Chicken & Chickpea Burgers

This recipe came from Clean Eating Magazine and it appealed to me right away, though the original recipe calls for ground turkey. I made them tonight and used my new cast iron grill pan.

Chicken & Chickpea Burgers

1 15oz can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1/2 cup scallions, roughly chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 lb ground chicken breast
cooking spray

1. In a food processor, combine chickpeas, scallions, cumin, pepper, salt & Worcestershire sauce. Pulse until smooth.

2. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add chicken, mixing by hand until combined.

3. Form into four patties. Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium-high and coat with cooking spray. Cook patties 4 - 6 minutes per side.

4. Serve on a bun with whatever you want. I used some red onion, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, and some low-fat mayo.

These burgers tasted really great, but they were really mushy and didn't stick together when I went to flip them. They kind of disintegrated when I removed them from the pan. I think they needed some bread crumbs to bind the mixture together and keep them from crumbling. Other than that, I thought this was a pretty good recipe, and adding the chickpeas not only increased the nutritional value of the burger, but if you're on a budget, it also stretches the meat out so you can get more meals out of it - great if you're on a budget like I am.