Chicken burgers with grilled pineapple, avo and caramelised onions
It took a lengthy discussion between myself and 5 of my flatmates to work out how to explain what butterflying a chicken breast actually entails. I hope you learn something from those 10 minutes we’ll never get back.
Serves 4 (one burger each)
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
220 grams panko bread crumbs
½ -1 cup cup flour
3-4 eggs, whisked
4 bread rolls/burger buns, cut open
4 medium onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 avocados, mashed
1 can sliced pineapple, juice drained and patted dry with paper towels.
A bunch of shredded lettuce
Oil for frying
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees celsius on the grill function.
Heat oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add onions and fry for 10 minutes, until they start to brown. Add brown sugar and balsamic vinegar and fry for another 10-15 minutes until they have reduced and become sweet and delicious.
While the onions are cooking, butterfly your chicken breasts. This essentially means placing one breast flat on your board and holding a sharp knife along the long side of the chicken. Then using a sawing motion, slice through the breast, parallel with the board. Do this to both breasts. You should now have 4 pieces of chicken.
Put the flour, eggs and bread crumbs in three separate bowls. Add salt and pepper to the breadcrumbs. Coat each piece of chicken in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. If you want the chicken to be extra crisp, repeat the egg and breadcrumb steps.
In another pan, heat oil over a low-medium heat. When the oil is hot, fry each piece of chicken for 5 minutes on each side. After this process, slice into the middle of the piece to check if cooked through. Continue frying for an extra 2 minutes on each side if needed.
Remove chicken from the pan and add the sliced pineapple. Fry on each side for around 3 minutes, they should become golden and caramelised on each side.
Place opened burger buns in the oven. Grill with the door open until the buns are golden. This should only take about 2-3 minutes - careful not to burn them!
Assemble mashed avo, chicken, caramelised onions, lettuce, and pineapple in your buns and add sauces of your choosing, I recommend aioli. Serve with fries! Pictured is home-made kūmara fries, they go hard.