Avocado Chicken Burgers

Ingredients

Chicken Burger Patties:

• 500g/ 1.2 lb ground chicken (mince) (Note 1)
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup parmesan , finely grated (Note 2)
• 1 cup green onion , finely sliced (~2 stems)
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1/2 tsp dried sage (Note 3)
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each

Burgers:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 soft burger buns or brioche buns
• 1 avocado (big!) (or 2 medium)
• 60g / 2 oz rocket / arugula or other lettuce of choice
• 2 tomatoes , sliced
• 4 slices Swiss cheese (or other cheese)
• Mayonnaise, relish, ketchup or tomato sauce (to smear lid)

On the side

• French fries
• Baked potato wedges

Instructions

Chicken Burger Patties

• Place Pattie ingredients in bowl, mix well with hands.
• Form 4 patties, 1.5cm / 3/5″ thick, slightly larger than the buns (shrinks slightly). If mixture is super sticky (Note 4), either refrigerate mixture for 30 minutes, or wet hands or lightly spray hands with oil (I do this).
• Heat oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add patties, working in batches. Cook for 2 minutes or until deep golden, then flip.
• After 1 minute, top with a piece of cheese and place lid on to melt cheese.
• Once cheese is melted, remove patties from skillet.

Assemble

• Split buns and lightly toast in oven or under broiler/grill.
• Cut avocado in half, scoop out a generous amount then “smash” it on the base of the bun with a fork. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Top with Chicken Pattie, then rocket/arugula and tomato.
• Smear the top bun with mayonnaise (or relish, ketchup, other condiment of choice) and place lid on bun.
• Devour and be happy!

Recipe Notes:

1. Meat – recipe works equally well with ground/mince turkey or pork.

2. Parmesan – grate your own, or use the store bought sandy type.

3. Sage – gives chicken patties a terrific savoury flavour which I love. Sub with ½ tsp dried thyme, or use celery salt instead of plain salt. Can be skipped.

4. Sticky mixture! Ground chicken / mince can be much more wet and harder to handle than other ground meat. Don’t be tempted to add more breadcrumbs, it will make the mixture less meat-like once cooked. Either refrigerate the mixture to firm up, or wet or oil hands to form patties. Also, the meat purchased from butchers is less wet than the ones sold at supermarkets in plastic containers (they sweat and become more watery).

5. Nutrition per serving, assuming a big hamburger bun is used (which is actually quite sweet, and larger than normal rolls so calories will be less if you use normal soft bread rolls).