Chicken Parmigiana Burgers and Steak Fries

We're going to start taking a healthier direction with dinner. My wife has been looking for some recipes that appeal to her and found some good stuff over at Skinnytaste.com. 

I admit that I was inspired by them more than other sites as of late, so I decided to try some new recipes this week based on her ideas.

This one is adapted pretty heavily in that she just calls for chicken burgers from the store. I made my own. I think they turned out pretty good. I also made steak fries, which I baked to be a bit more healthy.

Chicken Parmigiana Burgers and Steak Fries

(adapted from Skinnytaste.com, here)

Chicken Burgers

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh (about 8 oz)

1 small boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 oz)

1 small onion, diced small

pinch of salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons seasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Marinara sauce (can/jar is perfect here) 

Buns

Home Fries

2 potatoes, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

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First things first. Fire up the oven to 400F and prep the potatoes.

Just toss the potatoes, oil and spices in a ziplock bag and shake to coat. Then, pour out everything onto a sheet pan and arrange them. A silpat works really well for this, but parchment would work well too. These tend to stick to foil.

Bake for 30 minutes to begin with. This is going to vary from oven to oven and depends on how you cut your fries, etc. The basic goal here is to cook them until crispy. It'll take at least 45 minutes but we'll flip them at 30 and continue until golden brown.

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Next, toss your onions into a pan over medium/low heat with a dash of oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Cook for 5 minutes and add the garlic.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes and kill the heat.

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Make your burgers next.

I used one chicken thigh and a small breast. 

This works best if they are slightly frozen.

Chop up the chicken pretty finely and add to the food processor bowl and pulse 10-12 times, scraping down the bowl when needed.

Add the onion/garlic mixture, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon basil, 1/4 teaspoon rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.

Pulse 10-15 more times until you get a reasonably uniform texture.

This will be up to you when you want to stop processing. I went a little chunky with mine, but it will work fine being more of a paste. Better to over-process than under for this.

Transfer to a bowl and add the breadcrumbs.

Stir well to combine.

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When your'e ready to cook, get a non-stick skillet over med/high heat and add a thin layer of oil to the pan.

Portion out the chicken mixture into roughly 4 oz patties and add to the pan.

Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until nicely browned then flip.

Cook for about 3 minutes and add 1/4 of the mozzarella cheese to each burger. 

Pour in a small amount of water to the pan and immediately cover with a lid to steam the cheese. 

Let it steam for 2 minutes, max.

The burgers should be done by now, but if you're not sure, stick a thermometer in the thickest one and make sure it's 165F.

Your fries should be done by now, so take them out and let them cool a little before eating.

Put the burger on a bun (I toasted mine) and top with marinara sauce (I heated it in the microwave for 30 seconds) and serve.

This burger ended up really good. My wife couldn't believe how moist the chicken was.

It tasted exactly like chicken parmigiana (on a bun) and actually came together pretty fast, considering I made most of it from scratch.

I'd make these chicken patties again just to have on their own. You'd never know there was no added fat to the patties.

Enjoy!