Ground chicken, diced apples, and a few pantry items plus time in the kitchen become a great dinner in the form of chicken apple burgers in this recipe!
I had heard of turkey burgers before but never a chicken burger and definitely not a chicken apple burger before. But once I had thought of it, I couldn’t ignore it. We had to at least try one to decide for ourselves if a chicken burger would be a good dinner or if it could be called a burger by our family standards.
How did we come up with a Chicken Apple Burger?
We have a “bent and dent” type store near our house where I do most of my grocery shopping at. The prices are unbeatable but the downside is that there is no consistency in what they have in stock. Sometimes they have a ton of meat and other times it’ll be weeks before they have any meat at a decent price.
When I go, if they have meat that we will use, I pick up as much of it as our freezer can hold and our budget can take. I’m grateful for cheap meat. It helps us save money to put towards our debt and the opportunity to try new recipes with different types or cuts of meat.
For instance, there was ground chicken for a dollar a pound, which is a fantastic price. I had no clue what to make with it but for that price, I knew I could find something. We could have made meatballs or meatloaf but I was hoping for a more interesting meal.
There were a couple of recipes that called for ground chicken. The one that drew my eye was for chicken apple burgers. I love burgers and chicken apple burgers sounded like a good, new take on a family favorite meal. Because I didn’t love any of the individual recipes I found, so I took several recipes and altered them all to my taste.
Check out our Beginner Home Cook Essentials Guide for a list of ingredients that we recommend always keeping on hand plus a conversion guide and suggested kitchen tools!
What apples are best for a Chicken Apple Burger?
The apple I used is a Cortland, but a Granny Smith would be great too. Other options include Fuji, Honey Gold, or Gala apples.
Here’s the recipe:
I chopped six slices of bacon and sauteed in a small saucepan. Next time I might saute a few more slices. Once done, I removed the bacon while keeping the bacon grease, added chopped onions, and sauteed them until they were translucent.
Then I added the garlic powder (instead of minced garlic because all of mine was bad), salt, pepper, and dried herbs, sauteeing together until the garlic was fragrant. I poured in wine and cooked until the liquid was almost completely gone, burning off the alcohol. If you or the people you are cooking for do not use alcohol this can be replaced with water or chicken stock. I then removed the pot from the heat.
Once it cooled, I added the onion mixture to a bowl with the diced apples and cooked bacon and mixed it.
In a large bowl, I combined the ground chicken, apple mixture, and bread crumbs, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. I used the full cup of breadcrumbs. Next time I will decrease that by a quarter cup or so next time to see the difference. I portioned the meat mixture into 6 equal parts and shaped it into patties. Next time (and the way the recipe is written) I will make it into 8 patties. These did not shrink very much during the cooking process.
The burgers can be cooked right away. However, I placed them in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. I froze 4 of them as Bennett and I were each only eating one each. Before cooking, l salted each side of the burger. In a frying pan, I heated a tablespoon of olive oil. It cooked on medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning halfway and temperature checking for it to get to 165 degrees. (Don’t walk away from the stove like I did to avoid an overdone burger!)
I topped the burgers with Colby jack cheese, sauteed onions, bacon, and a slice of grilled apple. I served it on sliced sourdough because that’s what we had. Next time I’m hoping to have pretzel buns.
Did we enjoy the Chicken Apple Burger?
We enjoyed these burgers and I’m excited to eat them again! I am writing the recipe for 8 burgers because I found that the 6 burgers were each really big. They were more filling than I anticipated. Also, I would not burn the bacon!
One final thought, I don’t think that I would technically call this a Chicken Apple Burger. With everything that is incorporated into the ground chicken, especially the breadcrumbs, this felt more like a meatball with fun toppings. So maybe it should be called a meatball sandwich? But maybe a person who would call this a meatball sandwich would also say that a hot dog is a sandwich. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Chicken Apple Burger
Equipment
- Nothing Special
Ingredients
- 6 slices chopped bacon
- ½ medium-sized onion chopped finely
- 2-3 minced garlic cloves
- ⅔ cup apple cored, peeled, and diced
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup dry white wine or chicken stock
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 2 pounds of ground chicken
- ¾-1 cup bread crumbs
- 8 buns
- toppings of your choice *See Note Below
Instructions
- Chop six slices of bacon and saute in a small saucepan. Once done, remove the bacon while keeping the bacon grease and add chopped onions and saute until translucent.
- Add minced garlic, salt, pepper, and dried herbs, sauting together until the garlic is fragrant.
- Pour in the wine and cook until the liquid is almost completely gone, burning off the alcohol. Remove from the heat.
- Add the cooled onion mixture to a bowl with the diced apples and cooked bacon, and mix together.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, apple mixture, and bread crumbs, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Start with ¾ cup of breadcrumbs and slowly add more until you’re comfortable with the texture.
- Portion the meat mixture into 8 equal parts, shaping into patties. **See Note Below
- Prior to cooking, lightly salt each side of the burger.
- In a frying pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil (or vegetable oil).
- Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning halfway. The burgers are done when the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
- Place the chicken apple burgers on the buns and dress them with toppings.
Notes
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