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These ground chicken burgers are juicy, moist, and flavorful! No more dry chicken, and you can have these burgers on the table in half an hour.
This post was originally published on May 27, 2016. I’ve updated the post with new photos and more tips. Same great recipe as before!
Ground chicken doesn’t always conjure up mouthwatering images, but this chicken burger is moist! I don’t like that word, but when you think of chicken burgers, “moist” doesn’t always come to mind. Cardboard sometimes comes to mind.
As long as you don’t overcook this burger, it’ll be fantastic.
You may also like my Easy Ground Turkey Burgers, these Chicken Patties, or this Easy Salmon Burger Recipe.
How do you make burgers with ground chicken?
Add the burger ingredients to a mixing bowl and gently use your hands to mix it all together. Form into patties and place them on wax paper. Create a depression in the center of each patty to make sure they cook evenly.
I added fresh oregano and chives to boost the flavor and impart a freshness. Breadcrumbs, lemon juice, and mayo are the secret ingredients to ensure these chicken burgers don’t dry out. There’s a clove of garlic in these burgers because this is my recipe, and apparently I can’t make stuff without garlic.
I whipped up a simple but flavorful mayo to complement these ground chicken burgers. Feel free to add it or skip it! As always, you can top these with your preferred toppings.
How long to grill chicken burgers?
It depends on the grill and the thickness of the burger patties, but with our gas BBQ we grilled them for 5 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other side (lid down). When an instant read meat thermometer registers 165F in the middle, they’re safe to eat. The meat thermometer helps ensure that you don’t overcook them! Dry burgers are no fun.
Tips and tricks to make the best grilled ground chicken burgers:
- Don’t over handle the meat. You don’t want the ground chicken patties resembling hockey pucks.
- Form patties and place them on wax paper.
- Make a little depression with your thumb in the center of each burger so they cook evenly.
- Make sure you oil the grill before it’s up to temperature so they don’t stick.
- Slide the burgers onto the grill using a metal spatula.
- Don’t have a BBQ? You could also use a grill pan or frying pan to make these.
What to serve with homemade chicken burgers:
I top the burgers with the suggested burger sauce, sliced tomato, avocado, red onion, and butter leaf lettuce, but the possibilities are endless. These burgers can be pretty healthy depending on how you top them. They would also be delicious served with a refreshing side salad like my Creamy Cucumber Salad.
Do you ever make burgers with ground chicken? I hope you will give this ground chicken burger recipe a try!
The Best Ground Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
Burger sauce:
- 1 cup mayo
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- Salt & pepper to taste
Burgers:
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 tablespoons mayo
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- Salt & pepper to taste
For serving:
- Hamburger buns, butter leaf lettuce, tomato, avocado, red onion, etc. optional, to taste
Instructions
- Stir the burger sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust as needed.
- Oil and preheat your grill to medium-high heat.
- In a medium-to-large bowl, add the burger ingredients. Using your hands, gently mix everything together, taking care to not over handle the mixture.
- Form burger patties one by one and place them on a sheet of wax paper. You should be able to make six average-size burger patties or four larger ones. Using your thumb, create a depression in the center of each patty so they cook evenly.
- Cook the burger patties until their internal temperature is at least 165F. Cooking time really depends on your grill and the thickness of the patties. Mine generally take 5 minutes on the first side and 4 minutes on the second side (gas BBQ).
- Once the burgers are cooked, you can toast the buns on the grill for about 30 seconds if desired.
- Assemble burgers by spreading the sauce onto each bun and adding the burger patties and toppings.
Notes
- See more tips & tricks within the blog post.
- Chicken is safe to eat when it's reached an internal temperature of 165F. Use an instant read thermometer to test for doneness. Overcooked chicken burgers will be dry.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hi Natasha,
Oh my goodness! If I could give this 10 stars I would! For background, ground chicken = cardboard for me. I know it’s very healthy, which I’m trying so hard to eat. I’ve found a lot of ground turkey recipes that are tasty, but never ground chicken. This was amazing!
I used Hellman’s olive oil mayo dressing to make it slightly healthier. I went for the sauce even though I tend to avoid mayo in general, but was intrigued by the ingredients. We all loved it! Next time will add a little more of the smoked paprika, as we are all fans. The sauce amount works well if I double the burger ingredients.
I panicked slightly when I realized we had to no Italian breadcrumbs which we always usually do, but thankfully found some panko. Added Italian seasoning and all was good.
Added fresh tomatoes from neighbor’s garden, onion, lettuce & spinach. Son added hummus. Everyone loved the lemon flavor.
Will definitely be making again and again, and will be sharing with my family. What a lovely recipe surprise! Thank you!
I’m thrilled you guys loved this one, Angela!! š Thanks for your review!
I’m back already – if I could give this *20* stars I would!!!
Made this 10 days ago for the first time. We all loved it (see above). I love so many of your yummy recipes and have added them to my regular rotation. This is the first one I had to make again so soon after making it the first time!
And an additional bonus was I had leftover sauce from the first time and went out of state to visit my mother for a week. Family used the leftover sauce on grilled fish and raved it was equally delicious on that as well, so I had to add the sauce recipe separately from this recipe to be available to all. Well done!
Again – I appreciate you so much for sharing your cooking creativity with all of us! ā¤
I appreciate it, Angela! š I love that the sauce is a hit on fish too!
I made these and froze them for quick meals for the week. Could I cook them from frozen, or would you recommend defrosting before cooking? Excited to try!
I think you could cook them from frozen. Just be sure to ensure they’re cooked thru properly as they’ll take a little longer. š
Made these tonight in my cast iron skillet. I prepped the patties in the morning, before work. They cooked up quick and easy and weāre so good!
The burger sauce sounded amazing, but to boost the nutrition value, I opted to top the burgers with some fresh made guacamole instead. It paired very nicely. Thanks a million for the healthy, delicious, easy to make recipe.
I’m so happy it worked to make them ahead! š
These are really good and the sauce is amazing. In fact next time I will skip the bun and just dip it in the sauce.
Thank you so much!! š Glad you enjoyed them!
Made these as written but in frying pan due to rain and they were excellent! Even picky beef burger-loving hubby was raving! Thank you for this great recipe, I never would have thought of including lemon juice.
That’s so nice to hear!! š
Delicious and juicy! I didn’t have a lemon so I left the lemon juice out. I will make sure I have one on hand before I make this again.
Awesome to hear, Lesley!! š
I was kind of iffy about this recipe because ground chicken is weird looking. Butā¦..these were amazing. Loved them. Thank you for posting.
You’re very welcome!!
Wonderful recipe,well appreciate
You’re very welcome!
Hello, when do u add the burger sauce?
Step 8. I’ll update the recipe to be more clear (I called it “mayo” when I meant the burger sauce).
Wow! Thank u so much! I’m making them this weekend!
Enjoy!! š
Delicious! Iāve tried several recipes for ground turkey, first time using ground chicken.
Great flavor and moist, nothing like meatloaf texture as one comment said. This will definitely be the recipe I will use from now on.
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Pam! Thanks for your review! š