Southwest Chicken Burgers
These easy Southwest Chicken Burgers are so flavorful and quick to make. With green chiles, corn, lime, cilantro and a tasty mix of spices you will feel like you’ve been transported to the sun-soaked Southwest.
Chicken burgers lend themselves to so many flavor combinations since the meat has a very neutral flavor. I love this zesty combination inspired by one of my favorite cuisines—southwest style food. These burgers have a zesty flavor with pops of freshness thanks to sweet corn, cilantro and lime balancing out the heat from green chiles and the savory goodness from spices like cumin and paprika. Oh and they get slathered with a delicious chipotle mayo sauce and avocado for the perfect finish. This is an easy recipe that is perfect to throw into your weeknight dinner routine. Let’s make them!
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Ingredients
What you need to make southwest chicken burgers
- Avocado or olive oil
- ground chicken, you can also sub ground turkey
- cilantro
- onion, you can substitute red bell pepper or any type of bell pepper
- canned diced green chiles
- frozen corn
- spices/seasoning: garlic powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper
- lime, zest + juice
- mayo
- chipotle in adobo sauce
- cheddar cheese or pepper jack cheese works well too!
- lettuce, tomato avocado for topping (sliced onion is a nice addition too!)
- burger buns
How to make southwest chicken burgers
Prep any toppings you plan to have on your burgers first. Rinse and dry lettuce, slice tomatoes and cheese. Onions are a nice topping too if you want.
Also mix up that chipotle mayo so everything is ready to go! This is as easy as combing mayo, some sauce from a can of chipotle in adobo peppers and some lime juice. I give a measurement for the amount of chipotle to add to the may but you can certainly add more if you want more heat, or even add a diced up pepper. The measurement I give will yield a sauce that is mild-medium in spice.
Now that you made the burger sauce and prepped your toppings, its already time to mix up the burgers and cook! Start a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat with about 2 tbsp of oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pan.
Combine the ground chicken (or ground turkey) with the cilantro, diced onion, green chiles, corn and spices using your hands to get all the seasoning even distributed throughout the meat.
Press the meat mixture down evenly in the bowl, then use your hand to divide evenly into 4 sections. Because of all the add-ins you could probably even make 6 burgers out of this if you wanted to. The buns I used were big so I wanted the burger to cover the entire bun.
Form each section into a rounded patty and place in the skillet. You may only be able to cook 2 burgers at a time, depending on the size of your skillet. Mine is 10.5 inches and I needed to make only two at a time.
Cook the burgers for about 5 minutes on the first side, then flip. Top with cheese slices and cover the pan with foil. You can just lay the foil over the pan, don’t worry about securing it.
Remove the burgers once an internal temperature of 165F is reached, should take more than another 3-5 minutes. Use a meat thermometer so you can be sure they aren’t undercooked.
This is optional, but I really like to toast the buns when I make burgers. It adds flavor and better texture by keeping the bun from getting too soggy.
For me, its basically a crime to have a burger without fries so I either make fries from scratch or use a bag of frozen fries from Trader Joe’s. I start the fries in the oven before I start cooking the burgers and when the burgers are close I pop the buns, seperated and inside down on a baking sheet lined with parchment for 3-5 minutes to toast the buns.
You can also toast the burger buns in a separate skillet over medium-high heat.
Now its time to assemble these delicious chicken burgers! Start by spreading a healthy amount of chipotle mayo on both sides of the bun, then smash some avocado on the top bun. Place a chicken patty on the bottom bun, then top with your favorite burger toppings.
Tried this recipe?
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More tasty poultry recipes
Southwest Chicken Burgers
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 burgers 1x
- Category: main
Ingredients
- Avocado or olive oil, for cooking the burgers
- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1/2 cup cilantro, measured then chopped
- 2 tbsp diced onion
- 1 4 oz can diced green chiles
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- zest of 1 lime + juice
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
- 4 slices cheddar cheese
- 2–4 small avocados
- tomato slices and lettuce for topping
Instructions
- Start by prepping any toppings you want to use. Rinse lettuce, slice tomatoes and cheese (onions if you want). Cut or smash avocado.
- Mix the mayo with the juice from 1/2 the lime and the chipotle in adobo sauce until fully combined.
- If you want to toast the buns or you plan on having some frozen french fries with this, preheat the oven to 400F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Add the fries to one of the baking sheets and pop in the oven. (It’s fine if its not preheated for frozen fries).
- Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and coat with oil.
- Combine ground chicken, cilantro, onion, green chiles, corn, zest from entire lime, the juice from the remaining half and spices in a mixing bowl. Use your hands to fully distribute all the seasonings throughout the meat. Press the meat mixture down in an even layer in the bottom of the bowl and score four sections with your fingers.
- Shape each section into a rounded 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick patty and place in the hot skillet. Cook on the first side about 5 minutes, then flip. Place cheese slices on the burgers and lay a piece of foil over the pan to melt the cheese. Cook another 3-5 minutes, until an internal temperature of 165F is reached. The cook time will vary a little depending on how thick your burgers are and how hot your pan is. Using a meat thermometer takes out the guess work.
- Place burgers on a napkin lined plate as you finish cooking them.
- Toward the end of the cook time of the burgers, place buns cut side down on the other baking sheet lined with foil and place in the oven for 3-5 minutes to toast.
- Assemble the burgers. Add chipotle mayo to both sides of the bun, add smashed or sliced avocado to the top bun and place a burger patty on the bottom. Top the patty with lettuce and tomato. Serve with fries and enjoy!
