jennie o turkey burgers
 

So I recently switched our house over to turkey burgers. The box says they are 170 calories each but the drip tray on the foreman grill is Full every time I cook them. I couldn't find much in my calorie books or online that could help so I called Jennie o and they said they could only provide calorie counts for the raw patties. She said the cooked counts vary too much depending on how they are cooked. She couldn't provide a "ballpark" figure. So, does anyone have any Idea what to mark these down as?? I'd rather over count them than under count them but I feel like 170 is very high & I want to be accurate.

I would go with what the box says. Why do you think they would be less? I think a lot of what is in your drip tray is probably water from the frozen patty. The only way it would vary would be if you added oil, sauce, or marinade.

I eat Kroger brand turkey patties and have also noticed the amount of fat. My turkey patties raw are 4 ounces and 160 calories. I count 160. I thought about the amount of fat cooked out of other meats and I don't thinkI ever subtact it. Great question to research though. I am curious to see other opinions. Sometimes I've thught the turkey isn't any better then beef... but, I really like the taste of my turkey.

I count them as 170 because that's the only number I have and I'd rather over count. I guess I thought it might be different because there is a lot of fatty/ oily sheen in the drip tray and the volume is reduced by 25%. In my calorie counting books they will frequently list the calorie counts for the same meat in both raw and cooked and there can be a big difference.
I curious, but will treat them as 170 cal items until I hear otherwise. They just don't feel like 170 cals. :)

I haven't had them but I'd be thinking the same thing. If a lot of grease is draining off, then the calories should be less than the original pre-cooked/raw weight, right? They counted that fat when it was in the burger, but it's no longer in the burger after cooking, it's in the drip pan. Don't know how you could figure out the difference but I think if your sure that it's fat (you could put it in the fridge to see if it solidifies), then you could figure out the amount pretty easily. If you were really determined, and I admit, I'd probably do this, you could measure the amount drained off, then divide by # of burgers cooked, and look up the calories for that amount of fat. Maybe a little too OCD, but that's just me......

Ha, thanks. Nice to know I'm not the only obsessive one. It doesn't turn straight up solid when cooled like burger grease does but it does get a hardish fatty film across the top. There is a lot of "water" like juice that comes out and a weird gel of sorts. Kinda gross really but I've seen it when cooking packaged beef burgers too. I think I'll just mark them as the 170 as packaged and if it's high by 30-60 cals that will be fine. I'm sure there is something in the day that I measured wrong (or a forgotten 20 cal calcium chew) that it can balance out. It's not like we eat them daily, maybe once every 7 to 14 days.
Thanks for your help everyone.

:carrot:I tried turkey in everything. It is okay but not much flavor. We have a seasonings from Mc Cormick called Grill Mates. One is Montreal Chicken and the other is Montreal Steak. Both are great on turkey burgers. I coat the patties with olive and season with my choice. Moist and tasty. Indoor or outdoor!:carrot:

You could always weigh the cooked patty, then check a calorie counting website and get the calories by grams?

I love the McCormick Barbeque seasoning on them. In fact, that's what I'm having for dinner tonight! :D

They just posted a huge salmonella risk recall of Jennie o turkey burgers sold at Sam's club on the news last night. My patties were not on the list, but scary all the same.

I always count what it says on the box. I honestly doubt it differs by much.

I think if you start trying to sub track calories you are going to end up under estimating.

I heard that on the radio this morning and immediately thought, "Damn! I really wanted my turkey burger for dinner!" But I thankfully don't have the product that was recalled so dinner's still on! :D