Ridiculously Easy Recipe: Chicken Cordon Bleu Burgers

Let's face it: Ground chicken is not one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. It's a lot mushier than ground beef making it hard to work with, and you have to add TONS of spices to give it any flavor. I bought a pound (used half) of it a few weeks ago in an attempt to eat healthier and was disappointed. The leftover half went into the freezer and was promptly forgotten about until this morning when I rummaged through to take inventory.

In my head I wondered "what the heck am I going to make with this?!" There wasn't an option to throw it away because throwing away food is throwing away my hard-earned money! So, I turned to the internet and found a Rachel Ray recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu Burgers. I liked the idea of Swiss cheese and ham on a burger, and it seemed like a great way to use up some of my mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. I made a few obvious tweaks such as swapping ham for the Canadian bacon and omitting the oil, shallots, and paprika.

These burgers turned out moist, juicy and flavorful! The dijonnaise sauce is what really ties it together. The ham is sweet, the cheese salty, tangy and creamy, and the ground chicken really soaked up the flavor of the steak seasoning and poultry herbs. If I was a skeptic about ground chicken before, now I'm an advocate!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Burgers

Serves 2

For the burgers:

• 1/2 lb ground chicken breast (99% fat free)
• 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning (I like Lighthouse's freeze-dried variety from Target)
• 1 tablespoon McCormick Monterey Steak Seasoning
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 thin slices of deli ham (black forest or honey-maple variety)
• 4 slices mild Swiss cheese
• 2 hamburger buns (or bread of choice. I used onion rolls!)

• Shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, or sliced red onion (optional)

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 drop hot pepper sauce
• ground pepper (to taste)
• salt (to taste)

1. Make the sauce ahead of time by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and stirring. Refridgerate until ready to serve.

2. In a bowl combine the dijon mustard and ground chicken. Caution, it will be sticky! Next add the montreal steak seasoning, poutry herbs, and pepper. Portion the mixture into two patties, 4 ounces each and chill for at least 1 hour.

3. Heat a skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. When hot add the ham slices and cook until slightly crispy on the edges, flipping once. Meanwhile, preheat your oven on the broil setting to toast the buns and melt the cheese later.

4. Remove the ham and set aside. In the same pan spray with cooking spray or olive oil. Add the chicken burgers and cook until juices run clean, about 4 minutes each side.

5. Remove the pan from heat and top each burger with two slices of grilled ham, and top with two slices Swiss cheese. Pop the whole pan in the oven (if possible) or transfer into a baking dish and broil for 2-4 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

6. Slice open and toast the buns under the broiler as well.

7. Remove everything from the oven, spread hal the dijonnaise mixture on the top and bottom of each bun. Place lettuce or other veggies on the bottom of each bun, then top with a burger.

8. Enjoy!

Questions? Comment below!

XOXO

Shauna E!

Quick and Dirty Q & A!

Q. I can't find ground chicken anywhere! What can I use instead?

A. Ground chicken is not always as common in grocery stores as other ground meats. My recommendation here would be to use ground turkey breast instead. I would avoid using ground beef as the flavor changes too dramatically. Although if you do want to use ground beef, you could always omit the poultry spice, add pickles and mustard and make yourself a Cuban burger instead!

If you want to stay true and use chicken, you could always swap the ground chicken for plain chicken breasts. Marinade them the same way adding a teaspoon of olive oil to help stick.