I love whipping out this easy chicken and halloumi burger recipe when I need a pick-me-up. It's hearty, delicious and is great when I'm missing my favourite gourmet burger joints in Glasgow. The blackened garlic granules on the chicken and the sriracha mayo make the whole dish sing with mouthwatering flavour, and the chunky texture of fried halloumi is truly addictive.
Step 1
Cut your chicken breast into two flat fillets and sprinkle with black pepper, sea salt and a generous helping of garlic granules.
Step 2
Drizzle some olive oil in a pan and heat until medium-hot. Carefully place the chicken in the pan, seasoning-side down, and then season the exposed side.
Fry, without moving around, for about 5 minutes or until the underside has a nice golden crust. (You can use a pair of tongs to check on how the crust is developing after a few minutes).
Turn the chicken pieces over and repeat until both sides are golden and the garlic granules have almost completely blackened.
Don't be put off by the colour of the granules here as they give a wonderfully barbecued flavour to the whole dish.
Step 3
Turn the heat off on the pan and put the chicken aside. Then slice your halloumi burger block into two.
You can slice up your tomato here too, and look out your pickles and any other condiments you fancy so they'll be all ready when you need them. Pickled pink onion slices and chillies work wonderfully.
Step 4
Wipe down your pan, drizzle with oil again, and fry your halloumi in the same way you fried the chicken.
Alternatively you can simply use a different pan and cook your chicken and halloumi at the same time.
Both sides of the halloumi pieces should be nice and golden once they're done. This will take slightly less time than the chicken.
Step 5
Take a moment here to slice and lightly toast the insides of your brioche buns in a clean pan. This is an optional step__ but nonetheless really helps to give your chicken and halloumi burgers that gourmet burger feel.
Step 6
Time to make your sriracha mayo! And it couldn't be simpler.
Combine the mayonnaise and sriracha in a small bowl with a spoon, and spread evenly on your brioche buns.
Step 7
Your easy chicken and halloumi burgers with sriracha mayo are almost complete!
I like to layer mine, from bottom to top, like this: chicken, halloumi, pickles, tomatoes.
- if you don't have any pickles to hand, or you simply don't have them, you can use pickled jalapenos, or even capers or pickled onions. The important thing is to have something pickled on these burgers to contrast with the halloumi and bring everything together.
- make sure to have a good quality non stick pan to do this with. An old or damaged pan might mean burnt halloumi and chicken, and no one wants that!
