Teriyaki Chicken Burger

Ever since I backpacked throughout southeast Asia I have loved pineapple. I remember laying on a beach in Koh Tao, a southern island in Thailand, and a local offered us fresh pineapple. He proceeded to spiral cut a whole pineapple and in less than 5 minutes my friend and I had mouth watering pineapple skewers. 

Pineapple dishes now catch my eye whenever I eat out, especially when incorporated into burgers, pizzas, stir-frys, and drinks (Caribou Lou I see you). So I wanted to try my own take on a teriyaki chicken burger. What could go wrong? I only like lettuce or avocados on my burgers and none on teriyaki burgers so add your veggies as you please to the ingredients.

Ingredients

Source : Adapted from Top Secret Recipes

• 2 Pineapple Slices
• 1 small chicken breast or 2 tenderloins
• Cheese slices (I only had a cheddar mix but I wish I had swiss)
• Buns

Teriyaki Sauce

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 9/10s cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/3 teaspoon ginger powder

Instructions

Bring all of the teriyaki sauce to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to medium low or a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until sauce thickens. Pour into a serving cup, cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Optional:

You can create a circular chicken patty by covering the chicken breast with plastic wrap and pounding it out until it is about 1/2 inch thick and slightly wider than the bun. That was too much work and I was working with small chicken tenderloins so that was unnecessary. You can marinade the chicken with the teriyaki sauce for about 4-8 hours by placing the chicken in a bag and pouring enough sauce to slightly cover it, same for the pineapple. I was hungry and I didn’t want to wait so I skipped these steps. Lets get to the cooking!

If it is still warm enough where you live, grill the chicken patty or tenderloins on a medium flame, otherwise you can fry them on medium heat for 4-5 minutes per side. Pour some teriyaki sauce on the chicken. When the chicken has about 2 minutes left to cook put your fancied cheese on top. At the same time you add the cheese add the pineapple slices to the grill or pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, and then place them on top of the chicken. Put your stacked chicken, pineapple and cheese burger on a bun, add a desired amount of teriyaki sauce on top of the pineapple, serve and enjoy.

P.S. That is the cooked pineapple on top of the teriyaki chicken burger.

Beats

In honor of Throwback Thursday here is J Lo – Waiting for Tonight. I’ll never forget those green lasers!