The Grilling Season

Memorial Day is just around the corner, and my brand-new outdoor kitchen is ready, just in time to kick off the summer grilling season! We had been looking to upgrade our outdoor kitchen for a while, and I’ve been eager to hone my outdoor grilling skills, so I couldn’t be more excited! Memorial Day is one of the top three most popular days for outdoor grilling in the US, and I’ve got a super easy recipe for everyone’s favorite grilled food: burgers! 

My Easy Recipe for Indian-style Chicken Burgers 

My Indian-style chicken burger recipe uses simple off-the-shelf and refrigerator ingredients – basic Indian spices, aromatic herbs and free from any fillers like egg or breadcrumbs. I personally prefer dark meat for poultry and hence I use ground chicken thigh meat in my recipe, but you can also opt for breast meat if you prefer. This recipe is versatile, allowing you to use various types of ground meat, such as turkey, lamb, beef, or pork. For the toppings, I like to keep it pretty simple, nothing too fancy with just sliced tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, jalapeños (for extra heat) along with some lettuce and simple condiments like regular or spicy ketchup and some cilantro-mint mayo (if I have time on hand). I just set it as a bar for people to help themselves, thus making it a fuss-free choice for my big family gatherings or summer entertaining.

its all about the bun

As for burger buns, we enjoy whole grain ones topped with an abundance of seeds and grains, but feel free to use your favorite kind – whether it’s plain old white, whole wheat, or the classic sesame seed-topped variety – all of them work equally well. Feel free to ditch the buns all together and use butter lettuce cups or top the grilled burgers with mixed greens, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper and turn it into a burger salad for a low carb option. 

Fire up the grill and make these juicy and deliciously spicy grilled Masala Chicken Burgers for a Memorial Day weekend or any summer weekend cookout, filled with flavors everyone will enjoy! I have outlined step-by-step details below that you can follow or watch the short video that I have put together for you to easily whip up this signature concoction in your own kitchen.

Masala Chicken Burgers

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• Author: Vasanti

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Ingredients

Scale

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For the Masala Chicken Patties

• 1 lb (454 g) ground chicken thigh meat (see Variations)
• 2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 6–8 sprigs of cilantro/coriander, leaves and tender parts of stem, minced
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• salt, to taste
• fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
• ½ small lemon/lime, juiced

For the Burgers

• 4 slices of cheese, like havarti, cheddar or any other per your preference, optional
• 4 burger buns
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 1/2 medium red onion, sliced
• 1/2 English cucumber, sliced
• Butter lettuce leaves
• Ketchup or Maggi Hot & Sweet Tomato Chili Sauce

For the Cilantro-Mint Mayo (optional)

• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• 1 Thai/bird-eye chili (optional)
• a handful of mint leaves, roughly chopped
• a handful of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper
• ½ tsp granulated sugar

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Instructions

• Place all the ingredients (listed on the recipe card below) for the burger patties in a medium bowl. Mix till everything is combined together well, but please do not over mix.
• Let the mixture rest on the counter for about 20-30 minutes (see Notes).
• In the meantime, prepare the Cilantro-Mint Mayo, if using, by processing all the ingredients for it in a mini food processor or a blender. Adjust seasonings and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Preheat the grill. Brush or spray the grill with cooking oil.
• Divide into patties and grill them.
• Flip the patties over after about 5-6 minutes, when the bottom half of the patty doesn’t look translucent anymore.
• Cook on the other side for another 5-6 minutes.
• Melt a slice of havarti, cheddar or any other type of cheese on top of the patty, if you like and simultaneously toast the buns.
• When the other side of the patties are cooked, they are ready to be taken off the heat. At this point, the internal temperature on a meat thermometer should read 165°F/ 74°C.
• Alternatively, you can also grill the patties on a grill pan over the stove (see Notes).
• Transfer the patties onto a platter and cover with aluminum foil. Let them rest for 2-3 minutes, so that the juices redistribute.
• While the patties rest, prepare the buns by smearing with the condiments (Cilantro-Mint Mayo, if using and Ketchup/Maggi Hot & Sweet Sauce) and lay the bottom bun with the lettuce.
• Transfer the patty on to the prepared bun, top with tomato, cucumber and onion slices and the top bun.