This Kofta Chicken Burger with Caramelized Onions will be a hit at your next BBQ or on a weekend meal for the family! The chicken patties are loaded with a few pantry staple spices, a green cilantro-mint chutney, then cooked on a skillet or outdoor grill. You can even swap the ground chicken for turkey and I can tell you this will quickly become your favorite burger recipe!
With a few pantry spices like coriander, cumin, paprika, turmeric, a little chopped onion, green chutney(I also have a recipe gif you don’t have one handy). Don’t worry; if you’ve never caramelized onions before, it’s super easy to do, I have an entire blog post with all the tips and tricks to make perfect caramelized onions here. and once you make it for these burgers, you can also try my Lentils and Rice Pilaf with caramelized onions, which has over 25K saves on Pinterest. Other recipes to try stuffed salmon, Onion dip, and Allium dip.
And if you aren’t into ground chicken you can swap it for ground turkey and make turkey burgers, its totally acceptable.
How to make this Chicken Kofta Burger :
- Make the burger patties: Add the ground chicken, kofta spices, mozzarella or parm, chutney to a bowl. Use a fork or your hands to combine without overmixing. Over mixing will create tough burgers. Once the ingredients are evenly dispersed, stop mixing. Divide the mixture into 4 equal patties. Press down gently, or use a patty press. Chill the patties for 30 minutes in the refrigerator, this allows the patties to firm up that way so they’re easier to grill.
- Cooking the patty: If you own an outdoor grill, these burgers really grill really well. I pan grill them on a hot skillet lightly greased with avocado oil or oil that has a high smoking point.
- Toast the buns: the jury on this out there on this, to toast or not to toast is entirely your preference. We’re camp toast! to assemble stack a thin layer of caramelized onions, not too much as it tends to be a little sweet. Then follow with a juicy beefsteak tomato slice, then the patty and finally fresh arugula or baby spinach. Other options are guacamole, mayo or any other condiments that you enjoy. Serve these with fries, grilled veggies, or a fresh green salad.
Ingredients for chicken burger patties:
- Ground chicken breast: I use high quality ground chicken(breast or thighs, darker meat gives better burgers). Alternatively ground turkey also works and easily available in most grocery stores. .
- Caramelized onions: Slowly sweat down and caramelize the sliced onions in a skillet, these onions will get sweet and rich with umami. They’ll stay fresh for a few days in the back of the fridge. Recipe for one large onion follows, if you want to make a large batch click the link on the title. You can choose to add the caramelized onions into the meat mix or layer it in the bottom of the toasted bun.
- Spices: These are mostly pantry staples like ground coriander, cumin kosher salt, garlic powder, garam masala, freshly cracked black pepper.
- A little fillers: We are going to add a little bread crumb, parmesan or mozzarella to bind and add extra flavor.
- Cilantro Chutney: I like the chutney for its freshness and a little something to perk up the flavor. If you don’t want go through this step of making chutney, simply add some fresh cilantro and increase the spices into the mix.
- Burger ingredients: We love brioche buns, but use what you enjoy. You’ll also want some greens like arugula/spinach or romaine lettuce, tomato, other favorite burger fixings are smashed or slices of avocado, and mayo if that’s your thing. For this recipe I didn’t feel the need for mustard, pickles or ketchup. A slice of juicy tomato, a few arugula leaves for freshness and caramelized onion does the trick for me.
Kofta Burger
Equipment
- Skillet or Outdoor grill
Ingredients
- 1 lb good quality ground chicken or turkey
- ⅓ cup shredded mozzarella or grated parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp ground garlic powder add an extra ¼ tsp if you're skipping the chutney
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin add an extra ¼ tsp if you're skipping the chutney
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- ½-¾ tsp red chili powder, or crushed chili flakes or cayenne add an extra ¼ tsp if you're skipping the chutney (or skip to keep it mild)
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2-3 tbsp green chutney( full recipe here)
- ½ cup caramelized onion (full recipe here)
Green Chutney Sub
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 5-7 mint leaves
Caramelized Onions
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp sea salt and sugar to initiate the sweating
Instructions
Caramelized onions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp of butter with oil. Add the sliced onion and sauté for 5 mins. Lower the heat to medium-low. Add ¼ tsp of sugar and a pinch of kosher salt. Cook for 35-40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes so the onions brown evenly. When golden and soft, take it off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Bring to room temperature before using in burgers. This can also be done aan ahead of time.
Burger
- For outdoor grill: Heat the grill to 475ºF. For Skillet heat the skillet on the cooktop and lightly greased it. Add the ground chicken, ground spices, chutney or chopped cilantro, cheese and breadcrumbs to a bowl. Using your hands, combine the mixture. Do not overwork, or the chicken patties will be tough. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions or use a burger press to form equal patties and place them on a sheet pan as they form. OPTIONAL I like to refrigerate the patties for 30 minutes so they firm up, making it easier to grill. But you can also grill them immediately.
- For Grill Clean grill grates and grease them using a paper towel lightly dipped in oil(oil with high smoke point). This will keep the burger patties from sticking. Grill chicken patties for roughly 5-6 minutes on each side until the center of each burger reaches 155ºF. Allow the burgers to carry over cook for a few minutes on a plate loosely tented with foil while you toast the buns.For skillet: heat the skillet and grease it lightly. place the patties on the skillet and cook 6-7 minutes or until the internal temperature has reached at least 155℉.
- Toast the buns if desired, layer with a thin layer of caramelized onion, tomato slice, and then arugula. OTHER OPTIONS smashed avocado, mayo and any other condiments of your choice. Top with burger patties and serve with fries, salad, or grilled veggies on the side.
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