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Get ready to fire up the grill and tantalize your taste buds with these mouthwatering BBQ Chicken Burgers! Bursting with flavor and perfect for the whole family, these burgers are a surefire way to bring smiles to the dinner table.

Gather your loved ones and get ready for a delicious outdoor feast that will have everyone asking for seconds. It’s grilling season! Every year as we embark on the end of the school year, I start switching gears and wrapping my head around all the exciting foods we get to eat during the summer. Juicy watermelon “fries”, corn on the cob, berry coconut fruit crisps, Heirloom Tomato Salad and of course, burgers on the grill! I like to switch it up and get away from the usual beef burgers and instead try something different like these BBQ Chicken Burgers. You’ll never miss the beef with these because they’re so darn easy to make, have some extra zip from your favorite BBQ sauce and are so satisfying.

The Ingredients

Ground Chicken Breast: You can use light or dark ground chicken for this recipe. The darker meat will give you more fat (and flavor) if you’re looking to sink your teeth into a burger reminiscent of what you would get at a fast food joint.
Diced Onion: You’ll end up sautéing these onions and adding them to the ground chicken. It adds tons of flavor while keeping the burgers nice a moist.
BBQ sauce: Use your favorite store bought barbecue sauce! Depending on which one you choose you can make these more sweet, or vinegary or even spicy! There’s so many options in the store or you could even make your own with this BBQ Sauce recipe!
Seasonings: For this recipe we’re adding onion powder, garlic powder and salt. But feel free to add any of your typical burger seasonings you love!
Sliced Cheese: My kids like mozzarella cheese the best, but Monterrey jack, cheddar, pepper jack, or any of your favorite cheeses will work! Leave it off entirely or use a dairy free cheese if you have an aversion to dairy!
Buns: Don’t forget the buns! You can make regular sized burgers or sliders with this recipe so use whichever buns make sense for you! Or nix the buns entirely and do a protein style lettuce wrap!

*See recipe card for full ingredients list and exact measurements*

How to Make BBQ Chicken Burgers

Sauté the onions: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the onions and 1/2 teaspoon of salt for 4 minutes or until tender. Set onions aside to cool.
Make burger mixture: In a mixing bowl, combine the cooled sautéed onions, ground chicken, BBQ sauce, onion powder, garlic powder and remainder of salt and mix well. I find using my hands is easiest for this step.
Make the patties: Evenly divide the mixture into 4 pieces for regular sized burgers or 8 pieces for sliders. Shape into patties.
Cook the burgers: Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan and cook the patties for 4-5 minutes (3-4 minutes for sliders) on each side. Add a slice of cheese to each patty after flipping and allow to melt while the burger continues to cook.
Serve: Place burgers on buns and add toppings and additional BBQ sauce if desired.

Sautéed onions, ground chicken, BBQ sauce and spices in a bowl

Variations and Substitutions

Don’t have ground chicken? You can use ground turkey for this recipe without affecting the flavor profile. Or, if you have chicken breasts on hand, use your food processor to make your own ground chicken.
What’s the best BBQ sauce for this recipe? Really, any of your favorite store bought BBQ sauce will work great for this recipe. My only advice is to avoid the ones where it lists corn syrup as one of the first two or three ingredients as they will be a bit too syrupy, sticky and sweet.
Out of onion? No worries! Use whatever you have on hand such as a shallot or red onion. You could even just add some extra onion powder in a pinch. Keep in mind this ingredient adds moisture too, so if you omit it, you may want to add some extra sauce.