Friday, June 6, 2014

Smoked Cilantro Chicken Burgers

I am a big fan of chicken in all ways. Even prior to becoming such a health nut, I was inclined to order a chicken sandwich over a burger because I thought it was the healthier alternative. However, I've come to learn that most places don't serve very good quality chicken. Don't even get me started about certain places and their willingness to sell us meat that came from headless chickens from all of the junk they're injected with to plump them up! Eww. It's seriously disturbing. So I stick to my homemade creations for the most part. But a plain Jane chicken sandwich can be kind of boring. Well, I started thinking about how I could spice it up a bit. One of the spices in my cabinet that gets overlooked a lot because of it's powerful flavor is smoked paprika. It's really good, but I hadn't quite figured out a good way to incorporate it unless I was making BBQ. Well...You guys! I can't believe how well this worked out. The flavor is amazing and I am really excited to share it with you all. So without further ado, I give you...

Smoked Cilantro Chicken Burgers

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 3-5 (mine yielded 5, but I ate 2 and my husband ate 2)

Special Tools:
Food processor
Big bowl
Grill

Ingredients:
2 organic chicken breasts
1 medium sweet potato, steamed and skin removed
1 tbsp of garlic powder
2 tsp of smoked paprika
2 tsp of onion powder
1 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of dried basil
1 tsp of fresh cracked pepper
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly chopped
3 oz. of crumbled goat cheese
3 tbsp of fresh cilantro
1 tbsp of chives, thinly chopped
1 lime, juiced




















Intstructions:
1. Put the first 7 ingredients into a food processor and turn it on until the ingredients are well combined. *NOTE: I did this in TWO batches so as not to overcrowd the processor. 
2. Using a spatula, remove the chicken mixture from the processor into a large bowl and fold in the red bell pepper, goat cheese, cilantro, chives, and 1/2 the lime juice. It looks really gross, but trust me it will turn out GREAT!




















3. Put the mixture in the freezer while you go and heat up your grill on about 400. It just makes the chicken a little easier to work with.
4. Remove the bowl from the freezer and make the patties. My meat yielded 5 patties. 
5. Put them on the grill and turn every 5 minutes for 20 minutes to prevent sticking. Squeeze some lime juice onto the top of the patties every time you turn them. (Ignore the 1/2 eaten one my husband and I were taste testing!)




















6. That's it! Top with whatever you want. I had tomato, avocado, and hot sauce. My husband went all out and put cheese and a bun in addition to what I had. Next time I'm adding bacon and a fried egg!


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