Tandoori Chicken Burgers
These Indian inspired Tandoori Chicken Burgers are a flavourful way to switch up your usual burger. The tandoori flavoured chicken burgers are served with slices of cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and a delicious ginger and parsley sauce. Serve them in a lettuce bun to make them Whole30, Paleo & Keto!
I am all about burgers this time of year and truly think there is no limit to the number of times a week I can eat them (please don’t judge). I am always looking for flavourful new ways of making a Whole30 chicken burger, and wanted to create one with an Indian spin.
The chicken patties are so so flavourful. They are packed with many of the ingredients of a traditional tandoori sauce which gives them a wonderful richness of flavour plus a kick of spice. Served with a light ginger and parsley sauce and slices of cucumber and tomatoes creates the perfect combination of rich spices and refreshing crunch.
Why you are going to love these Tandoori Chicken Burgers:
- So much flavour! I absolutely love the combination of the tandoori spiced chicken patties, zingy sauce and refreshing cucumber.
- These aren’t your average chicken patties: While it might seem like a long list of ingredients, these patties are so flavourful you can easily just eat them on their own!
- Not just a burger: While I love serving these burgers in a lettuce bun, you could also serve them as part of a salad with cucumber, red onion and tomato and use the ginger parsley sauce as dressing.
- They are healthy: Using chicken as a base for the burgers means they have less fat and cholesterol than a beef patty. These burgers are Paleo, Whole30, Keto and Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal.
Let’s break down what’s in these Tandoori Chicken Burgers:
- The patties: The chicken patties are really the star of the show and anything but boring! They are packed grated red onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro and lemon plus a combination of tandoori spices (cumin, coriander, paprika and turmeric). You can easily swap the chicken for ground turkey if you prefer.
- The sauce: Tandoori chicken is often served with a yogurt based sauce to help balance out the tandoori spice. This dairy free sauce has a mayonnaise base and is flavoured with fresh mint and parsley, plus ginger and lemon juice.
- Cucumber: Thin slices of cucumber add a wonderful freshness to the burgers. I used a vegetable peeler to cut long thin slices of cucumber, but you can easily cut simple slices of cucumber with a knife, no need to overthink it.
- Red onion & tomato slices: I love the sharp flavour that thin slices of red onion add to a burger. If you aren’t a fan of eating raw onion, place the onion slices on the grill for a few minutes to tone down their strong flavour.
- Lettuce bun: I might be bias, but personally I LOVE a lettuce wrapped burger. The lettuce adds a great freshness to these Whole30 chicken burgers while also lightening things up (meaning you won’t get that heavy post meal feeling you often get with a traditional burger with a bun).
Here are a few other burger recipes that you might enjoy:
- Mexican Chicken Burgers
- Shrimp Burgers
- Loaded Hamburgers with Special Sauce
- Lemon & Herb Salmon Burgers
- Hawaiian Chicken Burgers
- Greek Lamb Burgers
- Cajun Salmon Burgers with Mango Salsa
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Tandoori Chicken Burger
Ingredients
Tandoori Chicken Patties
- 1 pound ground chicken or turkey
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 1/2 tbsp grated red onion
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Ginger & Parsley Sauce
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp chopped mint
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tsp finely chopped ginger
- 1/4 tsp cumin
For Serving
- 1 head iceberg lettuce
- 1 large tomato thinly sliced
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cucumber cut into thin slices or ribbons
Instructions
- In a bowl combine all of the ingredients for the tandoori chicken patties and use your hands to mix everything together so the spies are well incorporated in the meat. Divide the meat into 4 portions and form into patties.
- Heat a barbecue or grill pan on medium high heat. Grill the patties for 5 minutes per side until cooked through.
- While the patties are cooking, in a bowl combine all of the ingredients for the sauce and stir until well mixed. Set aside.
- Cut the iceberg lettuce into quarters and separate each quarter into two halves.
- To assemble the burgers spread the sauce on the inside of the lettuce. Top with 2 slices of red onion, sliced tomato and cucumber and place a tandoori patty on top. Place the other half of the lettuce leaf on top like a sandwich and wrap the burger in parchment paper to make it easier to eat.
Nutrition
Loved it! The burger had so much flavor and the mayo was an excellent touch…and I’m not a huge mayo fan. I used a very ripe tomato which made it messy and I did not care. So yummy! Also, realized I had parsley instead of cilantro. It was still great and I look forward to trying cilantro next time.
Thank you for this recipe. It is absolutely delicious. I didn’t have turmeric and used curry powder instead and it was delicious. I also used Kitehill sour cream instead of mayo for the sauce and it worked really well!
I loved the flavor. The sauce was amazing. But the patties didn’t hold together well when cooked. I used ground turkey. Any suggestions?
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that! Did the patties fall apart because they seemed too dry? If so I would recommend adding another egg to the meat mixture.
WOW. I rarely find a recipe that is spot on as is. This one nailed it. So much depth of flavor. Only thing I changed after tasting was letting everything sit in the fridge for at least an hour and I added extra lemon and coriander to the Patties. I stumbled across this recipe while looking for paleo recipes. My doctor told me to go paleo to reduce inflammation and control some other health issues. Can’t wait to try more recipes from Carmen!
loooks delicious – I am going to try this tonight. what kind of paper wrapper do you have the lettuce burger sitting in, that is brilliant to keep it together 😉
These were great! I would’ve added more sauce, or made more to begin with. Definitely recommend trying them!
Tasty and quick! My family loved it.
So so so good. I combined the burger mix earlier in the day and cooked the patties when I was ready to eat. I will make these again and again. Also, I used ground chicken breast and the burgers were not dry at all. The aromatics and cilantro really helped keep them moist. I often feel like a lot of whole 30 compliant recipes are very similar, but this really broke the mold for me and inspired me.
Just made it for first time tonight. Love this recipe. It’s so fresh. Rest of the family loved it too. Made it on the stovetop, but will use BBQ next time. Wish I had made double batch.
These are AWESOME! So delicious, so juicy, and so easy! I think this process only took about 15 minutes start to finish – you couldn’t mess it up if you tried. Made them on the stovetop. I’ll also be keeping the sauce recipe in mind for other things – wow. 100% making again!
Oh my was this ever yummy! So many different flavours and spices, perfect bit of heat balanced by the sauce…and loved it on the lettuce bun, so fresh! Thanks for a wonderful healthy summer dinner!