BBQ Chicken Burgers

Sometimes I write about a recipe after only making it once or twice.  Sometimes it's after making it for years.  This one is definitely the latter.

We made these BBQ chicken burgers for Luke's 1st birthday party (he's now 4) and they are one of our grilling staples in the summer.  It's a mash-up of burgers (easy to grill and eat) and grilled chicken (cheaper and healthier?)?  I've found them to be pretty easy to mix up and then send them out to the grill with Matt.

I keep thinking I should learn to grill.  Matt did teach me one summer.  It feels empowering to know how to do that.  But I don't like handling raw meat and realllllly don't like eating undercooked meat so my tendency would be to burn EVERYTHING just to ensure no pink and nobody really wants to eat things like that.  I've managed to burn bacon every time I've made it (all of twice) and now tell Matt it's his responsibility.  It saves us a lot of wasted bacon.  And probably grill meat too.  Since I do most of our meal prep and grocery shopping and menu planning and most the things that make sure we have food on the table, I don't really feel bad about delegating the actual grilling to Matt.  I get a slight break in the kitchen and we still get delicious food.

Back to these burgers, you can adjust these a little to your level of spicy.  We use store-bought BBQ sauce just to keep things easy, both in the burgers and on top.  We often add cheese, just like when grilling burgers.  They have a wonderful flavor and every single time we have them I'm glad I suffered through touching the raw chicken.  Give these a try if you are looking to change up your grilling menu!

Note: The first time I made these I bought a pound ground chicken at the store which costs as much as a 3lb bag of frozen chicken breasts at Aldi.  Then I wised up and started thawing frozen chicken and grinding them myself in the food processor.  Definitely the cheaper (and barely harder) option.

BBQ Chicken Burgers


yield: 4 burgers (easily multiples for more!)
Ingredients
-1 lb. ground chicken
-¼ cup cornmeal
-2 tsp brown sugar
-1 tsp dry mustard
-½ tsp kosher salt
-½ tsp paprika
-¼ tsp garlic powder
-pinch of cayenne pepper
-2 TB barbecue sauce, plus more for serving

-buns
-sliced cheese
-other burger toppings, as you wish

Directions
-Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.  Form into 4 patties and refrigerate until ready to grill.

-(I'm going to assume you have some basic grill knowledge going forward...this is the part I delegate)
Oil the grill grates and place the patties on the grill.  Cook for 3-4 minutes and then flip.  Cook about another 3 minutes.  Top with cheese slices if you wish and continue cooking until the cheese is melted.  Serve!

source: modified from Pink Parsley Catering via Annie's Eats