Barbecue Chicken Burgers

Barbecue chicken burgers are a quick, easy weeknight dinner, and sure to be a family favorite recipe. Made with healthy ground chicken.

With all the new recipes I post on PtS, it rarely leaves time for any repeat meals. Sure we have our favorites, (Mr. Ortega, will you please marry me so I may inherit your wonderful taco empire?) but it’s pretty much a new surprise every time I call out that dinner’s ready.

“What do you mean you don’t know what were having? Have you tasted it?”

“No”

“Then how do you know if it’s good?”

“It just is.”

“But how do you knnoooooow?”

This is not a dramatization, wish I could say it was, but it ain’t.  It’s a normal conversation in our house when dinner is set in front and I’ve thrown together new ingredients that were alien in our household until the morning of. And I’m pretty darn happy about this too. We have learned about so many things that we would have never known we even liked because of it – like this one, for example, chicken burgers can be pretty damned tasty. I know, blows your mind doesn’t it?

But the barbecue chicken burgers were so tasty, I’ve managed to make them twice!

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Barbecue Chicken Burgers

Discovered on Annie’s Eats, adapted from from Pink Parsley Catering, and sauce from Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:
For the sauce:

• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup molasses
• 2 tbs minced onion
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbs Dijon mustard
• 2 tbs cider vinegar
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• Hot sauce, to taste

For the burgers:

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 scallion, minced
• 1 tbs minced fresh cilantro (oh, not in my kitchen)
• 2 teas brown sugar
• 1 teas dry mustard
• ½ teas kosher salt
• ½ teas paprika
• ¼ teas garlic powder
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 5 tbsp. barbecue sauce, divided

Preparation:
Heat a grill to medium-high heat.

For the barbecue sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and is reduced to about 1 cup.  Remove from the heat.  Set aside to chill until ready to use.

To make the burgers, combine the ground chicken, cornmeal, scallion, cilantro, brown sugar, spices, and 2 tablespoons of the barbecue sauce in a medium bowl and mix gently until well combined.  Divide the ground chicken mixture into burger size patties.

Place the burger patties on a cleaned and well oiled grill grate, brush with barbeque sauce and cook about 8-11 minutes. Flip once halfway through cook time and brush with 2 to 3 tablespoons more sauce.

Top with cheese slices, if using.  Cover and allow cheese to melt, 1 minute longer.  Place the burgers on toasted buns and top with additional barbecue sauce as desired and any other desired toppings.

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Had I dared to serve this a year ago, dinner would have been met with a sigh of discontent. Chicken…. burger…. Now a days, Handsome happily huffs it down and goes back for seconds. Either he just stopped complaining or I really have introduced him to some new foods he enjoys.

I like to hope its the latter.