Chicken Caesar Burgers

Chicken Caesar Burgers have all the flavor of the classic salad in burger form!

Hi everyone, hope you had a fabulous weekend!

Ben surprised me by taking Friday off, so I set my to-do list aside and we played hooky for the day! Between shopping, stuffing ourselves with Mexican food for lunch, and enjoying a quiet dinner downtown, we caught a quick 9 holes on the golf course in the afternoon. I just love driving that little electric cart (and catching serious air over hidden holes on the green! Ahem.)

It was approximately 14,000 degrees, give or take a few thousand, so we weren’t even mad when the sprinklers came on in the middle of hole 6. Baha!

The highlight of our Saturday was finding Chobani on sale at HyVee – 10/$8.88 aka the best deal I’ve ever found – to which I might have blacked out and bought over $20 worth of yogurt. (Thank you, Ben, for this embarrassing photo!)

And inviting the family over for a BBQ later that night! Ben and I picked up the best New York Strips from Costco then paired them with fresh local sweet corn, a berry salad, chips & dip, and these awesome zucchini boats. It was my niece and nephew’s first time at the house, and I think they dug it, as Finn proclaimed 5 minutes into the visit “I can do whatever I WANT here!” 

It was a rainy Sunday, which was fine as back pain (sciatic not labor, sigh!) kept me couch-bound nearly the entire day. We haven’t had rain in weeks and it’s always amazing to see how it coaxes flowers and veggies out so much better than water from the sprinkler. I wonder why that is?

At any rate, the rain broke in time for a late grilled lunch, so I threw together a dish that popped into my head after Ben’s Caesar Salad-loving revelation last week – Chicken Caesar Burgers!

Ground chicken is spiced with classic caesar salad flavors like parmesan cheese, caesar salad dressing, worcestershire sauce, and fresh lemon juice, then shaped into patties and tossed onto a smoky grill. Topped with fresh ingredients like romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and red onions, this is one yummy, salad-turned-burger recipe!

Start with 1lb ground chicken. Sometimes I can find 99% lean ground chicken breast at my store, other times it’s this 95/5 blend. Whatever you prefer, and can find, is fine! The 95/5 blend will render a more juicy burger, but be higher in fat. You’ve probably already figured that out though.

To the chicken add 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, and 6 Tablespoons bread crumbs. The panko bread crumb fairy came and stole box of crumbs (seriously, where did it go?!) so I used regular, plain bread crumbs. Whatever you’ve got!

Next add 3 minced garlic cloves and 2 Tablespoons caesar salad dressing. 

I have always loved this Brianna’s Homestyle Caesar dressing, btw. It’s thick, it’s creamy, it’s just fabulous.

Finally add 1 Tablespoon each Worcestershire sauce and fresh lemon juice. 

Mix everything together until just combined, then shape into 4 patties.

Brush the tops with extra virgin olive oil (or spray with nonstick spray) then grill for 4-5 minutes per side over medium heat, brushing the tops with more oil before flipping. If you don’t have a grill, or it’s raining or something, these burgers are totally fine made indoors in a skillet.

Give your buns a nice toast on the grill (heh) then place a patty on top followed by a touch more dressing, romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and red onion. Ben recommends tossing the lettuce in caesar dressing before placing on top of the patty for an extra oomph of flavor. ;)

Juicy, smokey, savory, this is such a fun twist on the flavors of a classic caesar salad. Hope you enjoy – and have a wonderful week!