These burgers were one of my personal favorites from a couple of summers ago because well…your girl really loves a good burger makeover. Thankfully my mom feels the same, so when she was in town last summer to spend time with my little sweetheart Sidney, we decided to have a girl’s night and make these healthy buffalo zucchini chicken burgers paired with grilled sweet potato fries (Japanese sweet potatoes are my latest obsession!).
Truthfully, mom and I couldn’t stop raving about how good these burgers were. Nice and juicy from the shredded zucchini, a little spicy thanks to buffalo sauce in and on the burger, and of course, topped with all the thangs: creamy avocado, zesty red onion, extra buffalo sauce and maybe even a little ranch for dipping.
Time to make the most of the rest of summer with these burgs ppl. #hellyes and get all of my zucchini recipes here!
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Ingredients in buffalo zucchini chicken burgers
These healthy buffalo chicken burgers are made with super simple ingredients that keep them juicy and incredibly flavorful. Don’t forget about the toppings! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Ground chicken: use 93% ground chicken or ground turkey. I do not recommend using 99% lean.
- Zucchini: shredded zucchini will give these burgers the perfect amount of moisture. Make sure you squeeze it of excess moisture after you measure the zucchini out!
- Buffalo sauce: feel free to use hot or medium buffalo sauce.
- Yellow onion: for added depth and a little crunch in the burgers.
- Spices: garlic powder, cumin, salt & pepper. Aka the ultimate burger spices!
- Cheddar cheese: I like topping these buffalo chicken burgers with sharp cheddar cheese slices, but feel free to use any cheese you’d like or skip it to keep the burgers dairy free.
- Optional for assembly: your favorite hamburger buns (gluten free if you’d like) or even a lettuce wrap, more buffalo sauce, avocado, butterhead lettuce & red onion for crunch.
How to cook healthy buffalo chicken burgers
Get all of our tips & tricks for grilling perfect burgers here! You can feel free to cook these burgers on the grill or on the stovetop. Here’s how:
- To make your zucchini chicken burgers on the grill: Preheat your gas grill to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. Once grill is hot, add burger patties and cook until chicken is no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes per side. If you’re adding cheese, turn off the grill, add cheese to each patty and close the grill lid for 1-2 minutes longer, or until cheese has melted. Serve immediately. Burgers are done when a meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees F.
- How to make chicken burgers on the stove (in a skillet or nonstick pan): Add 1/2 tablespoon oil to a nonstick skillet. Cook burgers over medium heat for 4-5 minutes per side, or until no longer pink. Burgers are done when a meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees F.
Tips for making zucchini chicken burgers
- Be sure to use 93% lean ground chicken or turkey. Anything higher (like 99%) will not be very juicy.
- Squeeze out all of the excess moisture from your zucchini after shredding so that it doesn’t add too much moisture to the burger patties
Customize your zucchini chicken burgers
The options are endless in terms of toppings, so feel free to add things you like!
- Try a new sauce. Not a fan of buffalo sauce? Add the same amount of BBQ sauce instead. Or try my sweet potato bbq chicken burgers.
- Go dairy free. Keep your zucchini chicken burgers dairy free by using dairy free cheese slices on top or simply omit the cheese. You could also add this delicious jalapeño cashew cream sauce, these vegan cheese sauce, or tahini sauce.
- Have fun with toppings. Top with extra veggies like fresh, juicy tomato slices.
- Cool them down. Add blue cheese crumbles or my homemade greek yogurt ranch to complement the buffalo sauce. YUM.
- Go paleo-friendly. To make these paleo, simply leave the bun off and try a lettuce wrap + use any of the sauces listed above!
Storing tips
Store any leftover buffalo zucchini chicken burgers in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Simply reheat in the microwave.
