Now and then, my smartphone surprises me with an unsolicited trip down memory lane, in the form of a fully animated slide show recapping a theme, an occasion or a season from my past. The most recent of these was a reminder of “Thanksgiving through the years,” and the images from 2020 and 2021 struck me because those years were so different when we were all sidelined by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

As the past-years’ photos scrolled to an indiscernible soundtrack, I noticed that in addition to the more adventurous dishes my husband and I created in 2020 (we figured a dinner without guests was a good time to experiment), I also created some meals that were scaled way back from the usual spread, in a way that might ease the expectation of a full-blown Thanksgiving but still satisfy the yearning for its traditional flavors. These two were delicious enough to make again one day.

Thanksgiving Mini Meatloaf

by terrie gura November 16, 2020November 14, 2022

Sausage Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf (& “faboo” mushroom gravy)

by terrie gura November 20, 2020November 14, 2022

Thankfully, Covid has evolved to become more a nuisance than cause for panic (for most of us), and gathering with loved ones is fun again. At our house, we are counting the days until Thanksgiving (14 to go)! But some people still have neither the time nor inclination to produce an entire spread for Thanksgiving, and that has me thinking again about ways to capture the essence of the occasion in a single, simple bite. This is my first— but not last— attempt at making a Thanksgiving burger.

The Plan

I started this recipe with the bun, and though I considered a store-bought potato bun, I went instead with a recipe I found on King Arthur Baking website for sweet potato sandwich rolls They were very easy to make, and I followed the KA recipe to the letter. The recipe is linked, if you’d like to try them.

My burger is made from ground turkey, with sautéed celery and onions, plus an egg and a panade of herb stuffing mix blended in for structure and traditional flavor. The “burgers,” which were really more like meatloaf patties, were embellished with a spoonful of poultry seasoning to amplify the familiar Thanksgiving flavor. 

I thought, for a change of pace, this would be a good time to try the famous “NPR cranberry relish” that I’ve read about over the years. It uses fresh cranberries, sour cream and horseradish, if you can believe it. I made an only a half batch because Les tolerates horseradish but doesn’t love it as much as I do. More on this in a moment.

Sausage is a core ingredient of my usual holiday dressing, so I flattened some maple sausage patties and cooked them up to layer with my burgers. I buttered and griddled the sweet potato rolls, melted a slice of apple-smoked gruyère over the burgers, topped them with the thin sausage patties and loaded them onto the buns with some baby romaine for freshness.

The Verdict

I had covered all the flavor bases with my plan— sweet potato, turkey, stuffing and cranberry— and overall it was a very tasty burger, but it didn’t exactly scream “Thanksgiving” to me and my husband, and so there will be other efforts. The sweet potato rolls (which I made exactly as written on the KA site) were wonderful, but very subtle in sweet potato flavor and too tall for this sandwich, and that made taking a bite a little tricky (and messy). The herb-seasoned turkey patties were moist and tasty and their crunchy exterior was spot-on. They could have carried a bit more of the savory herb flavor, but otherwise they were excellent and I’ll make them again, for sure.

What about that unusual cranberry relish? This “famous” recipe was the biggest surprise for me, and not in a good way. As someone who really loves the zing of horseradish, I found this stuff—which has oodles of rave reviews online, by the way— to be rather plain, runny and uninteresting, even with the extra hot horseradish. My husband thought the sandwich would be better with a more traditional cooked cranberry topping, and I agreed.

As luck and leftovers would have it, I did have a chance to try again with a few changes! On my second run, I skipped the sausage altogether, and I tried a different cranberry concoction that was so delicious, I will be super excited to share it with you in a post of its own later this week!

What about next time?

There’s still room for improvement on this idea and I’m keeping it in the “in-progress” column of my bucket list until I get it right. I’ll share below the recipe I created for the turkey patties because that part of the recipe was great, Thanksgiving or not. But I’d really like to hear from you, too, so that I might incorporate your ideas into a future iteration of the burger. How would you bring your favorite traditional flavors into this “Thanksgiving-in-a-bite challenge?” Please share your ideas in the comments section, and let’s see what we can come up with together!

The Thanksgiving Burger 1.0

• Servings: About 5
• Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus chilling time
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Difficulty: Average
• Print

The rest of the burger is a work in progress, but this recipe for Thanksgiving-flavored turkey burger patties is a keeper!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
• 1/3 cup milk, to moisten the stuffing mix
• 1/2 sweet onion, minced
• 1 rib celery heart, strings removed and minced
• 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound ground turkey (I used 90% lean, but turkey breast would be great, too)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon ground poultry seasoning (I used Bell’s brand)
• Additional 1/2 cup herb stuffing mix, crushed for coating the burgers before frying
• Olive oil for frying

This ground turkey mixture is much leaner and softer than a typical burger mixture. For easy shaping of the patties, spoon dollops of the meat mixture onto a sheet of parchment paper that is sprinkled with the additional herb stuffing crumbs. Scatter more crumbs on top of the meat dollops and fold the parchment over them to flatten with your palm or a spatula. Be gentle with them, and keep them on the parchment until the skillet is ready.

Directions

1. Combine herb stuffing crumbs and milk in a small bowl and let rest for at least 15 minutes to soften into a panade. This mixture will help bind together the other ingredients into patties.
2. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add first measure of olive oil and sauté onions and celery until softened. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, panade, sautéed vegetables, egg and poultry seasoning. Season with salt and pepper. Use a heavy wooden spoon or your hands to fully blend the burger ingredients. Cover bowl and refrigerate a few hours so that the mixture will firm up.
4. When ready to cook, heat a large, non-stick skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Shape the meat mixture into patties and coat them on both sides with the second measure of crushed stuffing mix.
5. Carefully arrange burger patties into the skillet, keeping enough room between them for easy turning. Leave them undisturbed for 5 minutes, or until the first side is nicely crusted. Turn the patties to cook the other side. If using cheese on your Thanksgiving burgers, lay the slices over the burgers immediately after turning so that it will melt.
6. Dress up patties with your favorite toppings.