My wonderful friend Jenny shared this recipe with me. I love that these are so full of good protein, and have veggies in them too! What a great way to get more nutrients packed into a meal.
You can make up a big batch of these and freeze them for a quick meal another time. You know I love recipes like this that help me avoid a panic attack on busy days!
Chicken Patty Sandwiches
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
6 eggs
sea salt to taste
Coconut Oil or Palm Shortening
In a food processor, grind raw chicken, garlic, carrots, and onions together. Add eggs and salt, blending all ingredients together well. Spoon mixture (about two tablespoons at a time to form a patty) into hot oil, frying on both sides for about 4-5 minutes each, or until chicken is cooked thoroughly. (I use Palm Shortening from Tropical Traditions because heating it for frying purposes does not compromise its health qualities. I also sometimes use Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil as it is just as healthy.)
Makes about 10 patties.
These patties taste great without a bun, topped with a tomato and sandwiched between pieces of lettuce. We also really like them with sprouted wheat buns we get from Azure Standard. Oh, and melted cheese on top is pretty tasty too!
Allow leftover patties to cool, then place them in a freezer bag for another meal. Rewarm in the oven or toaster oven for about 10 minutes.
I realize the following picture doesn’t look super pretty, but I wanted to show you the nice stack of chicken patties I was able to put into the freezer! You can’t even tell there are carrots in there. ;)
When served with lettuce and tomatoes, and a fruit smoothie or another side dish of fruits and veggies, this is one super healthy meal!
Yum! Now to convince my husband that I NEED a food processor! :)
Everyone NEEDS a food processor. It is best, however, to go to your sister’s house that doesn’t cook much, see one in her Goodwill box, ask, “Why on earth do you have a food processor?” learn she bought it with the thought to make baby food, used it once, and then forgot about it for 4 years. Than you get to take it home for free. Works with toys, clothes, shoes, even garden supplies. At least for me and my sister ;) I use mine all the time and love, love, love it!
So are these the taste and consistency of the breaded chicken patties? Or do they have more of a chicken salad consistency on the inside? Because I just so happen to have all the ingredients in my house right now, and no plans for meals this weekend (YIKES!)
I would say that these are more like breaded chicken patties (without the breading of course). Hope you enjoy them!
I just make chicken nuggets like this for the first time last night – and they were a complete success! I used ground chicken and didn’t mix any carrots or onions in, though – I used a bit of onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper, then pan fried in olive oil. I was so pleased at how they turned out – crispy and tender!
These look fantastic! I’m 8 1/2 months pregnant, and have been trying to stock my freezer with as much made-ahead food as possible. These look like a great addition! I also love that it uses 6 whole eggs. With our chickens in peak production right now, we’re overflowing with eggs; I love finding ways to use lots of them up at a time. Thanks!
Wow, perfect timing! I had some defrosted chicken breasts, but didn’t have a specific plan for them so I made these! I didn’t put in the carrots as that part didn’t sound appetizing to us, but they came out yummy! My husband had the idea to put some chopped up ham in there and then the cheese on top would make them like Chicken Cordon Bleu. Mmm! You could do all kinds of variations with this recipe. I’m excited to be able to experiment with it and freeze some of these. Thanks, Laura!
This would be great to fix and put in the freezer for lunches or dinner. I could see it being a quick breakfast too. Love this idea. Thanks Laura!
Hi Laura – I was just wondering what kind of pan you used when frying these patties. It looks like it holds more than my reg. frying pan. BTW these look awesome and I am sure the kids will love them! Thanks
I’m using my electric skillet. :)
I just made these this morning to store in the freezer and to keep some out for dinner. Don’t be surprised when finish processing these and it looks like a liquid mess. I thought I had messed them up, but when I spooned them into the hot skillet, they made perfect patties. Now to go make some homemade buns and dinner is done! Thanks for a great recipe for a busy mom!
what size/oz/lbs for the chicken breasts – like (3) 4 oz. breasts for a total of 12 oz? thx.
Yes, 4 ounce chicken breasts sounds about right! :)
I made this for the first time last night. Our whole family loves them! I so appreciate that they are easy and healthy! Thanks for your great recipes!
Delicious! Easy to make! I used the Tropical Traditions coconut oil that I asked about in your other post and it worked great. Thanks!
Has anyone ever asked the meat counter person at the grocery if they would gring the chicken breasts for them?
Yes and he was very happy to do so. Then I was told by another butcher that they are supposed to have designated machines for each type of meat they grind (guessing it’s to avoid cross contamination). The person happily grinding my chicken, paused the grinding of his beef to grind up my chicken. Sounds gross now that I think about it, but I didn’t get anymore freshly ground chicken after learning about this.
Then again, maybe its not so gross. I’m wondering If I ground my own meat at home, would I pause to wash & sanitize my grinder before grinding another type of meat? Hmmm…..
I am going to learn by doing in a few minutes ;-)
But we’re still curious what temp you used to reheat? and thawed first or still frozen?
Thanks! : )
I would thaw them first and then reheat them at 350 for around 10-15 minutes. It really is a learn by doing process with different ovens. :)
Did you put the chicken breasts in the food processor whole or roughly chop them up?