Freezer-friendly buffalo chicken burgers
- Freeze before cooking: shape your chicken burgers and place them in an airtight, freezer-friendly container or bag. If you’re stacking the burgers I’d recommend putting wax or parchment paper in between the layers so that they don’t stick together. Freeze for up to 3 months. To reheat, you can either let them thaw in the fridge before cooking or cook them directly from frozen – you may just need to cook them a bit longer from frozen.
- Freeze after cooking: let your chicken burger patties cool completely before placing them in airtight, freezer-friendly containers or bags. As I mentioned above, put wax or parchment paper in between the layers of burgers if you’re stacking them. Freeze them for up to 3 months. To reheat, let them thaw in the fridge before reheating in the microwave or on the stovetop for a couple minutes on each side. You can also reheat these directly from frozen – I recommend doing so on the stovetop.
What to serve with buffalo zucchini chicken burgers
- Sesame Garlic Grilled Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Curry Dip
- Best Healthy Coleslaw Ever (no mayo!)
- Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto + Goat Cheese
- The Best Guacamole You’ll Ever Eat
- Tony’s Melt-In-Your-Mouth Grilled Brussels Sprouts
Get more of my favorite summer BBQ recipes here!
I hope you love these buffalo zucchini chicken burgers! If you make them be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked them. You can also post a photo to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen – xo!
Buffalo Zucchini Chicken Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 pound 93% lean ground chicken (or sub ground turkey) -- do not use 99%
- 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed of excess moisture with a paper towel (from ½ of a medium zucchini)
- 2 tablespoons hot or medium buffalo sauce
- 1/4 cup very finely diced yellow onion
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices sharp cheddar cheese
- For assembly:
- 4 hamburger buns of choice, toasted if desired
- 4 tablespoons buffalo sauce, for topping
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- Butterhead lettuce
- Sliced red onion
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium high heat (about 400 degrees F). Brush the grates with olive oil to prevent sticking.
- Make the chicken burgers by adding the ground chicken/turkey, shredded zucchini, buffalo sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper to a large bowl. Mix with your hands until evenly combined. Divide into 4 equal portions and shape into 1/2 inch patties.
- Grill over medium-high heat (around 400 degrees F) for 6-8 minutes per side or until burgers are cooked through and a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F. During the last few minutes of cooking the chicken burgers, add a slice of cheddar cheese on top of each burger patty; cover the grill for about 1 minute while the cheese melts.
- Place the onion on the bottom of the bun, then the burgers, top with a little bit of extra buffalo sauce, avocado and lettuce. Serve immediately. Great with sweet potato fries or fresh fruit!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published August 7th, 2020, and republished on July 17th, 2022.
39 comments
Planning to make these next week but may possibly turn into a meatloaf! Maybe combine the shredded cheddar into it? Can’t wait!
Love that idea! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Just made the buffalo chicken burgers. Awesome! And the zucchini blueberry cake with lemon buttercream icing-Amazing! Moist, just sweet enough and soooo pretty with th3 blueberries peeking through.
I have yet to be disappointed
So happy you loved both! Perfect dinner + dessert 🙂
Found these burgers very moist and delicious with the perfect amount of heat! Thinking of adding pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar the next time I make these. YUM!
Absolutely! Pepperjack sounds amazing. Glad you loved them!
Delicious!! I just loved zucchini week. Your recipes always look so perfect, and I finally had the time to go all-out and try these recipes. I made these burgers for dinner, paired with your grilled brussel sprouts. Then, with the rest of the shredded zucchini, I made the blueberry lemon cake for dessert! Thank you for sharing all of these amazing recipes!
So happy to hear that, Shannon! One of our best weeks yet 🙂
So yummy! I didn’t have buffalo sauce, so I just used a sweet & spicy BBQ sauce that I had. These burgers stayed together so well, unlike other burger recipes I’ve followed in the past. We had them as lettuce wraps, with avocado slices and grilled onions. A big hit! Thanks!
Perfect! Glad you liked them!
