Gluten-Free Crispy Chicken Burger – a hard-to-find fast food meal
This is one dish I struggle to find gluten-free in many restaurants or takeaway places. Between the burger bun and the chicken coating, it seems to be too difficult to find this as a gluten-free option.
If you are like me and miss enjoying a decent fried chicken burger every now and then, then you are going to love this recipe. The chicken is so crispy and packed with flavour, while the chicken meat remains moist and tender.
You can choose to make this chicken burger either mild or extra-spicy using my easy homemade gluten-free hot sauce. If you preparing these burgers for children, perhaps leave out the hot sauce altogether.
Gluten-Free Burger Buns
I often make most gluten-free food from scratch, but on this occasion, I buy gluten-free burger buns out of convenience. Whenever I come across gluten-free burger buns, I buy them in bulk and freeze most of them to be used for sandwiches, beef burgers, bacon “butties” or fish finger buns. They defrost quickly in a warm oven or the air-fryer.
Planning ahead and coming soon, I am still testing a good gluten-free burger bun recipe for those who would like to bake homemade buns.
Gluten-Free Crispy Chicken Burger
Ingredients
CHICKEN BURGER
- 5 chicken thigh fillets, skin removed
- 5 store-bought gluten-free burger buns (I used Weizen-Frei, an Austrian brand)
- ¼ lettuce head, shredded finely
- 4 medium sweet pickles, sliced lengthways
- 6 fresh chives stems, snipped finely
- sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying
Chicken Marinade
- ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp store-bought or homemade hot sauce
- ½ tbsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, chopped finely
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped finely
Crumbing the Chicken
Bowl #1
- 150-200 g cornflour Known as cornflour in the UK and corn or maize starch in the USA
- ½ tbsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp white pepper
Bowl #2
- 150 ml buttermilk
- 2 tbsp store-bought or homemade hot sauce
HOT SAUCE GLAZE
- 2 tbsp store-bought or homemade hot sauce
- 20 g butter
SOUR CREAM SAUCE
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 1 tbsp mayonnaise
- ½ tbsp store-bought or homemade hot sauce
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp white pepper
Instructions
CHICKEN BURGER
Chicken Marinade
- Prepare the marinade by mixing all the listed ingredients in a medium glass or ceramic bowl. Add the chicken thigh fillets to the marinade. Cover and chill for at least one hour. Overnight is ideal.
Crumbing the Chicken
- Mix the crumbing ingredients for bowls #1 & #2. Set them aside.
- For each chicken, drain the excess marinade off the chicken.
- Transfer it to bowl #1 of cornflour mixture, patting it and turning it often.
- Lift the chicken to bowl #2 of the buttermilk mixture and submerge it entirely in the liquid, then drain any excess liquid by holding it over the bowl with tongs.
- Return the chicken to bowl #1 of the cornflour mixture and repeat patting it and turning the chicken in the mixture. This extra cornflour coating is what gives the chicken its special crunchiness.
HOT SAUCE GLAZE
- Heat all the hot sauce and butter in a small pan, mixing occasionally. Once the butter has melted, keep the sauce warm over a low heat until all the chicken has been fried.
Frying & Baking the Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
- Heat a large heavy-bottom frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour 5 cm of sunflower or vegetable oil into the pan.
- Once all the chicken pieces have been crumbed, place them in the preheated pan and fry for 6 to 8 minutes on each side, or until crispy and golden. Do this in several batches so not to overcrowd the pan. The chicken will fry better if it has room in the pan.
- When all the chicken pieces are golden and fried on both sides after 12 to 16 minutes, remove the chicken and allow them to drain on crumpled baking paper. Paper towels will make the chicken soggy.
- Transfer the fried chicken to a baking tray and brush the tops with the hot sauce glaze.
- Bake in the oven for 8 minutes, turning over halfway and brushing with more glaze.
SOUR CREAM SAUCE
- Mix all the sour cream sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Serving
- Split the burger buns and heat them up in the oven for a few minutes.
- Spread the sour cream sauce on the bottom bun.
- Add the shredded lettuce, followed by the crispy chicken
- Top with more sour cream sauce, sliced pickles and fresh chives.
- Place the top bun over the assembled chicken burger and serve immediately.
Notes
- Keeps for 2 days
- Unbreaded chicken fillets can be frozen in the marinade sauce
- Reheat any leftover chicken burgers in a moderate oven for 10 minutes. Cover with foil and then remove the foil to crisp up during the last few minutes of reheating
SIDES
Serve with coleslaw, fries and/or corn-on-the-cob.
To make these chicken burgers “kid-friendly”, simply leave out the hot sauce, cayenne pepper & paprika ingredients. Skip the “glazing” step.
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I can’t get over how good this recipe is!! I haven’t been able to enjoy fried chicken out since my diagnosis four years ago. And this is better than anything I had out before. A must try.
Thank you Laura for your great feedback! I am so happy you enjoyed it. Hope to see you back on my blog trying out more recipes. If you subscribe, you’ll receive free recipes every fortnight or so from me, plus a free mini baking cookbook.