Chicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce

By Grace Parisi, Senior Recipe Developer, Food & Wine

Chicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut SauceChicken Burgers with Spicy Peanut Sauce
Always on a quest to limit my family's consumption of red meat (and use chicken in sneaky ways), I created this burger with spicy Thai peanut sauce as a sort of sandwichy riff on chicken satay. It's superfun, superlean and superdelicious! When I want a lower-carb dinner, I form the meat mixture into smaller patties and skewer them onto sugar cane or lemongrass stalks, grill them like kebabs and serve them with lettuce leaves.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 pounds ground chicken
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons very finely chopped red onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for brushing
2 teaspoons chile powder
Salt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons chopped salted peanuts
4 round ciabatta rolls, split and toasted
Lettuce, for serving

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl, combine the ground chicken with 1/4 cup of the chopped onion, 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of the chile powder, 1 teaspoon of salt and the garam masala. Using slightly moistened hands, form the ground-chicken mixture into four 4-inch patties.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of chopped onion and 1 teaspoon of chile powder and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter and hot water. Stir in the peanuts and season the sauce lightly with salt.

3. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Brush the chicken burgers with vegetable oil and grill over moderately high heat, turning once, until they are golden and crusty and just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Spread the peanut sauce on the rolls. Top with the burgers and lettuce, close and serve.

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