These were so yummy and easy! Great to mix it up instead of normal burgers. We cooked on the stove top and they turned out great. The zucchini really helps keep them juicy! Will be making all year round
One of THE best burger recipes! I can’t believe they don’t have breadcrumbs. So flavorful, this now part of our regular recipe rotation. Also makes great leftovers!
Absolutely! Glad you love these!
This is the first recipe I ever made from AK and it’s one of my absolute favorites! The patties are so filling and still taste great as leftovers.
Ok, woah. These burgers were simple and satisfying! My mouth is watering thinking about them haha. Can’t wait till the snow is gone so I can get outside and fire up the grill! Thank you AK!
Same! Glad you love them! And can’t wait for summer haha.
I have made this recipe multiple times and its an absolute favorite of my whole family. I made it with lettuce wrap for the time time today and it was equally amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe !
Love that idea! Glad this one is a hit 🙂
These were nice. If you like robust buffalo flavor and heat, I would recommend way more than 2T of hot sauce. I served these on the Ozery sandwich thins and topped with a pile of spinach for crunch.
Perfect! Sounds delicious 🙂
The zucchini in these makes them soooo juicy!! I subbed ground turkey because it’s what I had on hand. I’ll admit I did add an egg because I was nervous they wouldn’t stay together and the texture was still perfect with the egg added in.
Absolutely! I’m glad they still turned out well 🙂
My goodness, these burgers were EPIC!!!! I made them with turkey on an indoor grill pan and learned that my heat level wasn’t quite hot enough so there was some sticking. Regardless, these turned out amazing! I served them with sweet potato fries and a green salad. So simple but so delicious. I will definitely make these again and may even made some to keep in the freezer!! Thanks as always, Monique, for another amazing recipe!
So happy you loved them, Tamara!! And great idea to stash some in the freezer for later 🙂
Where have these been all my life??? Can’t say enough how delish these burgers turned out. I used Turkey and we grilled them up!!! Can I just say how flavorful these are with such simple ingredients. Gotta Try!!!
Yay!!! I’m so glad you guys loved them!
I used ground turkey (could not find ground chicken at my store), and I used yellow squash since I ran out of zucchini, but these were so good! My whole family ate them and they were GONE. The Buffalo sauce and added veggies are perfect. Definitely making these again!
Made these with turkey instead of chicken because the store I went to didn’t have 93% chicken. It was delicious, looking forward to trying it with chicken next time! Also, the leftover burgers were great for lunch the next day, everything stayed together and was just as delicious as it was when I first made them!
This is the best Chicken burger recipe….so juicy because of the zucchini and super flavorful beucae of the buffalo sauce. I’ve tried this with both sharp cheddar and pepperjack cheeese and both options are delicious. Thanks Monique for the amazing recipe. I’m about to make it right now,,,,probably for the 10th time.
Ahh yay I’m so glad you love this recipe so much!!
You can’t dry these out even if you try! Moist and juicy Burgers with amazing flavour. I did them with turkey on the bbq. I thought they might be too soft and fall through the grill but they held together and were really tasty. Will make again for sure and passing on to all my gardening friends with are running out of things to do with their zucchini.
Excellent!
Super delicious. Didn’t have buffalo sauce so added siracha to bbq sauce. Next time will try adding a binder (egg) because it easily fell apart on the bbq
Glad they were delicious! Sorry to hear they fall apart. That hasn’t happened to me but adding an egg’s a great idea 🙂
Delicious- zucchini makes it moist but not mushy. Great consistency. Chicken and zucchini make a great base. Interested to try another sauce (although the Buffalo was great) to switch it up.
Yay!! So happy they came out delicious!
These were a hit! I realized the recipe had a lot of same ingredients as your zucchini meatball enchilada skillet, so I prepped the meatballs for another night’s dinner as I made the burgers. Easy, juicy, would make again!
Yes, perfect! Such a great way to use up all of those ingredients 🙂
OMG this looks so amazing I must have it for dinner tonight!