These Pub-Style Turkey Burgers are so tasty!! Juicy turkey burgers are topped with a Blue Cheese Pub Sauce and served on a bun. All of these great flavors together will make your mouth do a happy dance. I’ll admit, I’m in love with these mouthwatering burgers.

Plus, I am including a little bonus in this post! I am sharing some secret ingredients that will make a lean turkey burger go from dry and dense to juicy and tender! But before we get to that, let’s talk about this sauce for a minute…

Blue Cheese Pub Sauce for Turkey Burgers…and more!

I made this sauce a couple of times until I felt I got it just right. I wanted it to be creamy, not dry, just a tiny bit sweet, and super flavorful. Once I got the sauce the way I wanted it, I found other reasons to use it.

One time, I used the blue cheese pub sauce as a salad dressing on a bed of baby spinach leaves. Another time, I substituted the turkey burger for a grilled chicken breast and made myself a “Pub-Style Grilled Chicken Sandwich.” That was fantastic too!

A fun little topping to consider.

Another fun little ingredient I think about when I imagine a pub-style burger is crispy french fried onions. You too? If you are a fan of these crispy little treats like I am, feel free to top your burger with a small handful. The first time I made these burgers, I didn’t have any crispy onions in the house, so I didn’t add them in the recipe. But the second time I made them, I added the onions, and I LOVED it! The burgers taste great either way, so do what suits you.

For another recipe that uses crispy onions, be sure to check out the French Fried Chicken recipe.

How to make turkey burgers moist and tender.

This is not the first time I attempted to make a turkey burger. In fact, several of my first attempts never made it on the blog, because I didn’t like the way they turned out. One of the challenges of making a turkey burger with 99% lean ground turkey is that there is very little fat in the meat, so without the help of other ingredients, the burgers will be dry and dense.

After a couple of burger-making fails, I did some research to learn what the trick was to making tender, juicy lean turkey burgers. There are a lot of ideas out there.  Below is a list of my favorite suggestions:

• Extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
• Worcestershire sauce
• Nonfat Greek Yogurt
• Mayonnaise
• Dijon mustard
• Ketchup
• Melted butter
• Milk
• Sauteed (tender) onions
• Sauteed (tender) mushrooms
• Grated carrots

Out of all of these options, I chose to use onions cooked in melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, and Greek yogurt in today’s recipe. The burgers were juicy, and they tasted great. Of course, the Pub Sauce (included in the recipe) helped too!

One more thing: I have read that another little trick to making sure your turkey burgers are juicy is to combine the ingredients, but not to over-combine them. I’m not really sure how big of a difference that really makes, but I figured since the information is out there in multiple places online, it is worth mentioning.

Side options that go great with Burgers and Sandwiches.

I served Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips on the side of our burgers. Here are a few other low point sides that go great with burgers, or even sandwiches, for that matter:

• Baked Lays chips
• Veggie Chips or Veggie Straws
• Reduced Fat Wheat Thins
• Pretzel Crisps
• Lays Poppables
• BBQ PopChips
• Nabisco Good Thins crackers
• Light string cheese
• Nonfat cottage cheese and fruit
• Tri-color pepper strips
• Yogurt
• Grapes
• Apple slices
• Mandarin oranges
• Peach slices
• Carrots with hummus or light Ranch dressing

Low WW SP hamburger buns.

Not sure which hamburger buns are “light buns”? Check out our list of buns that are just 2 WW SP to get help navigating the bread aisle. This list also includes breads that are just 1 WW SP per slice!

Alright, let’s get to this recipe!

Here is what you need:

For the Burgers:

1 tablespoon Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread
1 small onion, minced
1 pound 98-99% lean ground turkey
1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Cooking spray

For the Blue cheese Pub sauce:

1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 green onion, sliced

6 light hamburger buns

Here is what you do:

In a large skillet or grill pan, melt butter. Add onion and cook 2-3 minutes, or until the onions are tender.

Transfer onions to a medium bowl. Add ground turkey, seasoned breadcrumbs, Greek yogurt, egg, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and pepper and mix well.

Form meat mixture into 6 patties that are about 1/3 cup each. Spray skillet or grill pan that you used to cook the onions with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add turkey patties to the pan and allow to cook 3-4 minutes on both sides.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the blue cheese pub sauce. Be sure to push down the large crumbles of blue cheese with the back of the spoon to make the sauce easier to spread on the burgers.

Once the turkey burgers are fully cooked, top each with 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese pub sauce. Top each bun with one sauce coated turkey burger.

Makes 6 burgers.
One burger is 1 light bun, 1 turkey patty, and 1 tablespoon blue cheese pub sauce.
One burger is 7 green, 5 blue, and 5 purple points.

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Pub-Style Turkey Burgers

7 green, 5 blue, and 5 purple points per burger

Makes: 6 burgers

Calories: 269

Author: Alisha Hughes

Ingredients

For the Burgers:

• 1 tablespoon Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 pound 98-99% lean ground turkey
• 1/3 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Cooking spray

For the Blue cheese Pub sauce:

• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup reduced fat crumbled blue cheese
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

Additional ingredient:

• 6 light hamburger buns

Instructions

• In a large skillet or grill pan, melt butter. Add onion and cook 2-3 minutes, or until the onions are tender.
• Transfer onions to a medium bowl. Add ground turkey, seasoned breadcrumbs, Greek yogurt, egg, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and pepper and mix well.
• Form meat mixture into 6 patties that are about 1/3 cup each.
• Spray skillet or grill pan that you used to cook the onions with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add turkey patties to the pan and allow to cook 3-4 minutes on both sides.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the blue cheese pub sauce. Be sure to push down the large crumbles of blue cheese with the back of the spoon to make the sauce easier to spread on the burgers.
• Once the turkey burgers are fully cooked, top each with 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese pub sauce. Top each bun with one sauce coated turkey burger.