Southwest Chicken Burgers

I have the grinding attachment for my mixer, and I love it when I find the time to actually use it to grind up some meat.  I enjoy playing with combinations of different cuts and combinations. I also like knowing that it gives me control of the quality and cut going into my meatball or burger, rather than just buying a package of ground meat.  This is probably more so for beef than chicken like I ground (I want to say grinded, but Google  tells me it's not actually a real word) up this past weekend, but I had fun with it and made a juicy and delicious chicken burger that was well worth the grinding.

I ground up some chicken thighs and breasts for my burgers, to have a combination of light and dark meat, and added in some chipotle peppers and other spices to come up with my Southwest Chicken Burgers.  I served them with Healthy Crunchy Onion Rings from How Sweet It Is.  Keep reading for the burger recipe, which makes about 6-8 burgers depending on what size patties you prefer.


Ingredients
1.5 lbs ground chicken
2 Tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
6-8 slices pepper jack cheese
1 red onion, sliced
1-2 avocados, sliced
6-8 hamburger buns
chipotle mayo

Directions
Once again, I made these on a grill pan since I live in an apartment and rarely have access to a real grill.

Preheat the grill pan to medium high heat. In a large bowl combine chicken, chipotle peppers, egg, bread crumbs, and montreal seasoning. Mix until just combined, and do not over work.  Form into even patties, I made 6 but would probably go a little smaller next time. Place on grill pan and depending on size cook for 6-8 minutes on each side.

When burgers are done, reduce heat to medium and place buns on grill for 2-3 minutes until lightly toasted.  Now assemble the burgers with pepper jack cheese, onion, avocado, and chipotle mayo.