Best Seasonings for Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers have a reputation for being dry and bland. The fix for bland is savoriness: soy sauce, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce all add it, and the two sauces bring a little liquid too. America’s Test Kitchen has an answer for dry that goes beyond “turkey is lean,” and it’s in the recipe notes below. One thing to settle before you start: FSIS sets 165°F as the safe minimum for ground poultry.¹

At a glance

Seasoning	Job	In which recipe
Salt	Seasoning; the base everything else builds on	Rutgers, ATK²³
Soy sauce	Salt plus savory (umami) depth	ATK, 1 1/2 Tbsp per pound³
Parmesan	Savory depth	ATK, 3 Tbsp per pound³
Worcestershire sauce	Tangy, savory, adds liquid	Illinois Extension, 1 Tbsp per pound⁴
MSG	Pure umami	None of the three; optional
Onion	Sweet, savory base	Illinois and Rutgers, cooked first⁴²
Garlic or garlic powder	Savory depth	Rutgers, mashed with the salt²
Black pepper	Seasoning	All three³⁴²
Dijon mustard	Sharp, tangy	None of the three; in the mix or on the bun
Smoked paprika	Smoke and red color	None of the three; optional

Three turkey burger recipes side by side

	ATK Skillet Turkey Burgers (Annie Petito)³	University of Illinois Extension⁴	Rutgers Cooperative Extension²
Turkey	1 lb 93 percent lean	1 lb ground turkey	1 lb ground turkey
Savory boosters	1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce, 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan	1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce	None
Aromatics	None	1/4 cup onion, sautéed	1 large onion, cooked about 15 minutes; 1 garlic clove mashed with the salt
Salt and pepper	1/8 tsp table salt, 1/4 tsp pepper	1/8 tsp pepper, no added salt	1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
Texture helpers	Melted butter, panko, gelatin, baking soda	1 egg	None
Done at	160°F	165°F	165°F or more

These are each publisher’s own recipe, not a house standard. ATK points out that ground turkey actually holds more water than ground beef, about 71 percent against 66 percent, but cooking it through squeezes most of that moisture out as the proteins contract. Its recipe adds melted butter to make up for turkey’s leanness, plus panko to keep the texture loose and gelatin and baking soda to help the meat hold its juices.⁵

The savory boosters

Salt and soy sauce

Salt is the starting point. ATK’s recipe uses only 1/8 teaspoon of table salt because the 1 1/2 tablespoons of soy sauce supply much of it.³ Soy sauce is made from fermented soybeans, wheat, yeast and salt, and it tastes mainly salty and savory. ATK’s recipe developer added soy sauce and Parmesan to boost savoriness without burying turkey’s slightly gamey taste.⁵ If you’re using both salt and soy sauce, go easy on the salt; the FDA’s Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 mg a day.⁶ See table salt and soy sauce powder.

Parmesan and MSG

Umami is the savory or meaty taste, and cheese is one of the foods that has it naturally. The FDA notes that glutamate occurs naturally in foods like tomatoes and cheeses and is chemically the same as the glutamate in MSG.⁷ ATK uses 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan per pound of turkey.³

MSG is the direct route. The FDA considers it generally recognized as safe, and notes that some sensitive people report short-term, mild symptoms like headache or flushing after eating 3 grams or more without food.⁷ None of the three recipes uses it, so there’s no named amount. Start with a small pinch per pound and taste a test patty. See cooking with MSG and MSG vs. salt.

Worcestershire sauce

The Illinois Extension recipe uses 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce per pound, mixed in with the egg and cooked onion.⁴ Three dried Worcestershire products we checked list a vinegar base with molasses, corn syrup, salt, tamarind and spices.⁸⁹¹⁰ It adds tang and savoriness along with a little liquid. See Worcestershire powder.

Aromatics and spices

Onion and garlic

Both extension recipes cook the onion before it goes into the meat: Illinois sautés 1/4 cup until soft, and Rutgers cooks a whole chopped onion for about 15 minutes.⁴ Rutgers mashes a garlic clove with the salt into a paste before mixing it in.² Onion powder and garlic powder spread evenly through ground meat and let you skip the precooking. See onion powder and garlic powder vs. garlic.

Dijon mustard

Dijon mustard is made only from black or brown mustard seed,¹¹ and white (yellow) mustard seed is less intensely flavored than brown.¹² Yellow mustard seed goes into traditional hot dog mustard.¹³ That fits the usual sense that Dijon tastes sharper than American yellow mustard, though we found no side-by-side tasting. Mix a teaspoon or two into the meat or spread it on the bun. Neither idea comes from a named turkey burger recipe, so taste and adjust. See mustard powder.

Smoked paprika

Spain’s Pimentón de la Vera, the best-known smoked paprika, comes in sweet, bittersweet and hot versions, and its specification describes a smoky, intense and penetrating flavor and aroma.¹⁴ Sweet smoked paprika adds smoke and a red-brown color without much heat. See smoked paprika.

Others to try

Black pepper is in all three recipes. Chili powder is built on dried chiles, usually ancho, with oregano, cumin and garlic, according to Saveur,¹⁵ so it brings cumin along with it. Cumin, basil and oregano are reasonable additions to taste. See chili powder, cumin and spices for hamburgers.

How hot to cook a turkey burger

Sources disagree on the finishing temperature:

Source	Temperature
USDA FSIS safe minimum, ground poultry	165°F¹
University of Illinois Extension recipe	165°F⁴
Rutgers Cooperative Extension recipe	165°F or more²
America’s Test Kitchen recipe and article	160°F⁵³

The FSIS figure is the federal safe minimum for all ground poultry, so use 165°F, checked with an instant-read thermometer in the center of the patty. ATK’s lower number is its own recipe target, not a safety standard.

“Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart”, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, updated 2025. fsis.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
“Baked turkey burgers”, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, 2015. extension.rutgers.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Annie Petito, “Skillet Turkey Burgers”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
“Turkey Burgers”, Eat. Move. Save., University of Illinois Extension. eat-move-save.extension.illinois.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Emily Rahravan, “This Recipe Will Change Your Mind About Turkey Burgers”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2023. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³
“Sodium in Your Diet”, US FDA. fda.gov · Regulator ↩
“Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG)”, US FDA. fda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩²
“Worcestershire Sauce Powder”, Spice Jungle. spicejungle.com · Merchant ↩
“Worcestershire”, World Spice Merchants. worldspice.com · Merchant ↩
“Worcestershire Sauce Powder, H518”, Woodland Foods. shop.woodlandfoods.com · Merchant ↩
William Sertl, “Avez-Vous du Vrai Poupon?”, Saveur, 2007. saveur.com · Publication ↩
“White mustard”, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
“Mustard”, Government of Saskatchewan, Ministry of Agriculture. saskatchewan.ca · Regulator ↩
Pimentón de la Vera PDO product specification. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk · Regulator ↩
“Chili Powder”, Saveur, 2009. saveur.com · Publication ↩

Also drawn on

Soy sauce (Gregory Lewis McNamee, last updated 2 Oct 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
Umami (revised by Meg Matthias; last updated 18 Sep 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
When the mustard shortage hits, make your own (Sandra Gutierrez G., 30 Jul 2022), Popular Science. popsci.com

Good Seasonings for Turkey Burgers: Savory Boosters, Aromatics and Spices