Chicken Zucchini Poppers
These garlic and zucchini chicken patties are easy to make, healthy, and delicious. Topped with a little creamy cilantro sauce, they're the perfect gluten free weeknight meal.
Servings: 12 patties
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken can use chicken breast or ground chicken thighs - higher fat content recommended
- 1-2 medium zucchini squash (about 1½ cups shredded)
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced or 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh black pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil
Creamy Cilantro Sauce
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 small garlic clove (or more depending on preference)
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon cottage cheese
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine cilantro, garlic clove, mayonnaise, cottage cheese, and vinegar in a food processor or in a tall glass with an immersion blender (my personal favorite) and blend till combined. Place in the fridge to thicken and let flavors combine for at least 30 minutes, season with salt and pepper to taste.
- On a cheese grater, grate the fresh zucchini squash onto a paper towel or kitchen towel. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of kosher salt and squeeze to remove excess moisture. Place the shredded zucchini into a large bowl with ground chicken, garlic, chives, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoons fresh black pepper. Form mixture into 2-3 inch patties, you should have 8-12 total. They should resemble flattened meatballs.
- Add oil to a large skillet and bring to medium high heat. Cook chicken patties on each side for 4 minutes until browned on both sides and cooked through. If they're not quite cooked through but getting really brown, place a lid over top the skillet and turn down the heat to medium for 2 minutes.
- Serve warm with the dipping sauce or top each popper with a little bit of the sauce.
Video
Notes
- Please note - The sauce is essential to the overall flavor. If you make it without the sauce, you may need to add more of your favorite seasonings.
- Cilantro sub - Use roughly 1 cup of fresh basil leaves or a combination of half basil and half parsley.
- Chives sub - If you can't find fresh chives, substitute green onion.
- Ground chicken thighs - I prefer ground chicken thighs, which are more flavorful and juicy than ground chicken breast, but both will work for this recipe. It helps the flavor to have chicken breast with more fat (like 93/7)
- Dairy free, paleo, and Whole30 - leave out the cottage cheese and replace it with mayo. Cut back on the vinegar to 1-2 teaspoons to taste. Mixture might be a little more thin.
- For an egg free mayo, see my Aquafaba Mayo recipe.
- Store in the fridge or in the freezer for long term (see post for defrost instructions).
- If you don't have a food processor or immersion blender - Just chop the cilantro finely and mix everything together by hand. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Serving: 1patty | Calories: 85kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 178mg | Potassium: 255mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 149IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.4mg
