Chicken Fajita Burgers

I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge fan of Rachel Ray. I don't really like her talk show that much, and her voice cuts right through me. As I was browsing the food network website for an easy, grill-friendly Sunday night meal, I came across this recipe for Chicken Fajita Burgers. Since this combines two very awesome things - cooking on the grill and tex-mex - I didn't want to pass it up.

For those of you who have been following me for awhile, you've probably realized by now that one of my favorite types of food to cook up is tex-mex. I don't know what it is about it, but I really love the spice that goes into it. Maybe one day we will visit Mexico (or even Texas) and taste the real thing. I bet it's nothing like what I'm used to cooking, but I'm sure it'd be delicious! I digress....so here is the recipe!

Chicken Fajita Burgers
courtesy, Rachel Ray of The Food Network

Ingredients:

Chicken Fajita Burgers:
1 1/3 pounds ground chicken
1 tablespoons ground chipotle (smoky flavor) chili powder, a palm full
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Several drops hot sauce
1 tablespoon grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick) - (I used the McCormick seasoning, but the one specifically made for chicken, not montreal steak)
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Seared Peppers and Onions:



1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 red or green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 medium yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced lengthwise, reserve 1/4 of a piece, uncut
1 jalapeno or serrano, seeded and chopped
2 cups tomatillo, green chili salsa or chipotle-tomato salsa, your choice
4 crusty rolls, split - (I used Arnold Select Sandwich whole grain sandwich thins)

Directions
Combine chicken, chipotle powder, cilantro, hot sauce and grill seasoning. Score and divide meat into 4 sections and form big patties, 1-inch thick. Using the rest of the 1/4 reserved onion piece, grate the other half of it on the burgers. Drizzle patties with extra-virgin olive oil and cook 6 minutes on each side or until meat is firm and cooked through.



Heat a medium skillet over high heat (I used our grill instead of a skillet). Add extra-virgin olive oil and peppers and onions. Stir-fry the veggies tossing them with tongs to sear them at edges. Add the jalapeno or serrano pepper. Toss and turn the mixture about 3 minutes, then add salsa of choice and toss a minute longer. Place burgers on each bun bottom and top with 1/4 of the pepper and onion mixture and bun top.

Servings: 4

Recipe Notes:
The original recipe (see link above) is for both beef and chicken fajita burgers. Since there are only two of us in our house, I made just the chicken burgers. We ALWAYS have beef burgers, so I thought chicken would be a nice change.

Rachel also suggests you serve this meal with her Bacon and Black Bean Smash. We're trying to watch our fat intake here at the Kitchen Canister household, so instead I served it with plain black beans seasoned with some diced onions, cinnamon, chili powder and cumin.

I also added an extra jalapeno because these type of recipes usually never have enough kick for us. I think one jalapeno would have been more than enough, however. I am writing this post a half hour later and my mouth is still a little tingly!



Overall, this was a pretty good recipe. I have always been skeptical of Rachel's recipes really taking less than 30 minutes, but this one only took me about 25 minutes start to finish - and I had some down time while things were simmering to clean up, so the mess afterwards was minimal. I think this would have taken me over 30 minutes if I made the suggested side, but regular black beans are so simple, it was easy to stay within the alloted time. I also had some help - my husband happily manned the grill while I took care of the stuff on the stove.