Crispy Chicken Poppers

Getting ready for Sunday Night Football and have a time crunch, or just want to spice up your salad at lunch, seek no further! These Chicken Poppers will absolutely win over your guests, so you can host this year's Super Bowl (and don't have to worry about getting an Uber home).

This recipe was created out of desperation because I was getting really tired of marinated chicken breasts on my salads for lunch. I really wanted to stick to hearty salads for lunch, because I don't really 'do' sandwiches. I was perusing through the meat section at Whole Foods and noticed that they had ground chicken in the display. Ground, chicken... weird, I had never thought that was a thing! Right next to the plain ground chicken, were chicken patties... seriously, was this a new addition or had I just been so focused on the chicken breast that I didn't even notice this magnificent creation!?

Either way, I had a stroke of genius - to make mini chicken patties of my own. I could fill it with whatever veggies and spices I wanted, and could make them any thickness or width. I'm really picky and like to make my life harder by making things from scratch, or else I would have picked up the pre-made patties.

So, I doubled back to the produce section, picked up some zucchini, carrots, and scallions - super excited about all the ideas running around in my head.

Bon appétit and happy cooking!

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Author: Serena Moroukian

Prep Time: 10 min. Cook Time: 25 min. Total Time: 35 min.

Yield: 15 chicken poppers (2 inches in diameter)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground chicken

• 1 cup zucchini, grated

• 1 cup carrots, grated

• 2 large cloves garlic, minced

• 1 large scallion, chopped (more if you like)

• 1/2 tablespoon cumin

• 1 teaspoon fresh dill (can use dried)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (for cooking)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F

2. Line a pan with foil and grease with a bit of olive oil. Set aside

3. Add about 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and sauté minced garlic until fragrant. Set aside.

4. Grate zucchini and carrots in a food processor until it's the consistency that you like. Not too small because you still want to have some texture to your chicken poppers.

5. In the food processor, add the ground chicken to the grated veggies, along with sautéed garlic, scallions, cumin, dill, salt, and pepper. Grind up all ingredients until they are all incorporated. This should take about 45 seconds.

6. Scoop a heaping tablespoon of your meat mixture onto your greased baking sheet and use hands to flatten and mold. It's easy if you dip your fingers in olive oil before you shape the patties - this helps keep them from sticking to your hands.

7. Brush the tops of the patties with olive oil (if there wasn't a lot from shaping).

8. Bake at 400° for approximately 25 minutes or until they are cooked through. You can broil for an additional 3 minutes if you want them more brown on top.

9. Serve with a side of guacamole, ranch and sriracha dipping sauce, or garlic dill aioli.

I'd love to see how the recipe came out if you tried it. Tag #whatsyourcheatday on your post and I'll be sure to give you a shoutout!

xoxo

Serena