Lamb & Chicken BBQ Burgers

Burgers on the BBQ are a perennial summer favourite but people often forget ground lamb or chicken when picking up the ground beef or beef and pork for their patties.

Which is a shame, because you can make delicious burgers with both.

Today we look at one recipe for each that can help you shake up your summer grilling a bit!

In both cases we used two pounds of ground meat.

To prep the lamb burgers, beat two eggs and add to the ground lamb in a large mixing bowl.

Then add the following ingredients:

1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup fine breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
salt to taste (remember, feta is often quite salty)

Mix all together thoroughly. Generally for the best results I find you have to do this by hand. When blended, take handfuls of the mixture and form them into patties that are not too thick as you want to be able to cook them directly over the charcoal in a reasonable amount of time.

If when forming your first burger you are finding it hard to keep it all together you can add more breadcrumbs to the mixture as needed. The breadcrumbs act as the binding agent with the eggs.

For the chicken, again add two beaten eggs to the ground meat in a large mixing bowl.

For our burgers today we are going for a spicy kick! Add the following ingredients to the bowl as well:

1 cup fine breadcrumbs
1-2 tablespoons spicy jerk seasoning (taste a bit of the seasoning to determine how much you want to use before adding as some blends are more spicy than others)
1 small onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste

Mix all together thoroughly and form your patties, again adjusting the breadcrumbs if needed.

When you have your patties ready to go, cook right over very hot coals for around 6-8 minutes a side, closing the lid for around half the cooking time on each side to regulate the flames and to help cook the burgers on the inside. (If you need a refresher on prepping a charcoal grill, we have posted about it in the past!) 

If in doubt lamb burgers are done when the internal temperature at the thickest point reads 160 degrees on meat thermometer, while the chicken burgers are done at 165. Burgers of all kinds should be fully cooked!

Serve on a good bun with the toppings you want. I found both these burgers worked great with just a slice of tomato and onion, but as always the sky is the limit and it is all a matter of taste.

Great with beer, backyards and friends!

Enjoy.

See also: The Leviathan Sauerkraut & Horseradish Double Pork & Beef Burger!

See also: Beer Can Chicken with "French Fried" Asparagus on the BBQ!