Without a doubt one of the greatest things about spring and summer is grilling. The casual atmosphere of friends and family outdoors, enjoying the weather and each other’s company with drinks and no-fuss food – it just doesn’t get much better. There is definitely nothing wrong with the usual fare of classic hamburgers, hot dogs, and barbecued chicken, but sometimes it’s fun to switch things up a bit. This barbecue chicken burger comes from my friend Josie and is a hybrid of two traditional cookout foods. Brilliant, I tell you! These don’t take any longer to make than a classic burger since the method is still the same, but outcome is wonderful.
The first time I made these, I hadn’t read through the recipe all that carefully beforehand and failed to notice that it called for leftover pulled pork until it was already dinner time. I went ahead and made them minus the pork, and they were great. I still haven’t gotten to try them with the pork because I haven’t had any, but I’m sure it would add a nice depth of flavor if you happened to have some. If you are concerned about the burgers drying out you could add a tablespoon of oil to the mixture, but I haven’t found it to be necessary. I don’t tend to keep bottled barbecue sauce on hand so I just use a quick version that can be made with pantry ingredients. I have included that below, but you can use whatever you like. It makes more than you need for these burgers and keeps well in the fridge so you will have some left for later use…like when you want to make these burgers again the following week :)
