Chicken burgers don’t have to be boring! This Spicy Cheesy Chicken Burger is packed with a flavorful kick, covered in a delicious cheese sauce, and served on a toasted brioche bun. Happy burger season!
This post is in celebration of Burger Month 2019 and is part of an amazing burger grill giveaway hosted by GirlCarnivore, but, as usual, all opinions are my own. Read to the end of this post to enter to win a grill and lots of other fun prizes!
Happy National Burger Month! I believe May-September is technically National Burger Season, so I guess it’s appropriate to kick things off in May. We’re finally crawling out of our houses, dusting off our grills, and getting ready for grilling season. There’s honestly nothing better than just throwing a burger on the grill (or in a grill pan) when you don’t want to spend a nice summer evening in the kitchen. And seriously, there are so many different kinds of burgers in this world that you could make a different one every single night of summer and never have the same one twice!
I have two burger complaints: 1) chicken burgers that are dry and tasteless and 2) cheeseburgers where the cheese melts on the burger and basically disappears. This spicy cheesy chicken burger is my solution to both of those problems. The chicken burger is incredibly moist and flavorful… I spiced it up with some jalapeño and cayenne, so it packs a nice little kick (but I promise it’s not too much) and instead of simply laying a slice of cheese on the top, I made an actual cheese sauce and poured it over the top. No disappearing cheese on this chicken burger!
SPICY CHEESY CHICKEN BURGERS RECIPE
Not only are these burgers packed with flavor, but they’re also incredibly easy to make. Al you need to do is mix all the burger ingredients in a bowl and form patties with the mixture. My secrets to these chicken burgers are an entire jalapeño pepper (the seeds are removed so it’s more about the flavor than the spice), a little bit of cayenne, a lot of garlic, panko, and some milk.
Also, most burgers are made more delicious when topped with caramelized onions, so I highly recommend those, too.
You can either grill the burgers on your grill or simply put them in a grill pan or skillet. And they’ll be done in about 10 minutes.
Oh, and the cheese sauce!! I know it’s super easy to just plop a piece of cheese on a burger, but I promise that this cheese sauce won’t take up too much extra time. And it’s so, so worth it. I used Cabot’s Pepper Jack cheese to keep my spicy theme going, but you can use absolutely any cheese your heart desires.
I also highly recommend brioche rolls for serving because there’s nothing better than a burger on brioche. I like to keep things simple with a bit of butter/Boston lettuce, the deliciously grilled chicken burger, a “healthy” serving of cheese sauce, and some caramelized onions.
Guys, I never knew I could love a chicken burger so much. But before we talk about that, can we talk about those glorious caramelized onions?? Holy moly. Chris said he wasn’t thrilled when he saw those (he doesn’t love onions), but then he ate en entire burger in about 2 minutes and said he couldn’t believe how good the onions were. No matter how you feel about raw onions, caramelized onions are a serious game changer!!
Stick a knife in it! I won these beautiful knives a few years back at a conference and always seem to forget about them. But they make cutting burgers in half so, so easy and I have a feeling I’ll be getting a ton of use out of them this summer.
I see a whole lot of spicy chicken burgers in my future.
Not that I have anything at all against beef burgers (I love them!), but I try not to eat a ton of red meat, so it’s always nice to have a just-as-easy alternative. But, like I said, I’ve always thought chicken burgers were pretty boring. I totally just proved myself wrong.
These spicy chicken burgers are incredibly moist and flavorful and there’s nothing dry or boring about them. Even without the cheese sauce, onions, and brioche bun, I’d be happy to just eat one of the chicken patties.
But the cheese sauce. Omg the cheese sauce. I’m not sure if it was the Pepper Jack cheese or simply the fact that cheese sauce is basically always going to be amazing (I mean, maybe not the cheese sauce you get with “nachos” at sporting events…), but this stuff is “eat out of the jar with a spoon good.” It certainly doesn’t disappear into the burger; this cheese is loud and proud. Clearly. You can’t even really see the chicken burger here LOL.
But it’s there, I promise!! See??
I just kicked off burger season in the best way possible and I couldn’t be more excited!
What’s the best non-beef burger you’ve ever had??
For another unique burger recipe, check out my Bacon Cheeseburger Kale Salad!
Spicy Cheesy Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground chicken
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic (from about 4 cloves)
- 3 Tbsp diced jalapeño pepper (from about 1 pepper)
- 1/2 cup panko
- 3 Tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Olive oil, for brushing grill or pan
- 4 brioche rolls (or rolls of your choice), toasted
- 4 leaves Butter/Boston Lettuce
- Cheese Sauce (recipe below)
- Caramelized Onions (recipe below)
Cheese Sauce
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp flour
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese (or cheese of your choice)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
Caramelized Onions
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Add chicken, garlic, jalapeño, panko, milk, salt, pepper, and cayenne to a large bowl. Use your hands to combine. Form 4 patties with mixture.
- Add 1 Tbsp oil to grill pan or skillet (or oil grill grates) over medium heat. Place chicken patties in pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side until cooked through (internal temperature of burger should be 165 degrees).
- Place a leaf of lettuce on each toasted brioche bun. Top with chicken burgers. Spoon cheese sauce over burgers and top with caramelized onions.
Cheese Sauce
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir flour into mixture and cook for about 1 minute.
- Whisk in milk and simmer for about 2 minutes to thicken a bit. Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in cheese, until melted and smooth. Stir in salt and cayenne.
- Place chicken burgers on brioche rolls and spoon cheese sauce over them. Top with caramelized onions.
- Add butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted, add onions.
- Continue cooking for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so, until onions are well caramelized. Stir in salt and pepper.
Now for the giveaway portion of Burger Month!! Be sure to enter below and then check out BurgerMonth.com for more chances to win and to see all the amazing burgers created by bloggers this month. Seriously, you’ll get ideas to have a burger every single day this summer (maybe even two!).
A huge thank you to the #BurgerMonth sponsors for the Ultimate Burger Grilling Giveaway: Cabot Cheese, Char-Griller Grills, Crow Canyon Home, Porter Road, Melissas Produce, Red Duck, Spiceology, & Western BBQ
Yes! Caramelized onions are such a great reminder that things aren’t always as they seem. Too deep for onion talk? I felt it my duty the other night to share with my 4-year old that caramelized onions are my fav way to eat onions. Maybe he’ll get into them someday?
We made these burgers for dinner last night and they were a total hit! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Hey Sues! Your burger looks amazing! I could totally eat that cheese sauce out of the jar with a spoon. Or put it in a bowl and dip the entire burger in it because cheese!
Spicy? Cheesy? Chicken? That’s music to my ears. My kind of burger. Yum
I love me a chicken burger! And this one packs a spicy kick.