Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Burgers with Pineapple Salsa

Happy weekend! Ben and I were finally fortunate enough to have a B-E-A-utiful day to get our grill up and running! If you remember, we got money for a new grill from Ben’s parents for Christmas this year. Every time we tried to go get it, though, we either didn’t have the right car, or it was monsooning (or snowing!) outside. But thanks to my incredible husband, it is now fully assembled! After one of the most stressful days in a while in terms of house-projects and life events (more on that later), we sat down to a romantic candlelight dinner outside on our patio.

The menu for tonight? Grilled chicken teriyaki burgers with pineapple salsa. YUM. Adapted from this Iowa Girl Eats recipe, we decided to test out our newest toy with some fresh chicken and pineapple (thank you, Harris Teeter!). And let me tell you, this meal did NOT disappoint. The chicken was tender and juicy, and if you’re like me and love anything teriyaki-flavored, the orange juice was a really nice addition to give the meat a little extra tang.

As far as the salsa, I chose to do a pineapple salsa with a few peaches thrown in (instead of the watermelon-cucumber salsa in the original recipe). It seemed like a perfect addition to the teriyaki, and I knew how much Ben likes pineapple on his burgers. The colors were magnificent and reminded me of how lucky we are to have access to so much fresh, seasonal produce! And for the warm summer weather 🙂

I hope you enjoy your own variations on this perfect Memorial Day supper!

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Burgers with Pineapple Salsa

Recipe Type: Chicken, BBQ, Teriyaki, Grilling

Cuisine: BBQ, Chicken

Author: Claire McCormick of “Claire Tastes”

Prep time: 3 hours

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 3 hours 20 mins

Serves: 6-8

Dust off that grill and try this perfect Memorial Day meal! Fresh and filling, this recipe for teriyaki chicken burgers is sure to get your patriotic juices going 🙂

Ingredients

For the Teriyaki Marinade:
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp honey
1 green onion, chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
For the Pineapple Salsa:
2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
1 squirt lime juice
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro, rinsed and minced (about 3 tbsp total)
1/4 cup chopped peaches (I just used some frozen ones)
1 green onion, chopped
1 pinch salt
2 lbs chicken breasts (about six large breasts) pounded to an even thickness
2 large hamburger buns
1 cup cooked pearl barley (I made mine in the rice cooker- it only took about 15 minutes vs. the 1 1/2 hours the package suggests!)
2 cups broccoli florets

Instructions

Mix together all ingredients for marinade in a large tupperware container. Wedge the chicken breasts into container and marinate in refrigerator for two to three hours.
Meanwhile, prepare salsa by chopping up pineapple, onion, cilantro, peaches, and green onion. Mix together in a bowl and add the lime juice and salt. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Prepare barley according to container directions.
Preheat grill to medium heat.
Grill chicken breasts on medium, 5 minutes per side or until no longer pink in the center. Remove from grill and keep warm in tin foil.
Steam or grill broccoli.
When you’re just about ready to eat, place halved buns on top of grill rack and grill 1-2 minutes until lightly toasted.
Serve chicken on buns or over barley with a nice big spoonful of pineapple salsa on top!

Serving size: 1 burger (with 1 large bun) Calories: 450 cal Fat: 9 g Carbohydrates: 51 g Fiber: 5 g Protein: 43 g

Prepare the marinade.

Wedge in the chicken breasts and marinate 2-3 hours in the fridge. It helped me a bit to also slice a few slits in the breasts so that the marinade could really seep into the meat (as Iowa Girl suggested!)