Sunday, April 19, 2009

'What's in my fridge?' Chicken Burgers


I have had a pound of ground chicken in my freezer since right before I gave up meat for Lent, and this past week I decided I needed to do something with that chicken before the ice crystals took over for good. I was inspired by Elly's Chicken Parmesan burgers, and originally wanted to just replicate her delicious sounding recipe. But looking in my fridge revealed a lack of the ingredients any Italian American like myself should have-- no marinara sauce (at least thawed sauce) or mozzarella cheese! So I pushed the Chicken Parmesan idea to the back of my mind, and took a survey of what ingredients I did have in stock.


The Mexican grocery store by my house is amazing for a lot of reasons, and their huge tubs of sun dried tomatoes for about $3 is on the top reasons I love going there. I've always loved sun dried tomatoes, but the price seemed a bit restrictive in the past. Now, however, I have sun dried tomatoes on hand all the time, and they find their way into more dishes than you would expect! Combining chopped sun dried tomatoes with a healthy amount of green onions sounded like a great combination for the chicken burgers I was dreaming up. I figured an egg, some bread crumbs, and seasoning of choice (lots of herbes de provence) would complete the ingredient list for these experimental chicken burgers.

These burgers were a home run! The chicken was so moist, and the flavors were light and fresh. Joe and I both loved these, and they were just as good leftover for lunch. I would love to serve these at a summer bbq, and think I could win over a couple of my beef eating friends!

Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Burgers

-1 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
-6 green onions, white and light green parts, chopped
-1 lb ground chicken
- 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp Herbes de Provence
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- salt and pepper

- buns
- goat cheese
- tomato slices
- mayonaise

Place chopped sun dried tomatoes and green onions in a large bowl. Add ground chicken, and other ingredients through onion powder. Mix gently with your hands, until ingredients are just combined. Do NOT overmix. Form into patties (I did five medium sized ones), and season with salt and pepper. Cook on the grill or under the broiler until cooked through. I had to slice one open to determine for sure they were done. Top burgers with goat cheese and tomato slices.

7 comments:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Mmm - these look fantastic and reminds me that I need to pick up some ground chicken at the store! :)

suze said...

you had me at goat cheese

creampuff said...

Do you know that I have never had a chicken burger! Isn't that funny ... these look delicious!

Sarah said...

I never think about using ground chicken until I see it in people's blogs. And then I always want to rush right out and buy some! These look so tasty.

elly said...

These look so great! I love anything with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese. Mmm. You'll have to tell me the Mexican market you go to. And we'll have to get together now that we're neighbors! I've been heading to HarvesTime on Lawrence for lots of my cheap Greek & Mexican needs lol.

Proud Italian Cook said...

Erin, Those burgers look so good!
I've been craving burgers on the grill and I have 4 1lb packages of ground turkey inn my freezer. That would work, right?

Erin said...

I'm sure ground Turkey would work, too. I usually buy ground turkey, but chicken was a fun change of pace.