Tongue-tingling (Mala) grilled chicken burger
Our Mala Grilled Chicken Burger is a hot, umami-rich delight that will leave your taste buds tingling. With Sichuan peppercorns providing a gentle, subtle numbing sensation, each bite offers a captivating contrast of savoury, sweet, spicy, and salty flavors. The crispy exterior and juicy, flavourful grilled chicken thigh create a perfect texture combination.
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 20 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, BBQ, Chinese, Japanese
- 8 whole skin-on & deboned chicken thighs you could use chicken breast
- ½ tsp salt per kg for the dry brine
- 8 brioche burger buns or the buns of your choice
Dry rub
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1½ tsp fennel seeds crushed in a pestle and morter
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp red chilli flakes
- 1½ tsp sichuan peppercorns crushed in a pestle and morter
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise for binding the dry rub onto the chicken
Burger toppings
- 1½ tsp crispy chilli oil per burger. See the recipe on the blog. The recipe link can also be found at the end of this post
- 8 slices American (plastic) cheese
- 8 tsbp mayonnaise
- Green leaf batavia lettuce leaves or the buns of your choice
Dry brine the chicken thighs with ½tsp table salt per kg of chicken. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Add the mayonnaise and dry rub to a bowl and mix together to make a paste.
Add the chicken to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
Light up your coal using a charcoal chimney and set up the grill for indirect grilling.
Place the marinated chicken on the opposite side of the grill to the lit charcoal and close the lid.
Cook the chicken thighs until the reach an internal temperature above 75°C.
Bring the chicken thighs directly over the hot coals and sear until you get a nice char.
Warm up your burger buns.
Build your burger with the toppings of your choice, we used crispy chilli oil, cheese, mayonnaise and batavia lettuce
Keyword BBQ, chicken burger, Mala grilled chicken burger, sichaun pepper