Pesto Chicken Burgers - Season Two Taste

Pesto Chicken Burgers- You ever get tired of the same old burger? Of course you do! A classic American style burger is fantastic when done well, for sure, but why not switch it up every now and then, right? These pesto chicken burgers take some inspiration from the simple, yet sophisticated Italian classic, caprese salad. It's hard to go wrong with the flavors and textures of basil, tomato, and fresh mozzarella cheese.

pesto chicken burger-chicken patty, fresh mozzarella, sliced tomato, fresh salad greens and basil in a toasted ciabatta bun.

We just had these for dinner a couple of nights ago, and my mouth still waters looking at that pic. Using ground chicken in place of beef in this case is not only great for better health, but a much better vehicle for the flavors featured here. We doubled up on the garlic and basil pesto hit by making a little pesto mayo to sauce this bad boy.

chicken burger ingredients, minus the chicken itself. pesto, fresh mozzarella, mayo, ciabatta buns, basil, heirloom tomato — **All of the ingredients to make a chicken burger sing.**

A couple of things that are essential to success with this recipe: buns and tomatoes. This whole thig will become a soggy mess without a bun that can stand up to the moisture level. This is what brought us to the ciabatta buns. This used to be kind of a specialty item, but they are available pretty much everywhere now. They are also a traditional Italian type of bread, so go figure, using Italian bread with the caprese style sandwich! This brings us to number two; tomatoes. We chose to utilize a nice heirloom that we found at the store, but no matter what, you want a plump, juicy, and full flavored tomato.

Equipment for Pesto Chicken Burgers

Grill
offset spatula
cutting board
chef knife
mixing bowl
spoon
probe thermometer

Ingredients

ground chicken
pesto
mayonaise
fresh, large tomato
fresh basil leaves ( we gathered ours from our chef's garden)
fresh mozzarella
fresh spring mix salad greens
ciabatta buns, split

ground chicken in mixing bowl with pesto added

Before any other step, it's important to mix the pesto and some salt and pepper with the meat thoroughly, patty them up, and let them rest in the fridge until right before cooking. Chicken meat is higher in moisture content, and lower in fat than beef. This will cause them to be somewhat loose and prone to falling apart, the above steps help with this.

mayo and pesto being stirred with a spoon

Stir up you pesto and mayo, slice up the cheese and tomato. Get everything ready so that you can assemble quickly and serve these up quickly. The hot patty with the cool accompaniments is key.