no. 158: chipotle-cotija chicken burgers with a cabbage slaw

Plus, a July 4th recipe round up!

I’m sending out the newsletter a day early this week in case you want to add some FOIRE chicken burgers to your July 4th menu. You definitely should. More on that below.

Before we get into this week’s recipe, I want to highlight some recipes in the good ol’ archive that would be perfect for this weekend! Of course, don’t forget about the BBQ menu from last week. If you’re not making michelada beer can chicken, WYD????

Smashed Potato Salad with Peperoncini & Mackerel

Strawberry Shortcake Parfait Cups

Feta Orzo Salad with Whole Lemon Vinaigrette

Pearl Couscous Salad with Strawberries, Mint, and Feta

Add blueberries to make it red, white, and blue!

Spicy Cucumber-Passion Fruit Micheladas

Frozen Passion Fruit Yogurt Pie with Biscoff Crust

Grilled Corn, Peach, and Halloumi Salad with Calabrian Chile-Honey Vinaigrette

Summer Stone Fruit Salad with Peperoncini Vinaigrette

Grilled Zucchini with Whole Lemon Vinaigrette

Blueberry Cornmeal Galette

Mustard Lover’s Potato Salad

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Chipotle-Cotjia Chicken Burgers with a Cabbage Slaw

Serves: 4

Active time: 25 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

I was craving another ground chicken banger, and thought it could be fun to take a chicken burger in a Mexican-inspired route by incorporating ingredients like cumin, chipotles in adobo, cotija, and cilantro.

Cumin is my favorite spice, and these burgers are a real celebration of this humble ingredient. Toasting and grinding up cumin seeds is definitely more annoying than using ground cumin, but it really does light up the flavor of these burgs, IMO. If ground cumin is what you’re working with, that’ll do.

I love cooking with chipotles in adobo because it is a highly accessible pantry staple that can add so much complex flavor to whatever it is that you’re making. I cooked the chipotles into a Mexican-esque soffrito (onions, garlic, peppers, etc) to really let the flavors get to know one another. No two chipotles are the same heat level, so start with one, and you can always add more if you want to crank up the heat.

It only seemed right to add a heavy hand of crumbly cotjia cheese and fresh cilantro to this Mexi-chicken burger. I mixed sour cream with more of those chipotles for an easy crema, then served the burger with avocado, tomato, and a simple cabbage slaw. I brought a burger to my friend, Julie, as a thank you for being my “light rallying” tennis partner while I slowly get back into the game. She approved. And yea, I’M BACK ON THE COURTS, BIIIIITCH.

The recipe is written to be made on the stove, but you can of course whip these up on the grill or on a griddle. Same method, bby.

Happy 4th! I’m going camping because I need to touch grass. BYEEEEE.