* This is a sponsored post for Red Tractor *
Take a classic chicken burger up a notch by mixing some pesto in to it and drizzling a creamy pesto sauce on top. If you love burgers, but are stuck in a bit or a rut or you want to make more burgers at home, then give these Chicken Pesto Burgers a try! They are made with Red Tractor Logo chicken too, so you can be sure that it has been responsibly produced.
Adding pesto to your chicken burgers not only adds lots of extra flavour, but it keeps them nice and moist too. Boost the pesto flavour by adding our creamy pesto burger sauce and you are in pesto heaven!
Put the burger in between a soft bun with some melted cheese and some peppery rocket lettuce and you have a burger that will blow all others out of the water.
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What you will need
- Chicken breast
- Shallots
- Pesto (homemade preferably)
- Breadcrumbs
- Burger buns
- Rocket (arugula)
- Low fat yogurt
- Mature cheddar cheese
Step by step
One: Put the chicken, shallots and half the pesto in to a food processor and blend until minced.
Two: Combine the mince with the breadcrumbs and form the mixture into two burgers.
Three: Make the pesto burger sauce by mixing together the rest of the pesto with the yogurt.
Four: Add a little oil to a frying pan and cook the burgers for 10 minutes or until they reach 75°C/167°F, flipping every couple of minutes. Melt the cheese for a couple of minutes before finished.
Five: Stack your burger by adding some sauce to the bottom and top bun, then putting some rocket on the bottom, topping with the cooked burger and putting the bun top on.
Why should you try it?
- Ready in 15 minutes
- A new way to enjoy a burger
- Easy to adapt with different flavours
- Kids will love them
Red Tractor assured food standards
When it comes to the ingredients we use in our cooking, we make sure that they are the best quality possible - that's something really important to us, especially when it comes to things like food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare.
Which is why we look out for the Red Tractor Logo on products when we go shopping, as that means the products have been responsibly produced to some of the most comprehensive and respected standards in the world.
What Does The Red Tractor Logo Mean?
There is so much choice out there when it comes to food shopping. But, the Red Tractor label provides reassurance that those products are excellent quality and safe, and still a reachable price for many.
Red Tractor insist on rigorous production standards from farm to package. They don't allow growth hormones or antibiotic residues in the meat, and that is something that is really important to us.
When you see the Red Tractor logo on your food, it also means that the farmers care about the animals and they have suitable space and the right food and water to ensure they are healthy.
Fertilisers and Pesticides are only used when necessary to keep crops healthy and always in a manner that reduced the risk of pollution and impact on wildlife.
Everything is checked at every stage and the Red Tractor logo ensures that your food has been born, grown, prepared and packed in the UK. Eating locally is something we are trying to do more of and buying food with the Red Tractor logo enables us to know it is from the UK.
You will find the logo on standard products through to free range and organic products, so it covers all budgets and it's not just meat either. You can find the logo on milk, grains, cheese, fruit and veg.
The yogurt, shallots and cheese use in this recipe also had the Red Tractor logo on it.
Pesto sauce
A burger seems a little bit naked without an epic sauce to go with it and this pesto burger sauce just takes things to the next level. It's so simple it's genius! We just mixed 2 tablespoon of low fat yogurt with 2 tablespoon pesto - that's it. Shop bought pesto works great, but we used our amazing Mixed Herb Pesto for this recipe.
We even recently discovered a yogurt that carried the red tractor label too, so we can be sure that it has been responsibly produced.
FAQs
We fried our burgers in a pan to give them that nice crispy coating, but you could always grill them instead. Either put them under the grill (broiler) or pop them on the BBQ. For grilling, they will need about 5-7 minutes each side.
Extra tips
- You could use lean beef mince instead of chicken to make a pesto beef burger.
- Sneak a some vegetables in by adding in some grated courgette. It will bulk the burgers out a little and add some extra goodness.
- If you don't like the strong peppery flavour of rocket lettuce, you could swap it for iceberg instead.
- Go bun-less and use a giant lettuce leaf instead for a low carb option. You could even use grilled Portobello mushrooms.
- We fried the burgers in a pan, but you could save yourself some oil and cook them under the grill instead or on the BBQ.
- Mix things up a little and swap the cheddar for some Swiss cheese or goats cheese.
- These go great with some of our Oven Baked Onion Rings.
More burger recipes
If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog then let us know how you got on in the comments below, we love hearing from you!
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - we love sharing photos when people make our recipes. You can use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
DON’T FORGET TO RATE THE RECIPE ↓
Recipe
Chicken Pesto Burgers
Ingredients
- 150 g Chicken breast - (cut in to chunks)
- 2 Shallots
- 4 tablespoon Pesto
- 4 tablespoon Breadcrumbs
- 2 Burger buns
- 1 handful Rocket (arugula)
- 2 tablespoon Low fat yogurt
- 30 g Mature cheddar - sliced
Instructions
- Put the chicken, shallots and half the pesto in to a food processor and blend until minced.
- Combine the mince with the breadcrumbs and form the mixture in to two burgers.
- Make the pesto burger sauce by mixing together the rest of the pesto with the yogurt.
- Add a little oil to a frying pan and cook the burgers for 10 minutes or until they reach 75°C, flipping every couple of minutes. Melt the cheese for a couple of minutes before finished. (not shown below)
- Stack your burger by adding some sauce to the bottom and top bun, then putting some rocket on the bottom, topping with the cooked burger and putting the bun top on.
Notes
- You could use lean beef mince instead of chicken to make a pesto beef burger.
- Sneak a some vegetables in by adding in some grated courgette. It will bulk the burgers out a little and add some extra goodness.
- If you don't like the strong peppery flavour of rocket lettuce, you could swap it for iceberg instead.
- Go bunless and use a giant lettuce leaf instead for a low carb option. You could even use grilled portobello mushrooms.
- We fried the burgers in a pan, but you could save yourself some oil and cook them under the grill instead or on the BBQ.
- Mix things up a little and swap the cheddar for some Swiss cheese or goats cheese.
Dave
At what point do the breadcrumbs get used??? :D
Dannii
Hi. Sorry, for some reason this step was omitted from the recipe, but has been included now. It is in step 2 when forming the burger patties.
Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Jeanette
Hi, I made the pesto chicken burgers and they were DELICIOUS. So quick and easy. I only had enough pesto for the burger so didn’t do the yogurt/mayo thing and tbh the burger was so lovely and moist, nothing was needed on the bun