I am always leery about serving a “new food” when company comes, but after all of the reviews, I knew I would be safe with this one. I adapted my recipe just slightly from the original recipe at Annie’s Eats (who got it from Elly Says Opa!) using the Bon Appetite recipe for the same dish. Note that my recipe is doubled.

I said all that to say this is an awesome recipe. Easy and easily adapted to your taste. Dessert too was new to us (see next post). It also was really, really good. I had the company fooled into thinking I slaved over this one, but later revealed the truth. Try it, you’ll like it, I promise. My kids kept moaning about how good dessert was.

Chicken Parmesan Burgers

Adapted from this and this

• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper
• 1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tbsp pasta sauce
• 8 french bread rolls (or hamburger buns)
• Zesty Italian salad dressing
• Additional pasta sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese, sliced (6 – 8) or shredded
• Saute’d mushrooms (optional)

Prep:

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, bread crumbs, Parmesan, seasonings and 2 tbsp pasta sauce. Mix well until thoroughly combined. Form into 8 patties (though mine made 9). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat broiler. Broil the burgers for 4 – 6 minutes then flip and broil 4 – 6 mor minutes until cooked through (160 degrees). Remove and top each burger with pasta sauce and cheese. Return to broiler until cheese is melted.

For the buns, brush Italian dressing and toast under broiler until golden. Place burger on bun and serve with additional cheese, sauce and mushrooms if desired.

Notes about the recipe:

1. I was concerned about not having the “breading” that goes along with traditional chicken parmesan, however the bread crumbs mixed in with the chicken forms a breading-like texture when broiled. The bread crumbs were already seasoned too, so that added to the wonderful flavor
2. I used a jarred Pasta sauce – Classico Traditional Sweet Basil and Tomato
3. I used bakery fresh french bread rolls that were the same size as the traditional hamburger bun
4. From the Bon Appetit recipe was the idea to add some sauce into the chicken mixture. It was good because there were chunks of tomato intermingled in the burgers.
5. The salad dressing brushed on the buns was epic. Ok, exagerrating slightly, but rather than butter slathered all over the buns, they toasted up nicely and had an Italian flare. I used Kraft Light Zesty Italian