkey in the fridge, I thought, “Eh, why not?” Beet and Turkey Sliders are the end result and they are actually pretty good.
We’ve made similar things before as in these bean and potato patties. I kept it simple by limiting the seasoning to salt, pepper and fresh thyme from the garden. The addition of caramelized onions and beets to the ground turkey help prevent the sliders from drying out. After making the “test” slider, we noticed the red color from the beets eliminated the usual visual clues I rely on to determine if a burger is cooked. An instant read thermometer helps take the guesswork out.
I ended up using a slider sized press in order to keep the beet and turkey sliders uniform in size. Then, I cooked them for 4 to 5 minutes per side to ensure the turkey was cooked all the way through. It worked out great! The patties didn’t fall apart when they were flipped and, as expected, the beets and onions helped keep the ground turkey moist. I’m not going to lie, the flavor is different, but in a good way. The texture of the sliders is similar to other ground turkey patties I’ve had. Rick commented he’d like them for breakfast instead of a sausage patty.
After looking at my options in the grocery store, I ended up using a pack of dinner rolls as the slider buns. The slider press formed burgers that were just a little bit smaller. It’s easy enough to size the patty to fit the roll you’d like to use (or eliminate the roll altogether). A pack of the smaller (24 to a pack) rolls with a half sized slider would be a great addition to a buffet.
We tried a couple different toppings for the beet and turkey sliders. The creamy horseradish sauce was our favorite, followed by horseradish mustard.
After mixing everything together, I had enough mixture to make 12 beet and turkey sliders, between 1.5 – 2 ounces each. To me, one per person was plenty, especially if serving with other food.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 1/2 cups roasted beets grated
- 1/2 cup caramelized onion about 1 medium onion, cooked down
- 1 tablespoon thyme or to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients together and form into 12 patties.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil to a medium skillet.
- Cook 6 patties over medium heat without disturbing for 4 - 5 minutes on each side.
- Add the other tablespoon of oil to the skillet if needed.
- Cook the remaining patties without disturbing for 4 - 5 minutes per side.
My family surprised me at their willingness to try something different. And they in turn were surprised when it turned out to be pretty good. I love it when it works out like that. Would your family eat beet and turkey sliders?
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