Columbus Turkey Burger Review
Author’s Note: Not a paid review. I have no affiliation with Columbus Craft Meats or Costco.
Please, for the love of poultry, do not microwave!
After my Aldi frozen ground turkey debacle, I’ve been hesitant to buy certain turkey products. Yes, it was that awful. Traumatic, even.
But. These Columbus Frozen Turkey Burgers were on sale at Costco, so I bought ’em. The deciding factors were the surprisingly clean ingredients: no fillers, essentially just turkey meat and seasonings. No antibiotics ever. And the massive 30 grams protein per burger. It’s hard to say “no” to that. Especially for 89 cents each!
There are 10 burgers in the box, but they’re packed in two smaller packets of 5 each. I really like it when manufacturers do this — I prefer keeping as much food sealed until I’m ready to eat it as possible. Pleeeaaase keep doing this!
The frozen patties are separated by wax paper squares. They have a distressing mechanical appearance that disappears once cooked. Whew.
The burgers also shrink moderately after cooking. Here’s a side-by-side comparison. For science:
Cooking Options
The instructions offer two ways to cook the burgers: grill or pan. Fortunately, neither method requires thawing. These cook directly from frozen. Mine were done in less than 10 minutes.
I opted to cook mine in a ceramic pan with a little butter. As a side note, these burgers are lean, and soak up fat, so you may want to add a bit more butter than usual when cooking them. Mine got crispy-brown in just 6 minutes on the first side, and 4 minutes on the second side.
Since not all the “spices” are disclosed on the label, I’m not completely sure what these are seasoned with, besides the stated garlic, salt, pepper, natural flavors, and rosemary. But, whatever it is emits a fabulous savory aroma during cooking. Mouth-watering, even.
The finished burgers are slightly char-crisp on the outside, and juicy on the inside. The turkey meat doesn’t have any fillers, like breadcrumbs, so the texture is firm, but not chewy or tough. Did I mention the 30 grams of protein? These are big burgers, and satisfying. *pats stomach* You’ll want a decent-sized bun to fit these.
I am not a barbarian, so I did not attempt to microwave mine. However, one of my co-workers also bought these burgers, and she DID microwave hers. And yes, she saw the label says “DO NOT MICROWAVE.” And she did it anyway. And, it was as awful as you’d imagine. Don’t do it. Show a little respect for the burgers, please.
Serving the burgers
I ate my finished turkey burger on a Costco Bakery Artisan Roll with some Aldi Burman’s Dijon Mustard, lettuce, red onion, and some Famous Dave’s Sweet n Spicy Pickles. It hit the spot.
I did add salt and pepper to my burgers, but otherwise they didn’t need additional flavor. For lean turkey meat, this is pretty tasty. No, it probably won’t taste like beef to your guests. But still yummy.
Ingredients in Columbus Frozen Turkey Burgers
Here are the ingredients from the label:
- Turkey
- Seasoning (Sugar, Salt, Onion, Spices, Garlic, Natural Flavor)
- Kosher Salt
- Rosemary Extract
I don’t love the Natural Flavor, but everything else here is pretty awesome. Rosemary Extract is often used as a natural preservative in food. Although there is sugar in the ingredients, it only adds 1 gram “sugar” per burger to the Nutrition. See below.
Nutrition Facts
A serving is one 5.3 ounce burger, and contains 240 calories. You get 13 grams of fat (3.5 grams saturated fat) and 30 grams of protein. There’s no fiber, and 1 gram of sugar. For sodium-sensitive folks, there’s a modest 16% your daily value of sodium. You’ll also be getting 10% your daily value of iron.
More information from the label:
- 90% Lean / 10% Fat
- Made in the USA
- Turkey raised without antibiotics ever
- Turkey raised without added hormones ever
Price and Servings
A 53 ounce box cost $8.89 on sale at my local Costco. The regular price is $12.49. Since there are 10 burgers per package, each serving costs 89 cents at the sale price, or $1.25 at the regular price.
Shelf Life
For a frozen product, these don’t have a long shelf-life — mine had a “best by” date of about 6 months after purchase. Bummer.
Dramatic Conclusion
These Columbus Craft turkey burgers were surprisingly delicious. In fact, I’ve already eaten 7 of my 10 burgers. They’re also quick and easy to cook. For a single person, it’s convenient to be able to prepare one burger from the freezer at a time. Since they’re high in protein, free of icky fillers, and a great value per serving, I will buy again.
The End.
More Reviews You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews I’ve written. Or don’t. That’s fine, too:
