In Episode 44 we are making homemade ground chicken burgers! This simple but delicious recipe is good for kids or adults and is a nice change-up from beef burgers. Taryn walks you through how to make these on the grill or on the stovetop and gives a bunch of great tips to help you successfully get these on the table for your family!
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
RECIPES MENTIONED
These are some of the recipes mentioned in the episode, all of which are on Hot Pan Kitchen.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Some of the following are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Using a meat thermometer for grilling (includes recommendation)
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Cast iron skillet
- Weber gas grill
TRANSCRIPT
Taryn Solie: Hello grillers, and thank you for tuning in today! I am your host, Taryn Solie, and I am here to give you some grilling inspiration. In this episode I will be going over one recipe in detail from my recipe website, Hot Pan Kitchen, as well as some serving suggestions to make it a complete meal. The goal is to give you thorough directions and helpful tips so you can make this dinner for your loved ones.
In today’s episode we’re going to make ground chicken burgers. These burgers are great to make to switch things up from the typical beef burgers. They’re juicy and delicious but still mild enough for kids – and really, that’s who I had in mind when developing this recipe.
In this recipe I use almond flour to help bind the burgers together, which is a little different than you may be used to. A lot of times burgers will have bread, or bread crumbs, to bind the meat together but I am gluten free so that is a no go for me. I like almond flour as a good alternative as it does a good job of binding without drying out the meat.
I like to grill these burgers, but you can also make them in a pan on the stove. I’m going to go over both sets of directions today so you’ll have options when you make them.
To start off let’s go over the ingredients. You will need:
- 1 lb ground chicken;
- ¼ cup almond flour;
- ½ tsp kosher salt – I prefer Diamond Crystal brand and I’ll tell you why in a minute;
- ¼ tsp garlic powder;
- ¼ tsp onion powder;
- ¼ tsp paprika;
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper;
- 1 tbsp oil (for the pan or grill grates)
- toppings like mayo, mustard, avocado, lettuce, tomato, etc.; and
- buns or lettuce to wrap the burger in.
I have a bunch of tips for this recipe, several of which apply to any number of recipes and some of which you’ve likely heard before if you’re a podcast listener.
First I want to talk about the type of chicken to get. This recipe works better with dark meat ground chicken, like chicken thighs, as opposed to light meat, like ground chicken breast. Dark meat has a bit of a higher fat content and is going to result in a juicier burger. If you want to make it leaner, I would go half a pound of dark meat chicken and half a pound of light meat chicken and combine them together.
Ground chicken in general tends to be very sticky – stickier than ground beef. So when you’re making the chicken patties I suggest wetting your hand with water before you touch the ground chicken. This will help to keep it from sticking. If you find the water isn’t doing the trick, you can also try rubbing a little bit of oil on the palms of your hands.
Now a couple of tips about seasoning this recipe. These chicken burgers are mildly seasoned, mostly, again, to appeal to kids – or those who don’t like strong flavors. If you’d like a little extra oomph to your chicken burgers, you could add a teaspoon or two of fresh chopped parsley, thyme or green onions to the meat mixture. You could also bump up the paprika in this recipe to ½ teaspoon, or switch to smoked paprika instead – I do this pretty often.
Also, my note for kosher salt that I told you I’d get to: I like Diamond Crystal brand as it’s less salty by weight than other salts, which leaves a little more room for error when you’re salting your dishes. If you’re using a different brand of kosher salt I would use a little less salt in this recipe, like a scant ½ teaspoon, which just means it’s not quite filled to the top of the measuring spoon. Or if you’re using table salt I would use about ¼ teaspoon.
Last two tips. The first one is about cooking to temperature. When grilling any meat you want to cook until the internal temperature reaches the desired temp. The best way to do that is measure it with a meat thermometer. If you don’t have one, there are a lot of options out there. I have an article on my website all about measuring internal temperatures, including the meat thermometer I recommend, that I’ll link on the show notes page for this episode.
And the last tip is about how to prep this recipe ahead of time. Either the morning of or day before you can make the mixture and form the patties. First you’ll want to take a plate and a large piece of plastic wrap, as well as 4 square pieces of wax or parchment paper that will be large enough to set the patties on.
Lay the plastic wrap flat over the plate and place one piece of wax paper on it in the center. Then make the ground chicken mixture and form the first patty, placing it on that square of wax paper that’s on the plate. Make the other 3 patties, placing them each on a piece of wax paper and stack them on top of each other on the plate.
Take the plastic wrap and wrap it up the tower of chicken patties until they’re covered, then place the plate in the fridge. You’ll want to take the patties out of the fridge to warm about 30 minutes before you cook them.
You could only do 3 pieces of wax paper and set that first patty on plastic directly, but I like having all of the patties on smaller pieces of paper as it’s easier to then pick them up and flip them over onto the grill or pan.
Alright, that was a lot of tips! But all good ones I know you’ll find helpful. Now to get to the recipe.
First I’m going to go over how to make these on the stove then we’ll follow it up with the grill.
Before making the patties, you’ll take out a skillet – cast iron if you have it – and add a tablespoon of oil. Turn the burner onto a medium heat to warm it up.
Place the ground chicken, the almond flour, and all the spices in a bowl. Wet your hands in some water and use your hands to combine the ingredients together, making sure not to overwork the meat – otherwise you risk the meat toughening up as it cooks.
Divide the chicken mixture into four even portions in the bowl. Take one portion and form it into a patty about ¼ inch thick and between 4 and 5 inches wide, depending on how large you like your burgers. Place that burger in the pan and get to work on the other 3 patties, placing each in the pan as you finish.
Cook the patties on the first side for 4 minutes, then carefully flip with a spatula and cook another 3 to 4 minutes on the other side, until the internal temperature of the patties reaches 165 degrees F.
From there, remove the patties from the pan and set them on a plate to let people make their burgers! Super easy and really quite quick to make.
Now making these chicken burgers on the grill is just as easy – I might even call it easier because you’re not dirtying a pan that you’ll have to clean later. First you’ll turn on your grill to preheat it to 350 degrees F, then follow the same steps to make the patties.
Before putting the patties on the grill though you’ll want to really grease up the grates with a tablespoon or two of oil. If you don’t, your chicken burgers are likely to stick.
Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes, then flip each patty and cook another 3 to 4 minutes on the other side, – again you’re looking for that internal temperature to hit 165 degrees F. Then remove them from the grill and let people dish up!
So now let’s talk about what to serve with these. My kids and husband are big tater tot fans, so that’s what we tend to do. You could also do fries, of course. Other potato options are grilled potatoes, which are delicious, or a potato salad.
If you’re looking for something less starchy you could do a simple side salad, a fruit salad – or just pieces of sliced fruit – or some grilled veggies like grilled zucchini or grilled asparagus. All of that would be super tasty.
I’ll include a link to the full printable recipe for these ground chicken burgers, as well as other recipes I’ve mentioned, on the show notes page. To get to it you can either go to my main website at Hot Pan Kitchen dot com and click on podcast in the main menu, or you can click on the link provided in whatever podcast app you’re listening on.
If you enjoyed this episode, I would love it if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.
That’s it for today, thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep grilling like a mother.
Leave a comment