Crispy chicken, mozzarella and avocado burgers with lemon mayo

Let’s just take a moment to look at this burger. Really look at it. Yep, that chicken is ridiculously crispy. Oh yes, that is half of a perfectly ripe avocado on top. And yup, you guessed it, that’s mozzarella just slowly melting it’s way down. Is it ridiculously big? You betcha. Is it flipping delicious? Right again! Do you need to make it this weekend? Abso-bloody-lutely.

Look, I’ll be straight with you. This burger is obnoxiously big. But, if it makes you feel better it’s technically only one chicken breast per burger as we’ve halved the breasts to make two “patties”. So please feel free to only use one if you want but what should be the main focus here is the combination of flavours. The crumbed chicken breast is a lazy man’s version of southern fried chicken, flavoured with oregano and smoked paprika. But what makes it special is that I forgot to buy eggs on the day I shot this so I had to make another plan. I decided to use mayonnaise that I had watered down ever so slightly for the dredge and even though I was really hesitant, it worked like a dream. The flour stuck to the mayo beautifully and I kind of feel like the mayo tenderised the chicken a little. Is that even possible? The chicken was incredibly tender and juicy and the crust was perfectly crisp. Everything you want in a crispy chicken burger, right?

The mozzarella adds that lovely stringy, melty, milkiness that it’s so well known for and the avocado adds just the right amount of creaminess. The zesty lemon mayo cuts through the richness of it all and gives you that acidic twang. And then to make this burger even better, it takes all of 20 minutes from start to finish because the chicken breasts cook in 5-7 minutes. If that’s not fast food, I don’t know what is!

Crispy chicken, mozzarella and avocado burgers with lemon mayo

5 from 2 votes

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Course: Burger

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 large burgers

Author: Alida Ryder

Ingredients

for the chicken

• 4 chicken breasts boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 2 cups oil for frying

for the lemon mayonnaise

• 1/2 cup good quality mayonnaise I used Hellmann's
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• salt to taste

for the burger

• 100 g mozzarella thinly sliced
• 4 sesame seed buns toasted
• 2 avocados sliced and seasoned with lemon, salt and pepper

Instructions

• To make the crumbed chicken, heat the oil in a deep frying pan.
• Season the flour with the oregano, paprika and salt and place in a bowl.
• Mix together the mayonnaise and the hot water in a separate bowl.
• Slice the butterflied chicken in half, resulting in two even, thin pieces of chicken.
• Coat the chicken first in the flour, then in the mayonnaise mixture and again in the flour.
• Carefully place in the hot oil and fry until golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper before continuing the process until all the chicken is cooked.
• To make the mayo, combine all the ingredients and mix well.
• To build the burgers, spread each half of the sesame buns with a little of the lemon mayo. Top with one piece of chicken, mozzarella and another piece of chicken before finally adding the seasoned avocado. Sandwich the tops of the buns and serve immediately.