Chicken Quesadilla Burgers

These burgers are my take on a delicious chicken quesadilla, in a burger package. Essentially, it’s a chicken burger, packed with quesadilla-like ingredients, such as black olives, jalapeño peppers, onions, and topped with homemade spicy guacamole. Yum! The only thing that could make them better are the buns that I used…Hawaiian sweet buns. They’re truly amazing, folks (and addictive!). The Hawaiian sweet bread comes in buns, rolls, and even bread bowl style; they’re actually sweet, and very delicious. It was the perfect canvas for these chicken burgers.

The idea for these little delights came to me out of nowhere. I was sitting in the living room, in front of my laptop, writing an essay for my English class, I believe. I was thinking about these amazing quesadillas I had eaten a few days prior, at a little bar restaurant called Ralph’s in downtown La Crosse, where I live. These quesadillas are fantastic. They’re made with homemade spinach tortillas, so they’re green in color and full of flavor. They’re packed to the brim with delicious shredded chicken, melted cheese, spicy jalapeño peppers, salty black olives, and crisp green peppers. To really give it something extra, the dish is served with homemade guacamole, fresh salsa, and sour cream with tortilla chips on the side. Not to mention, they’re huge. My boyfriend and I always have to split an order, because it’s impossible for one normal sized person to take them down. So, having eaten them a few days earlier, I was still thinking about them. I was daydreaming, and a magazine cover caught my eye. It was the June 2011 issue of Cooking Light; this issue has a burger on the front cover, with blue cheese mayo on top. The combination of thinking about those quesadillas and seeing this cover gave me the idea to try a quesadilla themed burger.

I had never tried to cook with ground chicken before making these burgers, and to be honest, I was somewhat hesitant. I’ve heard that ground poultry can get somewhat dry if it isn’t cared for properly, and I really wanted to make something spectacular. So, to combat the fear of dryness, I added an egg and some breadcrumbs to the meat, along with some lime juice to give it some more flavor and moisture. I went easy on the spices, just adding some Cajun spice and cumin to help boost the Mexican flavors a bit. Garlic makes everything better, so I threw in some of that too, along with some onion to boost the flavor profile. I already had a pretty kick-ass homemade guacamole recipe, so I used that as a topping, along with some cheese and tomato, keeping with the quesadilla theme. They turned out so good! I cannot even begin to describe the sheer joy of the amazing flavors I had created. My boyfriend was at a loss for words, besides a loud “Mmm!!” The chicken is so incredibly, surprisingly moist and juicy, and the flavors work so well together. It was a hit, and it wasn’t difficult at all!

Ingredients:

For the guacamole:

4 ripe avocados

2-3 limes, juiced (it really is important to use fresh juice here)

½ red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 jalapeño peppers, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

1 big handful cilantro, finely chopped

Extra-virgin olive oil

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

For the burgers:

2 tbsp olive oil, plus some for grilling

1 green pepper, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 jalapeño peppers, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup black olives, chopped

2 lbs ground chicken (I used Gold ‘n Plump)

1 egg, at room temperature

½ cup bread crumbs or panko

1 tbsp Cajun seasoning

1 tsp cumin

2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

2 tbsp lime juice (fresh or bottled)

Salt & pepper

8 hamburger buns, any variety (or enough for the amount of burgers you’re making; I used Hawaiian sweet buns, & they were amazing)

Cheddar cheese, shredded or sliced (for garnish)

2 tomatoes, sliced (for garnish)

Lettuce (optional, for garnish)

What to do:

For the guacamole:

Halve and pit the avocados. A simple way to get the pits out is to insert your knife into the center of the pit, as shown below, and turn your knife to the side. The pit will slide right out; pull it out of the knife and repeat with the rest of the avocados.

Next, you need to scoop out the flesh of the avocado. A good way to remove it from its shell and cleanly chop it is to use a combination of a knife and a spoon. First, use a small spoon to scoop the flesh from the shell, causing it to come out in one large piece.

Then use your knife to chop into smaller pieces.

Collect all of the avocado chunks into a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Mash the avocados with a fork, leaving them somewhat chunky. Add all of the remaining ingredients, and mix everything together using the fork. Lay a piece of plastic wrap right on the surface of the guacamole so it doesn’t brown and refrigerate while preparing the burgers.

This is what it should look like when finished:

For the burgers:

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add to the skillet: green pepper, onion, jalapeño peppers, and garlic. Cook until the vegetables are tender and somewhat transparent, about 7-10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and add the black olives; mix everything together in the skillet.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together: ground chicken, egg, bread crumbs, Cajun seasoning, cumin, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper, and the cooked vegetables (once they’ve cooled a bit). Make sure you mix until the ingredients are just combined; if you over mix, the burgers won’t hold together as well.

Form the chicken mixture into burger patties; you can choose your own size. I made 9 burgers from these ingredient amounts, and my burgers were pretty large. Make an indent in the center of each patty so it doesn’t puff up on the grill. You can use a grill or a grill pan to cook the burgers; I used a grill pan. Heat the grill/grill pan over medium-high heat and coat with olive or canola oil. Place the burgers on the grill.