Here's something you may or may not know about me, I love chicken sandwiches. 9 times out of 10 I would rather eat a crispy chicken sandwich than a burger. But when I came across this recipe from
The Girl Who Ate Everything, I was a little skeptical. I'd never had a chicken sandwich made with ground chicken before. Wouldn't it be dry and more like a hockey puck than a burger? Isn't ground chicken really expensive? I was wrong, I can admit that. This ranch chicken burger is fantastic!
Well, kinda wrong. Ground chicken is expensive. It was $6.19/lb at my store. I usually pay less than $4/lb for 90/10 ground beef. But this week chicken breasts were on sale BOGO. I got 5lbs of chicken breasts for about $2/lb. I had read somewhere on the internet about grinding your own meat with a food processor, so I thought now would be the perfect time to try it! Now if you're trying this recipe at home, know that you can use any kind of boneless skinless chicken to grind. I found that grinding breasts made for a perfectly moist burger, but adding chicken thighs to the mix may add some more flavor.
First step is to cut up the chicken into bite size pieces. Place these pieces in the freezer for about 15 minutes. You want the outsides to be pretty frozen, but the insides will still be thawed. This frozen crust helps the food processor grind the meat uniformly.
Put the semi-frozen chicken into the bowl of the food processor. Process the meat on high for about 20 seconds. The chicken should look, well, like ground chicken. Remove the meat and put in a large mixing bowl. Check it over for any large pieces. Return these pieces to the food processor and repeat the grinding process.
Add all your spices to the meat. Mix well, then form into patties. I made 4 1/4lb burger patties. You could make them smaller if you wanted to. The ground chicken doesn't really shrink like ground beef. The ground beef has a higher fat content, and that fat melts out during cooking causing your burgers to shrink. While you're making the patties toast up some sandwich buns. I used King's Hawaiian Sandwich Buns. They're a little sweeter than the average bun, and I find them absolutely delicious when toasted with a little butter. Speaking of butter, definitely toast your buns with butter in the pan that you're planning on using to cook the burgers. The little bit of residual butter in the pan helps cook the chicken.
Once your buns are toasted and your patties are made, add them to the hot pan. Remember, these are chicken burgers, not beef, so they need to be completely cooked through! I cooked mine for 3-4 minutes on each side, then checked the internal temperature before I took them off the stove. You want the very middle of the burger to be at least 160 degrees. If you don't have a meat thermometer, go out and buy one now! I got mine from Kohls for about $20.
This little guy is great, and the one I own, because it already has proper meat temps programmed in. Stop risking illness and check your meat temperatures!
When you have about 2 minutes of cooking time left put the cheddar cheese on top of the burgers. I steamed my burgers to make sure that my cheese was totally melted. This is how restaurants make the cheese on your burgers so ooey and gooey. It's a really simple process. Just put about a tablespoon or 2 of water in the bottom of your pan, then quickly cover with a lid. The water will not effect your food, but the steam will make sure that the cheese completely melts.
Put your burgers on your delicious butter toasted buns, and top with things that are only going to make this burger more yummy. I topped mine with lettuce, red onion slices, and about a teaspoon of ranch dressing. I would have added some tomato, but they were pretty skanky looking at the store. Side note: I can't wait for warm weather and big delicious tomatoes!
I served my burgers with some cajun seasoned tater tots and green beans. This meal wasn't exactly low-cal, because of the buttered bun, but definitely better for you than a burger! According to MyFitnessPal.com, my sandwich clocked in at about 700 cal. The bun alone is 250 cal. The burger is 415 cals. In the future I'd lighten this recipe up by using a generic hamburger bun (120cal) and ditch the cheese (220 cal). I wouldn't try and lessen the amount of breadcrumbs because they give the burger much needed texture and help to hold the chicken patties together.
I hope that your family enjoys this recipe as much as mine did. Have a great weekend everyone!
Ranch Chicken Burgers
Serves 4
Burger Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken, or 1 lb of pre-ground chicken
½ cup Panko bread crumbs
¼ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dry ranch dressing mix
Burger Toppings:
4 slices cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter
4 sandwich rolls
Lettuce
Prepared ranch dressing
Red onion
· Cut your chicken into bite size pieces. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. The chicken should be very cold, but not frozen through.
· Place the partially frozen chicken pieces in your food processor. Use the highest setting to grind the chicken. This takes about 20 seconds. Remove the chicken to a large mixing bowl. If there are any remaining large pieces, repeat the grinding process with only these pieces.
· In the large mixing bowl, stir together the ground chicken, both types of breadcrumbs, onion flakes, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and dry ranch mix.
· Form the chicken mixture into patties. One pound of ground chicken should make four quarter pound patties.
· Butter both insides of the sandwich buns. Place buns in the pan that will be used to cook the chicken burgers, this will provide a little bit of oil to cook the burgers. Toast the buns until golden brown. Set aside.
· Place burgers in the hot non-stick pan. Cook patties for approximately 3-4 minutes on each side. Use a meat thermometer to measure the internal temperature, which should be at least 160 degrees. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, place the cheddar cheese on top of burgers. Add about a Tablespoon of water to the pan, then cover with a lid. This steam will help melt the cheddar.
· Put the chicken burger on the toasted buns. Top with lettuce, red onion, and a squirt of ranch dressing. Enjoy!
