Chicken-Basil Burgers
After making a very nice chicken-vegetable soup with basil last week, I was reminded about how much I like the combination of basil and chicken together. I got to wondering if I could make a burger that would showcase these flavours.
Chicken tends to try out really quickly on the barbecue, so I hit my books and looked to see how a few other recipes were handling dryness. I didn't find much in the way of chicken burger recipes, but I did find one for well-done hamburger recipes and one for turkey burgers in my materials. The well-done hamburgers used a panade to retain moisture, while the turkey burgers added butter in to accomplish the same thing.
Since chicken is notorious for drying out, I figured: Why not do both?
Chicken-Basil Burgers
Yield: 6 burgers
2.25 lbs ground chicken
1.5 slices of sandwich bread, crusts removed, broken into pieces
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp butter, softened
4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp other seasonings, such as ground thyme, or poultry seasoning.
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped fine.
Mix bread and milk together, and work into a paste. Add seasonings, garlic, and butter. Mix until homogeneous. Work in chicken and basil, and mix until combined.
Divide the meat into six even portions, and work into patties. Press down the middle of the patties, so that they're slightly thinner than the rest of the patty. Doing so will promote uniformly flat patties, rather than ones which are thick in the centre.
Transfer to a plate, wrap, and chill 30 minutes to 1 hour; The butter will have melted some from your handling the patties, so give it a chance to harden up again.
Barbecue on high heat, 4 minutes per side, or until GB&D. Tent and rest 10 minutes before serving.
We enjoyed our burgers with Parmesan cheese, sliced red onion, mayonnaise, and more basil leaves on top.
Complements all around when we had these last night at gaming. I've been told this one is a keeper!
Chicken tends to try out really quickly on the barbecue, so I hit my books and looked to see how a few other recipes were handling dryness. I didn't find much in the way of chicken burger recipes, but I did find one for well-done hamburger recipes and one for turkey burgers in my materials. The well-done hamburgers used a panade to retain moisture, while the turkey burgers added butter in to accomplish the same thing.
Since chicken is notorious for drying out, I figured: Why not do both?
Chicken-Basil Burgers
Yield: 6 burgers
2.25 lbs ground chicken
1.5 slices of sandwich bread, crusts removed, broken into pieces
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp butter, softened
4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a press
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp other seasonings, such as ground thyme, or poultry seasoning.
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped fine.
Mix bread and milk together, and work into a paste. Add seasonings, garlic, and butter. Mix until homogeneous. Work in chicken and basil, and mix until combined.
Divide the meat into six even portions, and work into patties. Press down the middle of the patties, so that they're slightly thinner than the rest of the patty. Doing so will promote uniformly flat patties, rather than ones which are thick in the centre.
Transfer to a plate, wrap, and chill 30 minutes to 1 hour; The butter will have melted some from your handling the patties, so give it a chance to harden up again.
Barbecue on high heat, 4 minutes per side, or until GB&D. Tent and rest 10 minutes before serving.
We enjoyed our burgers with Parmesan cheese, sliced red onion, mayonnaise, and more basil leaves on top.
Complements all around when we had these last night at gaming. I've been told this one is a keeper!