Put these Avocado Chicken Burgers on your meal plan! They are flavorful, healthy, and lean and only take about 30 minutes to make from scratch.
Jump to:
Flavorful chicken burgers with avocado
We eat a lot of chicken burgers and chicken meatballs around here. I love how ground chicken is like a blank slate that you can season and shape into so many things!
Like these chicken burger patties: They get a lot of flavor from fresh garlic and onion. And they are definitely not dry or bland thanks to creamy chunks of fresh avocado mixed right into the chicken mixture. The creamy avocado rescues lean ground chicken burgers from being tough or dry.
With this recipe, I can get my picky eater son to eat healthy avocado! The avocado isn't hidden per se, but these burgers taste so good that he doesn't mind small chunks of avocado in the chicken patties.
More recipes using ground chicken: Chicken Kofta Kebabs
Ingredients
This recipe makes 4-6 burgers, depending on how big or thick you make the patties. If you look at my pictures, I made 4 patties and they're pretty thick.
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided (or any cooking oil you like)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 pound ground chicken breast (turkey breast, 93% or 99% lean will work just as well)
- 1 egg
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (for gluten-free burgers, use gluten-free breadcrumbs or gluten-free quick-cooking oats)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
- 1 ripe avocado, diced (make sure the avocado is not too ripe and soft that it gets very mushy. If it's too hard, you can microwave it. See below for recipe tips)
- 4-6 burger buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and any other burger toppings you like
More recipes using ground chicken: Chicken Sloppy Joes
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Large skillet with a lid (the lid is important to keep the heat in so the burgers cook through without them burning. I have this universal lid that I use for most of my cooking)
- Meat thermometer (you'll need to cook the burgers through to 165F in the center)
- Turner spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cutting board
- Paper towels (to wipe down the skillet after sautéing onions and before cooking burgers)
More recipes with avocado: Avocado Cottage Cheese Toast
Instructions
If you are an experienced cook, you can dice the onion and start sautéing it (see the next step) and then prep the rest of the ingredients while the onion cooks. Otherwise, prep all your ingredients and dice the veggies like this, so everything is ready (mise en place):
Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the diced onion and sauté for 5-6 minutes, or until the onion starts to soften. I like to let it start turning golden brown, but not to let it burn. Add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute. Remove from heat.
In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients (ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper). Add the sauteed onion and garlic. Mix together really well to distribute the seasonings throughout the meat.
Add the diced avocado and stir in gently to not mash the avocado too much.
Form 4-6 burger patties, making sure to flatten the middle. Tip: wet your hands in cold water before forming each patty to keep the chicken from sticking to your hands.
Carefully wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel.
Preheat the skillet over medium heat and add the other tablespoon of olive oil. Carefully place the patties into the skillet (you might need to cook in 2 batches if you are making 6 patties). Lower the heat, cover with a lid, and cook for 4-6 minutes. Carefully flip, cover with a lid, and cook for another 4-6 minutes, or until the burgers are cooked through to 165F in the center when measured with a meat thermometer.
Assemble your burgers, and enjoy!
More burgers with avocado: Turkey Burgers with Guacamole
Recipe variations and cooking tips
→ If your avocado is not ripe enough yet, you can microwave it to soften it! I cut mine in half (so it heats up faster), and microwave for 1-2 minutes. LET THE AVOCADO COOL before touching it.
→ If you don't want to take the time to sauté the onion and garlic, you can add raw diced onion and garlic to the ground chicken mixture, but the flavor of the onions will be much stronger. Another option is to use 1 teaspoon onion powder and ½ teaspoon garlic powder. But the fresh onion that caramelizes a little in the pan is SO good in these burgers!
→ I often add dried oregano to burgers (like I do in my ground pork burgers), or lots of fresh herbs. Diced cilantro or parsley would go great in avocado burgers!
