Recipes / Chicken
Braaied chicken burgers
Butterflied chicken breasts in lemon and braai spice, cooked fast over hot coals and served on toasted buns with garlic yoghurt and chutney.
- Prep
- 20 min
- On the fire
- 10 min
- Plan ahead
- 15 minutes to 2 hours marinating
- Serves
- 4
- Done at
- 165°F (74°C)
Ingredients
Chicken
To serve
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with all burners on high and the lid closed for 10 to 15 minutes, until the lid thermometer reads 260°C (500°F) or more. Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Cook with the lid open and use the recipe times as a guide, checking with a thermometer.
- Keep one burner off or on low as a cooler zone. If fat flares up, move the food there. Never use water on a gas grill flare-up.
- For a smoky taste, put a handful of wood chips in a smoker box, or a foil parcel pierced with a few holes, over a lit burner while the grill preheats.
- Cut each breast almost through horizontally and open it like a book. Flatten it with your palm to an even 1.5 cm (5/8 inch).
- Mix the lemon zest and juice, oil, braai spice and pepper. Coat the chicken and refrigerate for 15 minutes to 2 hours.
- Stir the yoghurt, cucumber and garlic together with a pinch of salt.
- Braai the chicken over hot coals for 3 to 4 minutes a side, pressing it down once for grill marks.
- Toast the cut sides of the buns on the edge of the grid for 1 minute.
- Spread the bun bases with chutney, add lettuce, tomato, onion and chicken, and top with the yoghurt.
Done when: the chicken is white all the way through and a thermometer in the thickest part reads 74°C (165°F).
Tips
- An even thickness is what stops the thin end drying out while the thick end cooks. Do not skip the flattening.
- Chicken thigh fillets work too and stay juicier. Give them 4 to 5 minutes a side.
- Do not marinate longer than 2 hours. The lemon starts to turn the meat soft.
A chicken burger is the quick braai lunch for people who do not want beef. A flattened breast cooks in under 10 minutes, so it can go on while the coals are at their hottest. If you prefer beef, the braai beef burgers use the same buns and toppings.
Source
Adapted from Chicken Burgers at Ina Paarman's Kitchen and Grilled chicken burgers with tzatziki, mango chutney and beetroot at TASTE.