Pizza Burgers

This was one of my childhood favorites, and now that I'm all grown up, I like pizza burgers even better because I can put whatever I like on them!  Really, the possibilities are virtually endless.  I will share the recipe I made last night, but be aware that you can change it up to contain whatever toppings you prefer.  For instance, rather than using ground beef, you might prefer to use Italian sausage, or perhaps a combination of both beef and sausage.  You might like to add mushrooms or other veggies to the mixture.  But, without further delay, here is the basic recipe to pizza burgers--yet another fast and easy meal to make!

2 # ground beef (or ground Italian sausage)
pizza sauce (store bought or homemade...I make my own for this recipe)
pizza toppings (onions, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc.)
hamburger buns
mozzarella cheese

Start out by browning your ground beef.

I add my onions (and any other crisp veggies, such as bell peppers) to the hamburger while it cooks, to soften them up a bit.

Once the hamburger is browned, you'll add your pizza sauce to it.  Since I prefer to make my own sauces, you'll see a little tutorial below of how easy it is and how much cheaper it is, too!

Here are some of the items you'll need to make your own sauce:

I pour the can of tomato sauce into a small bowl, then dump Italian seasonings, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into it and stir it up.  I don't measure out the seasonings; I know we like the taste of Italian seasoning, so I use more of that and go light on the pepper.  You can get an idea of how much I use by looking at this picture:

I then stir this together.  If you want to test your sauce, now is the time to dip a small spoon in the mixture and see if tastes how you like it.

I also add grated Parmesan cheese to my sauce.

Again, just pour in what you think would be a good amount and mix it in with the rest of the seasonings.

Cut up any additional toppings and throw them into the sauce (pepperoni, mushrooms, etc.)

By this time, your meat should be browned.  Turn off the heat, drain any excess grease, and then add the pizza sauce to the meat.

Stir it all together.

You will want to allow the meat to cool for a few minutes before adding the mozzarella cheese.  It makes it easier to spoon onto the buns if the cheese hasn't melted all over.  In the meantime, grab your buns. ;)

This kind; any brand will do:

Set them up on a cookie sheet, so they are all open-faced.

We'll assume that in this time, your meat has cooled off enough to allow you to add in the cheese.  Again, I don't measure, I just eyeball how much cheese would be good.  This looks about right.

Stir it all up once again.  The meat will still be warm and the cheese will definitely melt, but it's workable.  At this point, you want to turn your oven on to its "broil" setting (550*F).

Next, you want to scoop the above mixture onto the open-faced buns.  This is a fun recipe for the kids to help with.  I told my daughter that I would let her "model" one of the pizza burgers for my camera.

Nice job, M!

Here is a pan of buns ready to be popped into the oven:

You will only need to broil these things for 3-5 minutes.  I'd suggest that in a standard-size oven, you raise the rack closer to the top--you want the tops to cook up quickly, but you don't want the bottoms of the buns to burn.  Keep an eye on them; even a few seconds can make the difference between crispy pizza burgers and burned pizza burgers.  We have a double oven, so I placed my pan in the smaller top oven.  They only needed to bake for 2 & 1/2 minutes before they were ready.  Here they are after being toasted.

 Serve these up with a piece of fruit and a salad or favorite veggie and you're good to go!   Here's a close-up of the finished product!