These Spanakopita Stuffed Chicken Burgers are zippy, refreshing, and super healthy! All of the ingredients of a classic spanakopita are stuffed inside flavorful chicken patties, and the smothered with homemade tzatziki sauce.
Ingredients
1 lb. chicken breast
8 oz. fresh baby spinach
1 + ⅛ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. nutmeg
Pinch of pepper
5 oz. feta cheese, divided
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 small onion, (1/2 grated, ½ finely chopped)
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tlbs. +1 tsp. olive oil, divided
1 tomato, sliced thin
Thinly sliced red onion
4 hamburger buns
Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup grated cucumber, (squeezed of all excess moisture)
8 ounces plain Greek yogurt
1 small garlic clove, grated
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon fresh dill
1 teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Spread on a baking sheet and pop in the freezer. Freeze for 15 minutes while you make the filling.
Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a large (oven-proof) sauté pan over a medium heat. Add spinach. Use a wooden spoon to stir spinach until it wilts. Once it wilts, add 4 oz. feta cheese, ⅛ tsp. salt, nutmeg, and a pinch of pepper. Stir until cheese is warmed through and starting to melt in to the spinach, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and clean pan out.
Once chicken is very cold and firm (but not frozen), transfer to a food processor. Turn the processor on until chicken is ground.
Add ground chicken to a medium bowl, add remaining feta and salt, as a well as 1 tsp. of olive oil. oregano, garlic, grated onion and chopped onion. Mix with hands until combined. Form into 8 patties. The ground chicken can be quite sticky, so to prevent all the meat from sticking to your hands, wet them with cold water before you mix and before you form each patty.
Evenly divide the filling and mound on four of the patties, leaving an edge around the perimeter. Put another patty on top, and use your fingers to seal the edges. Make in to uniform patties.
Put the same pan you cooked the spinach mixture in over a medium-high flame or burner. One the pan is hot, add remaining olive oil. Add chicken burgers to the hot oil. Cook until golden brown on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer pan to the oven to finish cooking the patties, it should take another 5-6 minutes. The internal temperature should read
While the chicken finished cooking, toast buns and make tzatziki. Add cucumber, yogurt,garlic, lemon juice, salt, dill, and olive oil to a small bowl. Mix until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
When chicken is cooked through, place on a patty. Top with tomato. red onion and tzatziki sauce.
Recipe by Cooking for Keeps at https://www.cookingforkeeps.com/spanakopita-stuffed-chicken-burgers-tzatziki/