Crispy Panko Chicken Burger with Honey Mustard

 

 

Crispy panko chicken burger with a delicious orange honey mustard sauce beats all the chicken burgers or chicken sandwiches out there. The panko makes for an extra crispy bread crumb and the chicken is just so juicy. Drizzle with a sweet and spicy orange honey mustard sauce, top with creamy avocado and fresh tomatoes, stuff it into a bun and dance your happy food dance. I know you have it.

 

I'm very excited about this chicken burger recipe. I made it early Fall last year, but it wasn't the right timing to post this chicken burger recipe on the blog just yet. People were just starting to get excited about pumpkin spice lattes, apple caramel cakes and sage brown butter. YES, myself included. However, this burger was soo good I was already looking forward to Summer so I could share it.

 

And here we are!

 

Download your FREE copy of Travels Through the Seasons Cookbook here!

 

What is panko? Perfect crispy bread crumbs for chicken!

 

Panko is just lighter breadcrumbs. They are made from a special white bread without any crusts, and it makes them extra airy and crispy. And because of exactly this, it's perfect for fried food! This way the panko bread crumbs absorb less oil, making the fried chicken breast more crispy and less oily. Read more about panko here.

 

To make the panko bread crumbs, we mix all the (dry) ingredients together. Shocking!

 

 

How to prepare the chicken breasts for a chicken burger

 

Chicken breasts are often huge and also pretty uneven. Having a whole chicken breast inside one burger just seems excessive to me, so I like to slice it up. Note that some call a whole chicken breast in burger buns as chicken sandwiches, but I refer to them as chicken burgers anyway. No minced chicken!

 

What I do is I remove the chicken tenders from the chicken breast. And then slice the remaining chicken breast in two, lengthwise. This will give two thinner chicken pieces along with one chicken tender. You can also pound the chicken thinner with something heavy. And bonus - the panko chicken tenders are perfect just as a snack with the honey mustard dipping sauce!

 

 

Making the best chicken burger marinade

 

This chicken burger marinade is made from all my favorite spices, ranging from garlic and onion, to smokey paprika and chilli. It also contains buttermilk, which is an acidic milk that works as a tenderizer. This makes the chicken so juicy and tender! In Norway, kulturmelk is often used as buttermilk. They are pretty similar, both being acidic, thick milks. Feel free to use that instead! Even milk with a touch of lemon juice will do.

 

What you do is simply whisk the egg, and mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, and add your prepared chicken breasts to it. Marinate for about 1 hour.

 

 

Preparing your add-ons

 

Because this chicken burger is fried, we would like to have everything ready once they're done frying. You may begin with the orange honey mustard sauce. All you need to do is whisk it all together, give it a taste and season accordingly. This honey mustard dressing is light on the mustard. I think mustard can be really over powering, so I'm toning it down a bit, making the sweet orange marmelade and honey balance really well with the mustard.

 

Get your greens and vegetables ready:

• Crunchy greens; spinach, arugula, lettuce or romaine
• Something sweet: tomatoes, red bell pepper or corn
• A touch of tartness: pickled cucumber or jalapeños
• Flavor bombs: onion, garlic, green beans or green onions
• And something creamy: avocado, baby!

 

 

The bold words are my choices. Burger is a perfect way of using ingredients you already have in your vegetable drawer, but I like to mix and match within these categories.

 

Warm up your favorite burger buns (0kay you can wait with this until frying the chicken). I really love brioche for this, but really, any kind of burger bun will do just fine. Sometimes I even like to brush a little melted butter on top of each bun. That is giving a salty kick once you bite into the burger - umm YESS.

 

 

Also important? Mayo, particularly garlic mayo. This checks both the creamy and flavor bomb categories for a perfect burger. Simply mix mayo with garlic powder, salt and pepper.

 

Fry chicken breast

 

Heat 3 cups of oil in a large skillet (or use a deep fryer), and once a drop of water sizzles into the oil, it's hot enough. This will be at a temperature around 350-375 F (175-190C). The temperature will drop once the chicken is in.

 

When the chicken has marinated for 1 hour, let the excess marinade drip off the chicken before placing it in the panko bread crumb mixture. Cover it nicely with the dry mixture and then fry them in the hot oil. Because the temperature is supposed to drop, I do suggest filling the pan with the prepared chicken breasts, although not overcrowding it. If you cook one piece at a time, the oil will be too hot, burning the panko bread crumbs (yes, been there, done that).

 

 

Depending a little on the size of your chicken and the temperature of the oil, the chicken will be done at 5-8 minutes. If the oil doesn't cover the chicken entirely, flip them over once mid/late-frying. Remove from heat when they're golden brown. Drain on a paper towel.

 

Time to serve up the chicken burger

 

We've got all our elements prepared and we're ready for some burger assembly action. Slice your warm bun, spread garlic mayo on the bottom and honey mustard on the top (or vice versa of course). Get some greens and tomatoes on the bottom, add the chicken burger, onion, pickled jalapeños and avocado. Put the burger top on and you are officially ready to dig in. Of course, what veggies you add in a burger is completely optional, but here's my version!

 

Enjoy this burger with a refreshing pomegranate cucumber vodka lemonade, maybe up your avocado to guacamole and a side of summer watermelon salad with feta and mint, see next paragraph. Let the Summer begin! If you want to check out more burgers, here's 16 Burger Recipes to Try this Summer!

 

 

Summer BBQ Party Recipes:

 

• Chipotle Cheddar Burger with Lime Mayo
• Pomegranate Cucumber Vodka Lemonade
• Spicy Chunky Guacamole

[desktoponly]

[/desktoponly]

• Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
• Arugula Strawberry Summer Salad
• Lemon Lilac Cupcakes

[desktoponly]

 

[/desktoponly]

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or tag me @thegingerwithspice on Instagram. And don’t forget to Pin it for later!

 

 

In order to keep the blog up and running this post may contain affiliate links, it will be at no extra cost to you, please read the disclosure for more information.