So, I am going to let you know about one of my big secrets...I am totally afraid of ground chicken. Bone-in chicken doesn't phase me, and you have read about getting over my fear of whole chickens when I wrote Yellow Rose Cafe: Big Girl Britches-Smokey Bacon Roasted Chicken:, but there is something about the ground up chicken in it's neat plastic package that frightens me. Maybe it is because all form of it's previous life is gone. Maybe because I know the only way it might possibly taste like something I could potentially enjoy is if I shove it full of an obscene amount of goodies. I don't know, but whatever it is I finally decided to buy a pack the other day and quickly threw it in my cart before I had time to second guess myself. I have been craving blue cheese lately and since I am the only one in the house that has a love affair with it I am bit limited. I decided that I would make up some burgers so that I could jazz mine up to my liking, and it was good. The obscene turned out to not be so bad. And, the muffins gobbled up every single bite. Let me repeat this. EVERY. SINGLE. BITE. Can I get an amen? For any of you mom's out there you know that this is up there on the kids nearly impossible list, right next to them making their beds and not burping in public. I left the dinner table and felt as if I deserved a momma medal for a meal well done.
This burger was amazing as a buffalo burger, but you can take it in any direction. My boys had a melted slice of Colby-jack cheese and loved it. I was tempted to sliced up some fresh jalapenos from the garden on mine but didn't want to over power the burger. But, I think this chicken burger could have put up a good fight. This would be amazing with many, many toppings like bacon or avocado. The secret weapon for me was the crushed up gold fish. I have decided that anyone under the age of 100 possibly has goldfish in the pantry so I took that into consideration when deciding what my bread-like texture would be. We had the extra cheddar (go big or go home, right?) flavor on hand and it was perfect to add that little cheesy punch in the burger. By the way, don't over mix these. Ground chicken needs to be handled gently to keep what little bit of dignity it has left after having it's innards and outters removed so stir just until mixed. They will also have a sort of sticky texture when you are patting them out, unlike their partner ground beef. Oh, I can't wait to hear how you loved these!
Chicken Burgers- Yields 4 good size burgers
1/2 Cup diced onion
1 Lb ground chicken
1 Egg
1/2 cup cheddar gold fish crackers - measured first then crushed finely
2 tsp. Ms. Dash chicken seasoning
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
In a small saute pan, heat up 2 Tbsp of olive oil with the onions and a splash of salt over medium-low heat. Cook onions for approximately 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they have cooked through and turned a light brown around the edges and caramelized a bit.
Combine remaining ingredients into a bowl with the cooked onions and stir just until blended. Gently pat out into 4 round patties on a piece of foil or parchment paper so that you can flip them into the pan easily.
Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Lightly spray with non-stick spray and add a splash of olive oil. Once the pan is good and hot plop the burgers into the heat and gently remove the foil backings. Cook on one side approximately 5 minutes until you can see that half of the burger has turned from opaque to white. Once flipped, cook for 5-6 minutes until heated through and the burger has a great caramel color on the exterior. Flip back one last time and lay whatever cheese you are using on top of the burgers. For blue cheese, you will want about 1 heaping Tablespoon. Cover the pan with either a lid or a big cookie sheet and allow the cheese to melt.
For my Buffalo burger I used toasted French bread split for my bun. I put a good schmear of mayo on it, a good handful of spinach (so that it was healthy) and some heavy, heavy dashes of Texas Pete. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it all over again.
Enjoy Y'all!
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