Buffalo Chicken Burgers Recipe

Have you ever gone out to eat at a typical casual/bar food type of restaurant and found yourself unable to make up your mind about whether what you really wanted was wings or a burger? While the most fun option is always just saying the heck with it and ordering both, it may be that your diet, your appetite, or your budget won't permit such a splurge.

Next time your taste buds are craving both burgers and wings, though, you can always stay home and enjoy the best of both worlds. These buffalo chicken burgers were created by recipe developer and registered dietitian Kristen Carli, and she tells us, "These are a lean option for a burger because they are made from chicken." No need to worry about these burgers being too dry, since all of the added ingredients make them as juicy and flavorful as you'd expect a buffalo chicken/burger mashup to be.

Next time you want to make these buffalo chicken burgers, you'll need to pick up a pound of ground chicken or take one out of the freezer to thaw if it's something you usually have on hand. You'll also need a one-ounce package of ranch dressing mix, some buffalo sauce, and a little salt and pepper to season the chicken with, as well as an egg and some breadcrumbs.

These additions help to stretch the meat out a bit — did we mention this is a fairly budget-friendly dish? Six burgers from a pound of meat is not too shabby. There's one more thing you're probably going to want to serve these burgers with, and that's a package of hamburger buns. Plus, of course, you should include your toppings of choice, whatever those may be.

When we asked Carli what she liked best about these burgers, and she told us, "I love the subtle kick from the buffalo sauce." While she went with store-bought buffalo wing sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's is her brand of choice), the sauce is super simple to make on your own. All you really need is some melted butter and Frank's Red Hot sauce — according to the Frank's website, the proper proportion is a third of a cup of butter to half a cup of sauce.

A similar type of cayenne pepper-based hot sauce (or even a non-cayenne one) could also work, although Frank's is the OG buffalo wing ingredient. You can also fancy up your sauce with some roasted garlic, if you like, or just sprinkle in some garlic powder if you want zero-effort garlic flavor.

Begin the burgers by mixing the ground chicken with the ranch dressing mix, the buffalo sauce, and a little salt and pepper, then stir in the egg and the breadcrumbs. If you're thinking that these last two additions make this dish sound more like a meatloaf than a typical burger, well, you're not wrong, but then, these aren't typical burgers.

The good thing about ground chicken is that it's a lot less fatty than beef, but the fat in ground beef is what helps burgers hold their shape. With these burgers, Carli explains that "the egg helps to bind the chicken together along with the breadcrumbs so that they stay together when you flip them."

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then form the chicken mix into six patties. Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray, and heat the pan over medium. Add the patties to the skillet (you may have to work in batches), and fry them for three minutes on each side, so six minutes in all.

Once the burgers have been browned on both sides, transfer them to a baking sheet that's also been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake them for 15 minutes. Remember, with chicken, there's no such thing as medium rare! Well done is the only way to cook them to protect yourself from possible food-borne illness.

Carli doesn't add too many toppings to her buffalo chicken burgers, telling us, "I just added additional buffalo sauce, lettuce, tomato and onion." She does say, though, that "If you would like, you can add mayo, ranch dressing, or blue cheese dressing as well! YUM!" A sprinkling of blue cheese crumbles and/or some sauteed onions would also be delicious on these burgers.

If you want to be truly indulgent, you could serve your buffalo chicken burgers with a side of fries. If you want to go in the other direction, however, you can make them even healthier by swapping the buns for large lettuce leaves.