BBQ Chicken Sausage Patties

Some nights you do not have it in you to cook a project. This is the dish for those nights, and it asks almost nothing of you. 5 ingredients, 1 pan, 30 minutes start to finish. Keeping a few easy, reliable meals like this in reach is part of what makes real, whole-food cooking sustainable over the long term.

The chicken gives you lean protein, the raw material your body uses to rebuild and repair while the immune system does its slow work of settling toward calm. The cilantro folded through adds a fresh green note and its own polyphenols, and a clean barbecue sauce carries the flavor without the nightshades and seed-spices this way of eating sets aside. It tastes like real comfort food, built entirely from what supports you.

Roll the patties with your hands and notice the herb and onion through the meat before they hit the pan. When they come out browned and fragrant, plate them with care and take a breath before you eat. The few seconds of presence are part of how the meal serves you.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 cup AIP-compliant barbecue sauce (see the nomato BBQ sauce, which you can make in advance)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, for cooking

Most barbecue sauces are built on tomato and paprika, both nightshades that strict AIP sets aside, so this recipe leans on a homemade one. No mainstream brand is reliably labeled AIP-compliant, so rather than sending you hunting for a jar that may not exist, make a batch of the nomato BBQ sauce, ready in under 1 hour, and keep it in the fridge. If you do not tolerate coconut, swap the coconut oil for any cooking fat you do well with.

Method

• In a bowl, combine the ground chicken, cilantro, red onion, and barbecue sauce. Mix gently with your hands until just blended, then roll into 1-inch balls or press into small patties.
• Warm the coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook 10 to 15 minutes, turning now and then, until browned on all sides and cooked through.

Air fryer variation

Arrange the patties in a single layer in the basket, leaving space between them, and air fry at about 375F for 10 to 12 minutes, flipping halfway, until cooked through. No added oil is needed since the basket renders the chicken's own fat. Air fryer wattages vary, so check one patty at the center before serving. This conversion is untested, so treat the time and temperature as a starting point.

*Adapted from acleanplate.com*