Italian-Style Chicken Sliders

Italian-Style Chicken Sliders incorporate spiralized zucchini in the patties and spiralized caramelized onions on top. These gluten-free, light and healthy burgers will be a hit at your house!

Hello, hello, everyone! Welcome to the start of a new week!

I’ve had a busy last couple of days but am feeling refreshed and energized heading into the week. I spent Saturday connecting with other local bloggers at an Iowa Bloggers Conference, and on Sunday I grabbed coffee (read: laughed so much I wanted to lay down and take a nap when I got home!) with two of my favorite gal pals back here in town. It was a fulfilling weekend, to say the least. ?

Today’s feeling like another good day because I get to share an awesome, healthy recipe PLUS give away a prize pack that you’re going to love welcoming into your kitchen! First up, Italian-Style Chicken Burgers pumped up in the health department with the addition of both spiralized zucchini in the patties and spiralized caramelized onions piled on top!

These bite-sized baby burgers were made from a recipe out of my friend Ali’s new cookbook, Inspiralize Everything, with help from The Inspiralizer® – both of which I’m giving away at the end of this post. You are going to LOVE them.

If you look up “hustle” in the dictionary, you’ll likely find Ali’s picture next to it. This girl is KILLING it not only in the living your best life department, but in the building your own empire department, too. I met Ali at another blogging conference last fall and was incredibly impressed and inspired by her drive and ambition.

Ali’s the gal behind the blog Inspiralized and her product The Inspiralizer, a kitchen gadget that turns fresh produce into healthy noodles. I got into spiralizing about a year ago and feel like a health goddess for a minimum of two days after spiralizing a meal. It’s such a fun and addicting way to incorporate more healthy vegetables and fruits into your diet, which I think is lacking in a lot of recipes, and why many people feel so meh towards vegetables. They’re missing the excitement factor that, let’s be real, melted cheese usually brings to the table!

Ali recently came out with her second cookbook, Inspiralize Everything which I couldn’t wait to dig into. Obviously. ? In case the dozens of post it notes didn’t give it away, I fully intend to cook my way through this entire book!

This cookbook is different than most in that it’s an “encyclopedia of spiralizing” with entire sections of the book dedicated to the type of fruit or vegetable you want to spiralize. So if you have a bunch of sweet potatoes on hand, you can turn right to the sweet potato section of the cookbook to find all the recipes utilizing sweet potatoes. Just bought a bunch of parsnips? Flip to the parsnip section, etc. Maybe I’ve been living in a digital world for too long, but one of my least favorite things about print cookbooks is that I have to hunt for a recipe I want versus being able to click “command + F” and search for it on my computer (I know.) Love that this print cookbook makes it easy to find the recipes I need.

Aside from my weird millennial issues, I like that this cookbook takes spiralizing past just noodles. Inspiralize Everything has recipes for everything from noodle buns, to pancakes, muffins, and even casseroles. That’s exactly what I love about spiralizing – it makes eating healthy feel fun and adventurous. The majority of the recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free, and many are paleo-friendly, too!

SO, after agonizing over which recipe to make first I finally decided on the Italian-Style Chicken Sliders. These sliders were too cute to pass up, plus both Lincoln and Ben love burgers so I knew they’d be a hit with all of us, and they were. While we all loved the taste of the Italian-seasoning-laced chicken patties, the caramelized onions piled on top were my favorite, and it was so fun to spiralize an onion in 3 seconds vs crying over the cutting board slicing them with a knife. Doesn’t take much, people! ? Plus, while chicken burgers are usually dry and crumbly, the spiralized zucchini mixed right into the patties kept each slider nice and juicy. This meal was light, healthy, and fun to eat.

As I mentioned, Ali sells her own spiralizer called The Inspiralizer which she sent me to try out, as I’ve been using a different spiralizer. At first glance they look pretty similar.

The biggest differences between the one I own and The Inspiralizer though, is that The Inspiralizer has two clamps that firmly secured the unit to my countertop (this thing did not move a centimeter while spiralizing,) and all the blades are contained within the unit versus coming as removable blades. Super handy as you know you’ll never lose any of the parts.

The Inspiralizer also comes with a safety guard for storing which is nice because these blades are super sharp – great for spiralizing both softer foods like apples and really tough foods like squash or root vegetables. Again, I’m giving one away at the end of this post along with the cookbook, so be sure to enter to win!

Alrighty, who’s ready to cook some Italian-Style Chicken Sliders?!

Start by spiralizing 1 small zucchini using the “D” blade, which will give you spaghetti-like zucchini noodles.

Roughly chop the noodles then add to a big bowl. In my last zoodle recipe I instructed you to draw the moisture out of the zucchini by lightly salting them, so you don’t end up with a watery dish, but for this recipe the more moisture the better! Like I said, chicken burgers are notoriously dry, so the chopped zucchini keeps them nice and luscious.

To the chopped zucchini noodles add 1lb lean ground chicken, 2 minced garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons dried parsley, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder and tons of salt and pepper then mix with your hands to combine and form into 8 sliders. The mixture will be wet, so let the patties firm up in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, trim then peel 1 red onion and send it through The Inspiralizer. Btw an onion might be my new favorite thing to spiralize. It took like, 3 seconds with zero tears – love that!

Roughly chop the onion then add to a medium-sized skillet over medium-high heat with 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper then saute until caramelized, stirring every so often.

Meanwhile, heat another Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat next door then add the slider patties and sear for 3-4 minutes a side, or until cooked through. I did this in two batches.

Last stop is assembly! To go the bunless route, separate the leaves from a head of iceberg, butter, or boston bibb lettuce then top with an Italian-style chicken slider patty, slice of fresh tomato (these were from my Mom’s garden and really were that insanely red!) and a spin of spiralized caramelized red onions. Dollop with ketchup or mayo, if you please, then dig in!

I hope you love this fun and healthy take on burger night, and don’t forget to enter to win both The Inspiralizer and Inspiralize Everything cookbook below! Enjoy!

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