A Glug of Oil

Easy and delicious recipes including midweek dinner ideas, English and world cuisine

Chipotle Burgers with Overnight Pickle

Chipotle Burgers with Sweet and Sour Red Onion and Courgette Pickles

Perfect for all your summer BBQs or of course, anytime!

A large burger with melted cheese and sweet and sour red onion pickle. Pictured by a jar of malt vinegar at the side.
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This is a commissioned post for the Sarson’s Street Food Recipe Challenge (2015). Sarson's recreated my burger and pickle recipe and arranged for a professional photo.

Trust me, these are the best chipotle burgers!

Over the past few years, street food has come a long way from good old fish 'n' chips eaten from a paper bag on the way home from a night out.

But these days there's so much more street food available and the variety of different foods to be found is amazing.

Street food should be good, filling and full of flavour. Pickles are the finishing touch to any burger.

Pickling is a great way to preserve most vegetables. Sarson’s Malt Pickling Vinegar is already spiced meaning you don't have to add any more spices to it and can be used just as it is.

For my burger, I wanted a sweet and sour pickle with an extra kick of spice. 😋 

You might like to check out my other Homemade Burger Recipes

Sweet and red onions with courgettes (zucchini)

  • Trim the ends of the courgettes and then using a mandolin slicer, slice them into 5mm thickness.
  • Peel the onions and again using a mandolin slice the red onion into 2mm rings.
  • Separate the onion rings and put them into a large bowl along with the courgettes.
  • Sprinkle with salt and mix to coat.
  • Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for about 3 hours.
  • Meanwhile put the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seeds and coriander seeds into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes.
  • Remove the pan from heat and let the brine cool to room temperature.
  • Leave the salt on the courgettes and onions and drain well.
  • Fill sterilised jars with the courgettes and onions. Pour in the brine, pressing down to make sure they’re packed in nicely. 
  • Tap the jars to remove any trapped air.
  • Close the lids on the Kilner jars and store them in the fridge. These pickles will be ready to eat the next day, and they will keep in an airtight jar for up to 6 days.
Red onion pickle with chipotle burger.


Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!

sweet and sour red onion pickle, chipotle burgers,
main, burgers, pickles,
English
Yield: 2
Author: Jan Bennett
Chipotle Burgers with Red Onion and Courgette Pickle

Chipotle Burgers with Red Onion and Courgette Pickle

This recipe makes 2 burgers and the pickle recipe fills a 750ml Kilner jar.
Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 50 Min

Ingredients

For the burgers
  • 200g lean minced beef (ground beef) 5% fat
  • 200g lean minced pork 5% fat
  • 1 red onion - peeled and chopped into fine dice
  • 1 heaped tablespoon chipotle paste
  • olive oil
  • sea salt and black pepper
  • American yellow mustard for basting
For the buns
  • 2 brioche burger buns - sliced
  • 2 slices Extra matured Cheddar cheese
  • American yellow mustard
  • To serve: sweet and sour courgette and red onion pickle - see recipe below
For the dressing
  • 1 leaf of iceberg lettuce - shredded
  • 1 heaped tablespoon mayonnaise
  • ½ tablespoon of tomato ketchup
  • ½ teaspoon smokey chipotle sauce
Makes enough to fill 1 x 500ml and 1 x 250ml Kilner jars:
  • 3 courgettes (zucchini)
  • 2 red onions
  • 2 tablespoons of Maldon sea salt
  • a good pinch of dried red chilli flakes
For the brine
  • 400ml Sarson’s malt pickling vinegar
  • 200g white sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric
  • 2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon *dry roasted coriander seeds
  • *To dry roast, put the coriander seeds into a frying pan over medium heat stir for a few minutes taking care they don’t burn. Dry roasting intensifies the flavour.

