Teriyaki Chicken Burgers

Fun fact: in college I worked at Red Robin. While picking my fondest memory is a toss-up between singing that infamous happy birthday and coming home after 12 hour shifts smelling like ranch and campfire sauce, I’m going to have to say it’s the food I still miss the most.

What I usually crave most is the teriyaki chicken burger. Juicy chicken breast, melty Swiss cheese, caramelized pineapple, crisp lettuce, tomato, a healthy slathering of mayo and salty, sweet teriyaki sauce create the perfect marriage of flavors . 

Having had the RR teriyaki chicken burger countless times, I was able to come up with my own recipe quicker than you can say, "freckled lemonade." Using a quick yet flavorful teriyaki sauce to double as a marinade and glaze along with the rest of the classic teriyaki chicken burger fixins, my Red Robin teriyaki chicken burger dupe tasted just as good (if not better) than the real deal. 

Teriyaki Chicken Burgers

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

Teriyaki Sauce

• 1/2 cup soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 teaspoons ginger paste or fresh ginger, minced

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

• 2 tablespoons water

Burgers

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

• 4 whole wheat hamburger buns

• 4 slices Swiss cheese

• 4 pineapple rings

• 4 heirloom tomato slices

• Shredded iceberg lettuce

• Mayo - lots of it!

Directions

In a liquid measuring cup, combine all teriyaki sauce ingredients minus the cornstarch and water. Place chicken breasts on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin or something heavy ish, like a bottle of balsamic vinegar (because I've definitely done this before), pound the chicken breasts until they are of even thickness. They don't need to be super thin, you just need to ensure that the thickest part is about the same thickness of the thinnest part. Remove the plastic wrap and cut chicken breasts in half, cutting at an angle where the chicken breasts roughly fit the shape of a hamburger bun. 

Add chicken to a Ziploc bag or shallow dish and pour over half of teriyaki sauce marinade. Refrigerate and let chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours to deepen the flavor. Refrigerate remaining teriyaki sauce. 

Before cooking chicken, heat remaining teriyaki sauce in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Combine cornstarch and water and add to teriyaki sauce. Stir to combine until the sauce is thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

Remove chicken from marinade and grill over medium high heat for 10 minutes, flipping once. Brush chicken pieces with glaze on both sides and add Swiss. Cover and cook for another 1-2 minutes until cheese is melty. Remove from grill.

While chicken rests, add pineapple rings to the grill and brush with remaining glaze. Cook for about a minute per side until pineapple is caramelized. Toast buns while pineapple cooks. Multitasking, woo!

To assemble, spread a healthy schmear of mayo on each toasted bun. On the bottom of each bun, add shredded lettuce followed by a tomato slice. Top with chicken, a pineapple slice and top with other bun half. Enjoy!