Never Buy Your Frozen Turkey Burgers At This Grocery Store

Turkey burgers are a leaner alternative to the typical beef burgers, with a slightly gamey savoriness that opens up new and delicious avenues for topping combinations. And just as there are plenty of frozen beef burger brands, there are also a wide variety of frozen turkey burger brands. We tasted eight frozen turkey burger brands and found that the worst frozen turkey burgers are from Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's is a wildly popular grocery store for novel store-brand snacks, dips, and frozen meals, but you should never buy your frozen turkey burgers there. They came in last in our ranking, which was based on taste, texture, and price. Trader Joe's frozen turkey burgers were very affordable and had a simple, chemical, and preservative-free ingredient list that made for a balanced, turkey-forward flavor. However, the texture of these burgers completely sabotaged any points earned for price and flavor. We expect a lean yet tender chew from a turkey burger, but Trader Joe's turkey burgers had an incredibly off-putting grittiness punctuated by sinewy gristle. We just couldn't get past the gristly, gritty texture to appreciate or even acknowledge the flavor. It was the one burger patty out of the bunch that we couldn't even finish.

While we couldn't handle Trader Joe's frozen turkey burgers' distasteful texture, customer reviews focus more on their flavor or lack thereof. Customers said that TJ's frozen turkey burgers were very bland. Even favorable reviews and videos on TikTok advise viewers to add seasonings while pan-frying the burgers. Other negative reviews about texture complained about how these burgers tend to dry out, especially on the grill. Turkey burgers are prone to drying out, though you simply need to dust some flour for the juiciest turkey burgers ever.

While the reviews of Trader Joe's frozen turkey burger were lukewarm at best, customers gave more praise to the newer caramelized onion and bell pepper turkey burgers. But if you end up with Trader Joe's frozen turkey burgers that are gritty and bland, there are a few ways to salvage a regrettable texture. The easiest way to make these turkey burgers edible is to break them up as you fry them over the stove, essentially regressing to the ground meat stage. You can then incorporate them into a burger salad, stir-fry, or stew. You could convert our recipe for turkey burger lettuce wraps into a salad with a mayo and ketchup-based salad dressing.