In my opinion, chicken burgers are an unsung hero of the Whole30! They are a great way to mix it up and eat a delicious, simple meal. It’s perfect for lunch or dinner, whether you’re on Whole30 or not. This particular Whole30 Chicken Burger might be my favorite to date. It’s easy to make and so fabulous to eat.
What You Need to Make This Whole30 Chicken Burger
You might have already guessed, but this chicken burger starts with incredible ground chicken. I’m in love with Cooks Venture and I don’t care who knows it! You’ll be hard pressed to find chicken that tastes better than this, trust me. It’s a completely different breed than almost all the other chicken sold in the U.S., and you can absolutely taste the difference.
Not to mention their incredible standards when it comes to their farms. Sustainability is a cornerstone of everything they do. It’s reasonably priced, better for the planet, and full of incredible flavor. Try a box and you’ll never go back to any other chicken!
Once you have your fabulous ground chicken, you can get the other ingredients for your Whole30 Chicken Burger. For this burger, I kept it simple. We used Whole30 mayo, grated onion, coconut aminos, and salt and pepper. That’s all you need to create a delicious burger patty!
To build out the burger, I made a spin on my Remoulade Sauce. Additionally, I used an iceberg lettuce head to create a bun, and topped it all with pickles and marinated onions. You can certainly eat this with a knife and fork, but there’s something so fun about eating this Whole30 burger right out of a lettuce bun!
How to Make This Whole30 Chicken Burger
Make Your Sauce
In a food processor or in a jar with an immersion blender, combine your mayo, ketchup, hot sauce, parsley, orange juice, Dijon mustard, garlic, capers, and paprika together. Blend until it’s well combined. Set it aside in the refrigerator while you make your burgers. This sauce is delicious on this Whole30 Chicken Burger, but it’s also fabulous all week long for quick and easy meals!
Make Your Burger Patties
In a bowl, add the ground chicken, mayo, grated onion, salt, black pepper, and coconut aminos and mix by hand until well combined. Add a little olive oil to your hands to make sure the mixture doesn’t stick to you. Divide the chicken mixture into six equal parts. Form them into patties and setting them aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Reapply olive as needed!
Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Sauté the chicken for about 4 minutes per side. When the patties are done, they should feel firm to the touch in the middle. Remove from heat and set aside. Make sure you don’t overcrowd the pan, so feel free to cook in batches. Keep your cooked patties covered while you sauté any additional batches.
Assemble the Burger
To assemble your Whole30 Chicken Burger, start by making your lettuce bun. Take one of your heads of iceberg lettuce with the stem of the head facing up. You will cut on both sides of the lettuce stem so that you are left with two lettuce halves and about a two inch round of lettuce with the stem that you can discard or save for another use.
Take one of the halves of lettuce and remove the inner center, where the leaves are tightly scrunched. You will be left with leaves that are larger and more spread out. You now want to divide the remaining leaves into two pieces, so that you have two lettuce shells. They almost resemble a seashell. This is your complete bun, with the smaller lettuce shell being the bottom bun and the larger the top bun!
Take your lettuce bun and place the bottom bun on a plate. Top with a Whole30 chicken burger patty and spread remoulade over top. Add a sandwich pickle and some marinated red onions and close with top lettuce bun. Serve and enjoy!
Ingredients
FOR REMOULADE SAUCE
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 4 tablespoons Whole30 compatible ketchup
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, if not available sub with lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons drained capers
- 1 tablespoon Whole30 compatible hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon Whole30 compatible Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon pressed garlic
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
FOR BURGER
- 2 pounds Cooks Venture ground chicken
- 2 tablespoons Whole30 compatible mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated onion, liquid removed
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 2 teaspoons salt, plus more
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for your hands
- 3 heads of iceberg lettuce
- Dill sandwich pickles
- Marinated red onions
Instructions
- Make remoulade: In a food processor or in a jar with an immersion blender, pulse the mayonnaise, ketchup, orange (or lemon) juice, capers, hot sauce, parsley, Dijon mustard, garlic, and paprika together until well combined. Transfer sauce to a bowl or jar and store, sealed, in the refrigerator.
- Make the chicken burgers: In a mixing bowl, add the ground chicken, mayonnaise, grated onion, coconut aminos, salt, and black pepper, and mix by hand until well combined.
- Add a little olive oil to your hands to prevent sticking and divide the chicken mixture into six equal parts. Form them into patties and set them aside on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Reapply olive as needed, this is a sticky mixture.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat.
- Sauté the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes per side. When the patties are done, they should feel firm to the touch in the middle. Remove from heat and set aside. If the patties overcrowd the pan or don’t fit in your pan, cook in batches. We recommend keeping the cooked patties in a covered pan near the stove so they remain warm.
- Make lettuce buns: Tip for cutting the “bun”: place the head of lettuce on a cutting board with the core visible (toward you). Make a slice to the right of the core to form a round bun and then on the other side, slice to the left of the core to form the other half of the bun. Take each of those “buns” and gently peel them away to make a top and bottom. One head of lettuce will easily yield two sets of beautiful buns. Save the remaining lettuce for a salad.
- Place your knife on one side of the stem and slice down, angling the knife slightly inward. Then repeat on the other side of the stem so that you are left with two halves and smaller chunk of lettuce attached to the stem that you can discard or save for another use.
- Take one of the halves of lettuce and remove the tightly scrunched leaves in the center. You will be left with a thick stack of leaves that are larger. Divide the stack into two pieces, so that you have two substantial lettuce shells, similar in appearance to a seashell. This is your complete bun, with the smaller lettuce shell being the bottom bun and the larger the top bun.
- Repeat with the other lettuce head half and then repeat all of the steps with the other two heads, so that you have 6 lettuce buns.
- Assemble the burger: To assemble the burger, place one of your lettuce buns on a plate. Spread the remoulade onto the leaf then top with a chicken burger patty, then a sandwich pickle and some Marinated Red Onions. Close with top lettuce bun. Serve and enjoy.
Credit: https://nocrumbsleft.net/2023/01/16/weeknight-whole30-chicken-burger/