I chopped them a little so they would fit better and not overdo my processor. :)
How many pounds of chicken do you think that would be? I have two chicken breast that are about 1 1/2 pounds together. Love the idea of using the food processor to grind the meat – I would never have thought of that. Thanks for all your great ideas.
I’m not sure – my guess is that 3 pounds is about 5 chicken breasts??
I remember seeing that you normally purchase smart chicken but have you ever ordered any from Azurewe have great locally grown chicken available but hard to find just breasts its usually sold whole chicken which is at great price but the breasts
No, I haven’t. Smart chicken is typically less expensive and it is local to me. :)
What is smart chicken? I buy my breast in bulk from Zaycon farms and i think that’s that’s pretty
smart. :)
Smart chicken is a brand that can be bought at our local supermarkets. We can typically buy it in bulk and split it up.
Do you add the garlic when you add the onions?
Yes, looks like I need to edit the post to include that!
Maybe you could do it in your free time…guffaw! Thanks for all the great recipes. We just started our Whole Foods Journey this week, and my family (including my picky ones) has loved all the recipes – I think the favorite was yesterday’s snack though – mudballs :) I am making these sandwiches tonight. Keep them coming!:)
If I don’t have a food processor any other idea on how I might get the chicken to the right consistency? Thanks!
Hmmm, I’m not sure. My grandma used to use a cheese grater, but that sounds kind of tedious!
Growing up we used an old school meat grinder for all sorts of things. You could also use a hand chopper or a sharp knife to slice and dice.
I used ground chicken breast found in my local grocer’s meat department. They were delicious.
I will admit that I was a little doubtful of this recipe, especially after whirling everything together and it being so, so, goopey. I almost threw in some breadcrumbs. But a few minutes in the frying pan they were nearly perfect – flavorful and oh so moist! I made mine into small nuggets because I have a toddler (and preschooler) with a serious love of all things “chick nuggeh” and they passed children and husband approval. I did omit the onion (partly because of the kids, but mostly because I was lazy) and two of the eggs (I was being cheap and stingy) but they were still great! Thanks for the recipe!
Sounds yummy! I raise the Cornish cross meat chickens and am not fond of the breasts. This is a great idea what to do with them! Thanks!
Having tried and liked several of the recipes on this site, I had been wanting to try this recipe for a while but kept losing my nerve because my family is not all that crazy about trying new things. I finally tried it tonight and while the flavor was good, the texture was a problem for us. It was very “eggy” which I expected, but when I read the reviews several said the texture was really good. I had even reduced the eggs to 4. I think if I try it again I’ll use more chicken and less eggs.
Thanks for posting this…wondering: do you think they would work if I baked them? Or does the frying keep them together? Have you tried baking them?
I haven’t tried, but I do question whether they’d stay together as well. :)
What could I use as an egg substitute? My baby and I both have egg allergies (I eat them anyway!! but she absolutely cannot)and I know there are some recipes that are just not tweekable (sp?), what would you recommend? It makes me oh so very sad not to be able to things with egg :(
Go ahead and skip the egg altogether. The recipe will turn out fine. :)
Hi Laura,
Did you make those buns or buy them? They look really good, but nothing like any homemade buns I’ve ever turned out. Any suggestions?
Laura did buy the ones pictured however here are two links to different buns/rolls you could try to make at home that would turn out excellent!
https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/one-hour-whole-wheat-yeast-rolls-no-kneading-required
https://heavenlyhomemakers.com/whole-wheat-hamburger-buns
Thanks Lyndsey!
WOW! I made this for dinner tonight and they were AMAZING!!!! A new favorite that I will be making once a month. I’m excited to eat the leftovers for lunch :) thank you so much!!
I am so glad I came across this recipe! Need more recipes that I can make ahead & throw in the freezer for quick lunches or for grocery shopping days (we live an hour away from the city where we do the vast majority of our shopping, so we usually make a day of it and unfortunately end up eating out).
I noticed on another post that when you said 3 chicken breast you really meant 3 “whole” chicken breast, as in 6 “halves”. Is that the same here? I have made these before and my family loves them, but I always used less eggs because it seemed too runny with all 6. After reading the comments in that other post it got me to thinking about this recipe. Also, I have used my George Foreman grill to cook these or egg rings to get the perfect size – both work great.
It is a total of about 12 oz. Laura uses 3 4oz chicken breasts for this recipe.
if I were to use leftover shredded chicken for this, would that work? How much do you think it would need?
That should be fine. I would recommend around 2 cups of chicken.
I LOVE these. I just made this for the third time. I made a HUGE batch with 10 lbs of chicken. I don’t add as much carrots and onions because of picky eaters but I did get a little bit in there. I also only used 5 eggs for the whole batch because that’s all it needed to form right and too many eggs makes it taste more like scrambled eggs than chicken. I had so much I decided to try them out in the oven. After I cooked them in there I threw them in the coconut oil to crisp them up a bit. Now I have a bunch to put in my freezer for lunches. Thanks for the recipe!
Could you cook these in an air fryer?
Yes, that’s a great idea!