Instructions

To sterilise jars
  1. Wash the jars in hot soapy water and rinse well.
  2. Put them onto a baking tray and into a preheated oven at 120°C or Gas mark 1 for about 5 minutes or until completely dry.
  3. If you're using Kilner jars remove the rubber seals, put them into boiling water and leave them to dry.
To make the pickle
  1. Trim the ends from the courgettes and, using a mandolin slicer, slice the courgettes to 5mm thickness.
  2. Peel the onions and again using a mandolin slice the red onion into 2mm rings.
  3. Separate the onion rings and put them into a large bowl along with the courgettes. Sprinkle with salt and mix to coat.
  4. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for about 3 hours.
  5. Meanwhile put the vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seed and coriander seeds into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then, turn the heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes.
  6. Remove the pan from heat and let the brine cool to room temperature.
  7. Leave the salt on the courgettes and onions and drain well.
  8. Fill sterilised jars with the courgettes and onions. Pour in the brine, pressing down to make sure they’re packed in nicely. Tap the jars to remove any trapped air.
  9. Close the lids on the Kilner jars and store them in the fridge. These pickles will be ready to eat the next day and will keep for up to 6 days.
To make the burgers
  1. Heat up 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the chopped onions and cook over low heat until softened but not coloured.
  2. Add the chipotle paste and give it a quick stir. Remove from the heat and spread out on a plate to cool down.
  3. Get a large bowl and add the onions along with the pork and beef mince. Use your hands to mix it all together.
  4. Divide the mixture into two, wet your hand and shape into two balls then press into 2 burgers.
  5. Put the burgers onto a lightly oiled plate, cover with cling film and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes or so. It’s really important to do this or your burgers will fall apart when cooking.
  6. When you’re ready to cook; using a piece of kitchen paper, wipe a large frying pan with a little oil. Brush both sides of each burger with a little American yellow mustard.
  7. When the frying pan is hot, over high heat put the burgers in to cook. Leave for about two minutes and then flip them over. Continue to cook the other side for another couple of minutes.
  8. The burgers shouldn’t take long to cook so after a minute or so, check medium is best, so try not to overcook.
  9. Put a slice of cheese on top of each burger.
  10. Add a splash of water to the pan and cover the burgers with a heatproof bowl – this will make the cheese melt nicely.
To serve
  1. Spread half the mayonnaise dressing onto the bottom of each bun. Place a cheese-topped burger on top of each, followed by a squirt of mustard.
  2. Add the sweet and sour courgette and red onion pickle, top with the other half of the bun and enjoy!
Did you make this recipe?
@aglugofoil #glugofoil

20 comments

  1. I love burgers, specially cooked on the grill / BBQ. I love mine with tomato, lettuce mayo and thin slices of pickled cucumber. Yum!

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  2. I absolutely love pickled onion in a burger!

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  3. They look absolutely delicious!

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  4. When you said pickle I imagined gerkins (I hate gerkins) but this pikle sounds dellicious, might have to go on my to make list :)

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  5. This sounds delicious especially the pickle, I am going to try that!

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  6. They look lovely, I never put pickles on my burgers at home but will give it a try! x

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  7. I do not like onions, courgettes or cucumbers so I would have to have this without some of the ingredients. However the rest of my family would enjoy them all.

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  8. Oh these look delicious! well done you :)

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  9. Sounds absolutely delicious with all my favourite ingredients together, yummy!

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  10. I love pickles with lots of things and burgers are up there (especially if they're in brioche buns!). I like spice too so I'm sure I'd enjoy these, thanks for the recipe!

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  11. Always looking for courgette recipes (here in abundance all year round). Love the sound of pickling them.

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  12. I am with Sally, all ideas for courgettes gratefully received!

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  13. I'd never thought of putting courgette in burgers. I'll have to try it out

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  14. These look and sound amazing thank you for the recipe can't wait to give them a try x

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  15. these look wonderful! I don't eat pork but am sure a sub for lamb would still work nicely!

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  16. These look gorgeous! I love anything Chipotle!

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  17. This would so hit the spot right bout now. I love the extra kick.

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I love to hear from everyone so thanks for taking the time to comment. Please note comments containing links will NOT be published.

Cheers
Jan