Chicken & bacon burgers with basil-avocado mayo
I’ve had way too many crappy chicken burgers in my lifetime – dry and flavourless, it’s a crushing shame! Done well, it’s a mouthwatering meal. A good bun can really make a burger great, so if you can, go to a bakery or a specialty foodstore and get some nice ones. The bags of ‘hamburger buns’ the supermarket are loaded with sugar and have a funny crumbly texture – but proper ciabatta rolls from the supermarket are amazing! The chicken mixture might feel a bit wet when you’re shaping it and you’ll have just to handle the patties with a little care. Don’t heat the pan up as high as you would for a steak, as the mixture may burn.
Note – if you have a food processor, trying making your own chicken mince by pulsing chopped chicken thighs to a course mince texture (not a paste!). Or use a mincer. The thighs have superior flavour and texture to the breast meat.
Ingredients
Patties
500g boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or 500g chicken mince if you don’t have a food processor)
½ an onion, very finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 clove NZ garlic, crushed
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs – basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, chives
½ cup breadcrumbs soaked in ¼ cup evaporated milk (or normal milk)
½ cup chopped pistachio nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
Avocado/basil mayo
½ cup good-quality mayonnaise (recipe here)
1 ripe avocado, chopped
1 packet fresh basil, leaves torn
Squeeze of lemon juice
To serve
Burger buns, fried bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, tomato relish
Method
Preheat the oven to 220c fan bake.
If you have a food processor or mincer, make your own chicken mince. Chop the chicken up into pieces then pulse in the food processor to a course mince – don’t let it turn into a paste. You could even add a few pieces of bacon in there.
Add the chicken to a large bowl with the remaining the patty ingredients, season well with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly with clean hands. Shape into 5-6 patties, pop the on a plate and cover with glad wrap. Leave in the fridge for 15 minutes or until you need them.
To make the mayo, combine the ingredients in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon juice and salt and pepper.
Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add 2 or 3 patties and cook (without turning) for about 5 minutes. If you try and turn them too early they might break apart as they are quite delicate, but they’ll firm up as they cook. Turn them over and cook for another 10 minutes or so or until the chicken is cooked through.
Halve the burger buns and spread with butter -you could add a few slices of cheese to one half if you’re that way inclined (I am). Bake in the oven for about 3 minutes to crisp the up and melt the cheese.
I pile all the ingredients on the table and let everyone make their own burgers – spread a base with a little relish, add salad ingredients, a patty, the mayo and bacon. Deeeeelish!
Chelsea’s tip
- To use fresh bread instead of dried breadcrumbs, tear a slice of toast bread into small pieces and add to a plate with ¼ cup of milk. Let it all soak up then squish into the meat mixture.
Hi Chelsea, is this recipe in any of your books? X
I love this burger. Made it many times now and it is always a hit, Thanks Chelsea x
sorry for the dumb question but is it 1/3 cup of any one of the herbs or combination of all?
Thanks Chelsea great recipe. I made these tonight added chilli flakes and smoked paprika. Also lemon juice to the pattie. Served with brioche buns, bacon spinach and tomato. Delicious.
How much basil is in a ‘packet’ of basil leaves? I have a basil plant so no idea how many leaves to tear off to use for the mayo? Thanks
Maybe 10-15?
We make this recipe regularly, probably about once a fortnight – it’s always extremely good, quick and easy.
We do make a couple of substitutions just based on what we tend to have in the pantry – I use a mixture of pumpkin and sunflower seeds rather than pistachio’s, and I use a piece of wholegrain bread rather than breadcrumb (I haven’t found that I need to add any extra milk to it, I figure since it’s already moist)
I also put the onion, garlic, herbs etc. into the food processor and blend until finely chopped, rather than doing it by hand – it’s really quick and I get a nicer end result than when I chop the onion by hand.
I made 6 patties and froze them straight away.
Defrosted 2 the next day and they cooked perfectly. Very delicious!
My question, has anyone par cooked the patties, frozen them and then finished them off when required?
I am having 20+ people for a BBQ and I think it will be too labour intensive to start cooking the patties from scratch.
If you have done this, could you please give me time cooked etc. Much appreciated
Amazing recipe! managed to get 6 juicy, flavoursome patties out the mixture, have frozen 4 so fingers crossed they are good once defrosted. Burgers were far better than any burger I’ve ever had (and that’s saying something because we eat a lot of burgers!)
I’ve made these several times and they’re delicious, although I use sunflower seeds (or pumpkin seeds) because I always have them handy, and I’ll often use a piece of fresh bread instead of breadcrumbs and milk.
I also suggest putting all the ingredients that need chopping into the food processor and pulsing until fine/chunky – makes your life a lot easier if you have one, and comes out a nicer consistency.
Chelsea, may I suggest a different measurement than “packet of basil”? I have no idea how much you’re actually thinking should go in, considering shops sell lots of different sized packets, and I have home grown stuff.
That is, put the onions/garlic/herbs/breadcrumbs/nuts or seeds in the food processor and pulse, then add to the chicken and egg.
Thanks Chelsea. I made these last night and they went down a treat with our family.
We are on a budget so i didn’t add the pistachio however I doubled the mixture since buying 1kg of the mince. So tonight’s dinner is chicken meatballs and spaghetti.
Love your work. Thanks again.
Made these last night and halved the recipe because it was just for two of us. The patties turned out great – I was worried the mixture was too wet when I first formed the patties but they cooked to a really nice firm consistency. I switched the mayo for unsweetened yoghurt to make ti a bit healthier and it was delicious!
I made these for tea tonight. A tasty healthy burger. Really yummy.
Hey chelsea (huge fan, kind of a stalker of your recipes)……I made this burger pattie into small meat balls, chucked in a condensed chicken stock, added cooked pasta and a creamy sauce for tea for my boys. Loved the meat balls, huge hit! :)
This is an amazing idea!! Thank you!
Made these last night for dinner with our friends, they were a hit! The avocado mayo was delicious but I suggest halving the mix cus I had so much left over. Can’t wait too try the lamb burger next :) thanks Chelsea
YUM! This was delicious. The perfect Friday night dinner.