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BBQ 
Chicken burgers are a fun twist from turkey or beef burgers and these have a secret ingredient inside that keeps them juicy and flavorful! Keep scrolling to find out what it is!
We’ve been on a major burger kick lately, what with our best turkey burger recipe plus our Greek turkey burgers. <– As you can see, we really like burgers made with ground turkey instead of beef. We have a few tricks up our sleeves to keep them moist and flavorful!
This time around we’re using ground chicken to make a ground chicken burger! So delicious, so moist, and so dang simple.
Did I mention that I made these burgers each 1/3 of a pound? Big boy burgers. Mama was hungry. You can certainly make them 1/4 pounders though.
Between the protein packed ground chicken, the crispy fried bacon, and a buttery toasted bun, these chicken burgers are so satisfying!
Secret Ingredient:
These chicken burgers are moist and juicy, just the way a burger should be and they just so happen to have a secret ingredient.
Ready for it?
Cheese cracker crumbs. In the burger.
How fun is that?? It adds a ton of flavor to the burgers while helping the chicken all hold together. I also snuck in a big ol’ squirt of barbecue sauce, because summer and barbecue just belong together! Can you imagine having these at your next cook out? Total heaven!
If you love burgers as much as I do, you have to try this pimento cheese burger!
BBQ Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground chicken 92% lean
- 1 cup cheese cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 slices cheddar cheese
- 3 sandwich buns
- 6 slices bacon
- lettuce and tomato for topping
- extra barbecue sauce for serving
Instructions
- Add ground chicken, cracker crumbs, barbecue sauce, egg, and seasonings to a medium bowl and stir to combine.
- Pat into 3 large burgers.
- Heat a skillet over medium-low heat and melt the butter.
- Place the patties in the skillet and cook 8 minutes and then flip. Continue cooking until cooked through, about 5 more minutes.
- Top the burgers with cheddar cheese slices and cook until melted.
- Serve on sandwich buns with bacon, lettuce, tomato, and extra barbecue sauce.
Nutrition Information:
Ingredient Notes:
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Ground Chicken – We use 92% lean ground chicken in this recipe. Ground turkey will work as well.
Cheese Cracker Crumbs – My secret ingredient! It makes an excellent binder to hold all the ingredients together with the egg, plus it adds cheesy flavor. Any kind of crumbled cheese crackers should work here.
Barbecue Sauce – You can use any BBQ sauce, bottled or homemade, that you like. We love our Bourbon BBQ Sauce in this recipe.
Egg – It’ll help bind all the ingredients like the chicken and cracker crumbs together and help the patty hold its shape while it cooks.
Seasoning – I’m seasoning these burgers with a mixture of garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.
Buns – You can use any kind of sandwich bun that you’d like! Classic hamburger buns, brioche buns, pretzel buns, and potato rolls are all good choices.
Toppings – I’m topping these chicken burgers with cheddar cheese, crispy bacon, lettuce, tomato, and extra BBQ sauce! You can use any of these toppings or switch it up with any other kind of burger topping you like.
What We Love About This GROUND CHICKEN BURGERS Recipe:
- Unique: We’re used to hamburgers and turkey burgers by now, but these chicken burgers make a nice change! They’ve got great flavor and they are even better with the secret ingredient: cheese cracker crumbs!
- BBQ: These burgers aren’t just topped with BBQ sauce, we’ve also mixed our favorite BBQ sauce into the chicken burger patty mixture itself for even more flavor!
- Versatile: These hold up great on the grill, but you can make them indoors in a skillet on rainy days!
- Protein Packed: With 44g of protein in each burger, these are satisfying, filling, and will stick with you!
How To Make BBQ Chicken Burgers:
Mix: Add the ground chicken, cracker crumbs, BBQ sauce, egg, and seasonings all to a medium bowl and use your hands or a wooden spoon to combine everything together.
Shape: Pat the chicken burger mixture out into equal sized patties.
Helpful Tip!
Feel free to adjust the size of the patties. I made three 1/3 pound patties. You could decrease that to 1/4 patties to get 4. You could also bump these up to 1/2 pound burgers for bigger appetites.
Cook: Heat up a large skillet and cook the chicken burger patties for about 8 minutes on one side before flipping and continuing to cook for about 5 more minutes, or until it is cooked through. Make sure it reaches a safe temp of 165 degrees! Top the burgers with the cheese just before they’re cooked through so it can melt over the top for a minute.
My Favorite Thermometer!
I love using this meat thermometer for making sure the meat is fully cooked! Easy for beginners & absolutely worth the low cost.
Top & Serve: To finish up you can add all your favorite burger toppings and serve. We’re using bacon, lettuce, tomato, and more BBQ sauce!
Other toppings like grilled or raw onions, pickles, and anything else you’d top a burger with can be used here too! Our homemade guacamole would be a delicious topping too!
What To Serve With Ground Chicken Burgers:
Just about anything you’d serve alongside a traditional hamburger or a turkey burger is going to pair well with these BBQ chicken burgers!
Try them alongside some of my other favorite recipes:
- Homemade Coleslaw
- Amish Macaroni Salad
- Baked Potato Salad
- Summer Corn Salad
- Cajun Fried Corn
- Onion Strings
FAQ’s:
Store any leftover ground chicken burgers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for about 2 to 3 days. You can reheat them in microwave or on the stove.
Grilled chicken burgers are a great choice and you can definitely prepare the patties on the grill just like you would a hamburger or turkey burger. Check with a meat thermometer to make sure they’re done!
Sure! You can prepare the ground chicken and cracker crumb mixture ahead of time and store in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.
MORE CHICKEN SANDWICH RECIPES!
This recipe was originally published in 2016. It was updated with new photos in 2024. Original photo below:
June Leathers says
If I didn’t put this chicken burger on a bun and used no salt barbecue sauce how much sodium would be in this burger? It sounds so good.
Karly says
Hi June! You’d need to run that through a nutrition calculator. There are lots of free ones online – myfitnesspal.com is a good one.
Angelina. says
I love burgers, although they are probably not very healthy, but once a month we eat them with the whole family. The kids help me cook, it’s so nice!
ROSHEREL WILLIAMS says
KARLY HOW CAN I MAKE THIS LOW CARB?? THANKS
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