→ Add more hidden veggies! Use the fine side of your grater or your zester to finely grate a carrot. Sauté it for 5-6 minutes along with the onion and add the mixture to the ground chicken. I do that ALL THE TIME for burgers and you literally cannot detect them by taste, but they add nutrients and fiber to these burgers. If you want the carrots to not be visible, use yellow/white carrots (the kind that come in the tri-color organic carrots package).
→ I typically make 2 thin burgers for my kid and 4 thicker burgers for us adults. Try to make the patties as wide as your burger buns. These also work great as small patties for toddlers.
→ The cook time will depend on how thick the burgers are and how hot you have your heat. Check the burgers every couple of minutes to make sure the bottom is not browning. The lid really helps to cook the burgers through without burning.
More unique burger recipes to try: Taco Burgers with Salsa
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Avocado Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 small onion - diced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil - divided
- 2 garlic cloves - minced or pressed
- 1 pound ground chicken breast
- 1 egg
- ½ cup breadcrumbs - (plain. If using seasoned breadcrumbs, reduce the salt)
- 1 teaspoon salt - or to taste
- ½ teaspoon pepper - or to taste
- 1 avocado - diced (make sure it's ripe, or microwave to soften it)
- burger buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc.
Special equipment
- Paper towel
Instructions
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, and sauté the diced onion for 5-6 minutes, or until it softens and just starts to brown. Don't let it burn. Add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute. Remove from heat.Transfer to a large bowl and wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel.
- Add the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper to the bowl with the sauteed onions. Mix well. Gently fold in the avocado until well mixed.
- Form the chicken mixture into 4-6 burger patties. Tip: wet your hands with cold water between patties to prevent the chicken from sticking to your hands.
- Preheat the skillet again over medium heat. Add the rest of the olive oil and carefully place the chicken patties in the pan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with a lid, and cook 4-6 minutes per side, or until then chicken burgers are fully cooked and the thickest part is 165F. Check on them to make sure the bottom is not burning and lower the heat if needed.
- Assemble the burgers and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.
Amanda (@lambsearshoney)
Saturday 18th of October 2014
Nice idea - I have some odd packages of chicken pieces languishing in the freezer. None of them is large enough to make a complete meal for the 4 of us, but minced up together they'd make some nice burgers. Thanks for the inspiration!
Kate
Saturday 18th of October 2014
Amanda, odd packages of chicken pieces are perfect for making minced meat (aka ground meat here in the US :) ) for some burgers, as long as you know that those pieces are in fact chicken.
Thanks for stopping by!
Erin @ Journey to Saving
Friday 17th of October 2014
These look delicious! I'm bookmarking it for future reference. I actually prefer turkey burgers to chicken burgers, but if one is on sale over the other, I'm not picky. I used to love shopping at Shop Rite. It's the one thing I miss from moving down south!
Kate
Saturday 18th of October 2014
Erin, turkey burgers are definitely more flavorful than chicken burgers, and I'm sure this would work with turkey too. Whatever you have on hand, or as you said, whatever is on sale!
It's funny that you say that about Shop Rite... I love that it has EVERYTHING, but our Shop Rite is so crowded that I dread shopping there, SO many people! So many shopping carts!
Kate
Wednesday 15th of October 2014
The avocado doesn't actually cook much, the texture stays about the same, so it was actually perfect for putting into a chicken burger. Let me know if you end up making this!
Yelena Weinstein
Wednesday 15th of October 2014
I would never think you can cook avocado... Looks good, I'll try.
Miranda @ Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt
Wednesday 15th of October 2014
I've never bought ground chicken or turkey! I had a great idea of making buffalo chicken burgers for dinner one night, but just mentioning it I got a grossed out look from the husband. He isn't a team player when it comes to trying new things for dinner. I love avocado and would definitely devour this burger! Yum!
Kate
Wednesday 15th of October 2014
Turkey burgers are awesome and easy to make, you should definitely get ground turkey sometime and give them a try.
Buffalo chicken burgers sound pretty good, actually, especially with some blue cheese... I can see it working!
Thanks for stopping by :)