January 21, 2014

Cheeseburger Pizza

Name: Cheeseburger Pizza
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 ball of pizza dough, store-bought or homemade; 3/4 pound ground beef; 1/4 small white onion, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons butter, melted; Pinch of garlic powder; 4 ounces shredded sharp Cheddar cheese; 1 tablespoon white sesame seeds; 1-1/2 tablespoons ketchup; 1-1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise; 1-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard; Dash of Tabasco sauce; 1/2 large tomato, chopped; 1-1/2 cups shredded lettuce; 1/3 cup thin-sliced bread and butter pickles

This Cheeseburger Pizza recipe has it all! Ground beef, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions…on a sesame seed crust.

My husband LOVES making pizza – he grills it in the summer, bakes it in the winter, and comes up with a new flavor combo each time. In this monthly “guest post,” I’m going to sit back, relax, and maybe take the occasional photo while Jeff makes me a pizza and tells you about it. Here he is:

The inspiration behind this cheeseburger pizza recipe:

All of my guy friends love pizza, burgers, barbecue, and beer. I am no different . . . I just like to class them up a bit. I brew my own beer, make my own pizza (you’ve read about many of them), smoke my own meats, and try every joint in the greater Detroit area claiming “voted best burger”.

With this pizza, I decided to do a fusion. Behold the cheeseburger pizza.

If you are like me, you like classic burgers. I am talking about the ones made at bowling alleys and little holes-in-the-wall. These are places where handmade patties are caramelized and sesame seed buns are toasted on a large flat-top griddle. They usually come with only the basics – cheese, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and onions.

If you can, use a pizza stone for this hamburger pizza!

Pizza stones are a wonderful product because they help to achieve that wood-fired oven feel without spending a couple grand. You simply throw the pizza stone in the oven as it preheats (usually to a high temperature like 450 degrees F) and once the oven comes up to temp you put the freshly stretched dough down and stick it back in.

I achieved the toasted sesame seed bun feel by using a pizza stone to brown off the pizza crust before brushing it with melted garlic butter and sprinkling with sesame seeds. Think deconstructed Big Mac bun.

What is on a cheeseburger pizza?

This is really up to you, and what you normally like to eat on your cheeseburgers! Here, I used:

ground beef
sharp cheddar cheese
lettuce
tomato
pickles
special sauce (more on that below)

What sauce for cheeseburger pizza?

I replicated the burger condiment mixture of ketchup and mustard by making a sauce for drizzling. I mixed equal parts ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise with a little splash of hot sauce. Think a riff on Big Mac sauce.

Other ideas to make this cheeseburger pizza your own:

make it a BACON Cheeseburger pizza by adding bacon! (consult my “how to cook bacon in the oven” post to get your bacon ready)
top with avocado or guacamole to give it a California feel
add mushrooms, because they are a great burger topping
make it spicy by adding jalapeños
get really adventurous and add a few fried eggs to the top!

I hope you enjoy combining my favorite foods and indulging in this creation.

Yield: 4 servings