(This tailgating recipe is part of our pre-season football coverage. Ready for some football?)

Whether you are hosting a football party at home or preparing food for a pre-game tailgate, grilled burgers are always a sure favorite. Try these healthy-option ground turkey burgers; they’re quick and simple to make and can easily be prepared at home and then packed into a cooler. If you feel like a bit more spice in your patty, get creative and add some extras of your own like shredded cheese, diced pepperoni, diced peppers, mustard or horseradish for different tastes and flavors. For truly committed meat-eaters, simply swap out the ground turkey for beef. One bite of these grilled treats and your taste buds will be cheering on the team of flavors!

Turkey Burgers
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Grill Time: Varies by preference
Difficulty Level: Easy
Yield: 4 1/4-lb. patties

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and combine. It’s easiest to use your hands to ensure everything is mixed evenly. Scoop the mixture into handfuls. One batch will make four quarter-pound patties. Squeeze each handful into tight balls and then flatten into patties. Try to make each patty large and thin as the patties shrink up when cooked. They are now either ready to be cooked on the grill or wrapped in plastic wrap to be kept refrigerated and cooked later.

Katy Light is an avid home cook. She loves nothing more than using home grown and harvested produce, milk from her own goats and naturally raised meat in her recipes. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.