Chicken Parmesan Burger

Like any standard American, I like a good old fashioned hamburger. However, I try and limit my red meat intake, so I will often cook up a turkey burger when I'm at home and in the mood for a burger. Then one day I stumbled upon ground chicken in the grocery store, and since I am always looking for new ways to eat chicken, I decided to give it a try. 

After doing some Pinterest searching, I found this recipe for chicken parmesan burgers. A combination of a burger and chicken parm? Yes please! These burgers are juicy, flavorful, and ridiculously easy to make. You simply combine the ingredients in a bowl, form four patties, let them refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, and then throw them in the oven! I don't like to heat up my kitchen unnecessarily when it's this hot and humid outside, so I used the convection oven and they came out perfectly. 

The first time I made the burgers, I forgot to buy a shallot, and the burgers were still delicious, but I think they were even tastier the second time with the chopped shallot. Rick discovered how easy it is to chop shallots (as well as onions) in the food processor, so I didn't have to spend forever dicing it up by hand. (Just make sure that you chop in small bursts and don't totally pulverize it!)

This recipe makes 4 burgers, so I cooked up all 4 at once, but didn't add the sauce or cheese to 2 of them and just froze those cooked chicken burgers for later. They defrosted and microwaved perfectly a few weeks later.

Chicken Parmesan Burger

(adapted from Annie's Eats)

Ingredients:

For the burgers:1 lb. ground chicken
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 tbsp. chopped flat leaf parsley (fresh or dried)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely diced
Salt and pepper, to taste

For serving:
Pasta sauce
Part-skim mozzarella cheese (sliced or shredded)
Hamburger buns

Directions: 

1. Combine all of the burger ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well by hand until thoroughly combined. 2. Form the mixture into 4 patties. Refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the broiler. Spray the broiler pan with cooking spray. (I cooked mine in the convection oven. You can also grill them on an outdoor grill.) 
4. Broil the burgers for approximately 5 minutes on one side, then flip and broil for approximately 5 more minutes on the other side until fully browned and cooked through. 
5. Remove from the oven, and top each burger with pasta sauce and cheese. Place back under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve on hamburger buns.

*Makes 4 burgers