Asian Chicken Burgers from Food Network Magazine, January/February 2011

Remember those Pretzel Rolls I made earlier today? I needed them to hold the Asian Chicken Burgers that I also made for the surprise business lunch I hosted for a potential employee. I love surprises like that, especially when the roads have been pure ice for the last three days and a trip to the store hasn't been possible. Hence the necessity to discover Pretzel Rolls and fall in love with them. If you've never had one, head over there, print the recipe and make them. You'll be hooked, I promise.

However, this isn't about pretzel rolls or any other kind of roll, not even the whole-wheat sesame hamburger buns that I should have served with these burgers (according to the ingredients). No, it's about ground chicken joined with a whole bunch of other vegetables, herbs and spices to create an Asian-inspired burger, topping and sauce.

There are three elements to this burger. The first is the patty itself. Listen to this great list. Carrot, red onion, panko, hoisin, fresh ginger, soy sauce, hot Asian chili sauce. Oh, be still my heart. The second is just as good. It's the onions and mushrooms layer. It has, in addition to the aforementioned veggies, sesame oil, lime juice and more soy sauce. Finally, there's the sauce, which consists of hoisen, hot Asian chili sauce and a bit of water. Can you just imagine the flavor explosion?

The ingredients for the burgers are all mixed together in a bowl, the patties are made and laid on a baking sheet, then put in a hot oven. Baking these does work just fine and they hold their shape together wonderfully, but for me it seemed more like a round chicken meat loaf than a burger that way so I have to admit that I turned on the broiler for a brief moment or two to get a little crispness on at least one side of the burger. Otherwise, they really don't color at all.

The directions say to mix the onion and mushroom topping "meanwhile," as in while the burgers are cooking. I don't recommend that. I recommend making it ahead of time but leaving the mushrooms out. This will give the onions a chance to "pickle" and soften, which just adds to the flavor. The mushrooms can be stirred in just prior to serving.

I served these to Employee Dude, Hubby and Dudette during our working lunch and they were a big hit. In fact, Employee Dude said he'd love one for take-out, which was a nice compliment. Hubby said they were fantastic (but I think he was more fixated on the pretzel roll, honestly).

These were incredibly good and will make it to our table again. I love the fact that they're in the healthy section too (not the pretzel roll part, unfortunately, just the stuff between it).

Asian Chicken Burgers
from Food Network Magazine


Cooking spray
1 small carrot
1 small red onion, halved
1 pound ground chicken
1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
4 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 teaspoons hot Asian chili sauce, such as sambal oelek
8 ounces white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Juice of 1 lime
4 whole-wheat sesame hamburger buns

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Mist a baking sheet with cooking spray. Grate the carrot and 1/2 onion into a large bowl. Add the chicken, panko, 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, the ginger, 3 teaspoons soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sambal oelek and mix until combined. Shape the chicken mixture into 4 patties and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the remaining 1/2 onion. Toss with the mushrooms, sesame oil, lime juice and the remaining 1 teaspoon soy sauce in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce and 2 teaspoons sambal oelek with 1 tablespoon water in another bowl.

Warm the hamburger buns in the oven. Serve the burgers on the buns with a drizzle of the hoisin-sambal sauce and some of the mushroom mixture.