The OMG This Is Good Weeknight Hamburger Pizza

Pizza night is always a good time in my home. Whether it’s frozen, delivered, or homemade, we enjoy it all. This particular pizza is a hearty take on a classic hamburger pizza that relies on a chewy premade pizza crust (like Boboli®) to speed the process. You can certainly make this using fresh or frozen pizza crust, but you’ll need to pre-bake it some first. That will keep it from turning out soggy. Also, I highly recommend using a thicker, chewier crust so that it will hold up under all that beef! If you really want a thin crust hamburger pizza, split the meat and cheese over two pizzas.

Because I use a premade crust, I can make this pizza from start to finish in under an hour. To me, that’s weeknight fast. After all, it would take me that long to order pizza and get it delivered to my home. This is better pizza than my local pizzeria makes and much more affordable to make at home. I don’t know any pizza parlors that use a full pound of ground beef on one 12-inch pie.

I live in the land of picky eaters. So, this recipe includes ingredients my family will eat. My daughter does not appreciate onions, but if I chop them and cook them into something like this, she doesn’t mind them a bit. If you or your family dislike onions or mushrooms, leave them out. Likewise, if you want to add something, like ½ cup of chopped bell pepper, go ahead. I love this recipe with green or red bell pepper cooked in. If you like it spicy, try adding a couple of dashes of crushed red peppers to the hamburger mixture.

I usually serve this pizza with a simple green salad to make it a full meal. If you want to add your vegetables to the pizza, a cup of cooked spinach or kale with all the liquids squeezed out can be layered between the beef and cheese. If you didn’t cook the greens in salted water, season them lightly after spreading them on the pizza.

I like to use flavorful beef that is on the lean side. So, I tend to opt for grass-fed beef that is 85% lean or leaner. I have also made this with extra lean 93% lean ground beef, and it’s still delicious. One advantage to using the extra lean beef is there’s no need to drain off the excess fat because there really isn’t any. This is true if you opt for a lean ground turkey as well.

You can also use vegetarian crumbles (beef substitute). If you do, I suggest you start by cooking the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil along with the seasonings, then add the faux beef to the pan along with the mushrooms. Cook and stir until the protein is heated through and the mushrooms have begun to brown.

Use whatever kind of beef you prefer. The idea with this recipe, as with all the recipes at Weird Sisters Kitchen, is to make a meal using ingredients that are easily accessible for most people and that you may already have on hand.

I love a robust, slightly sweet, St. Louis style pizza sauce for this pizza. It’s hard to find a thick, rich sauce in a jar, so I make my own pizza sauce. And it’s one of the easiest, least expensive things I know how to make. It’s versatile enough to work for pretty much any pizza, it freezes well, so it’s a great make-ahead ingredient, and I can use it anyplace I want to add a pop of rich tomato flavor (like beef stew). It’s a simple mix of canned tomato paste, water, garlic, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Here’s how to make it.

It’s no accident that this pizza uses three kinds of cheese. Each brings something unique to the pie. The parmesan adds a salty nuttiness that’s unlike any other cheese. You can use Romano or asiago to get that salty pop if that’s what you have on hand. But I prefer parmesan. This is one of the rare occasions when I will tell you that you don’t need to grate your own. The stuff in the green shaker works just fine here, so use what you have.

The same is true for the part-skim mozzarella. If you buy shredded cheese in a bag, it will work just fine here. If you prefer to shred your own, then use that. I tend to buy eight-ounce mozzarella blocks and shred it as I need it. I do this because I don’t use it every day, so I need something that keeps a good long time in my refrigerator’s cheese drawer. Yes, it might get moldy. But I can cut the mold off a block of cheese and use what’s left. If shredded cheese gets even a little moldy, you have to toss the bag.  I hate waste.

The one ingredient you really need to stick with is fresh mozzarella. There really is nothing else quite like it. The silky cheesiness finishes this dish just right. I generally use an eight-ounce ball of fresh mozzarella for one pizza, but you could just as easily use eight-ounces of bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella). Either way, tear or cut your mozzarella early in the process, so it has time to rest and drain onto a paper towel-lined plate. Fresh mozzarella has a lot more moisture than part-skim does. If you don’t drain it a bit, you can end up with a very wet pizza that’s difficult to eat.

I serve this pizza with a fork. You really don’t need one if you use a nice chewy crust base. Still, I like to have one to pick up the pieces of beef and mushroom that inevitably topple off this loaded pizza because I don’t want to miss a single bit. It’s that good.

Weeknight Hamburger Pizza

Course: Dinner, Entertaining, Ground beef Dishes, WeeknightCuisine: American, ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

3

minutes

Total time

50

minutes

This hearty pizza can be customized to suit your tastes. Serve it alongside a tossed green salad and you have dinner for six! The magic ingredient in this weeknight dinner: store-bought, premade pizza crust!

Ingredients

• 1 12-inch pre-made pizza crust (like Boboli®) or other pre-baked pizza crust

• 1 lb. ground beef (80% lean or leaner)

• 1 small onion, diced (½ cup)

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or 3-4 cloves of minced garlic)

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper

• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (or 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained)

• ½ cup pizza sauce

• ½ cup ground or grated parmesan cheese

• 1 cup part skim mozzarella cheese, grated

• 8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese

• Dash of Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 425° F.
  
• If using fresh pizza crust, pre-bake it until ½ done. Place pre-baked pizza crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet and set aside.
• Slice fresh mozzarella cheese into about 10 slices or tear it into crumbles. Rest it on a paper towel-lined plate to allow excess moisture to seep away.
  
• In a medium skillet, brown the ground beef.
• When most of the pink is gone from the beef, add the chopped onion to the pan along with the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and all of the beef is browned.
• Taste the beef to make sure there is enough salt. It should taste like a well-seasoned hamburger.
• Drain excess fat from the pan. (You can skip this step if using 90% lean or leaner beef or turkey or vegetarian crumbles.)
• Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have softened and begun to brown. (If using canned mushrooms, drain them and stir them into the beef and turn it off.)
• Spread the prepared pizza crust with your favorite pizza sauce, or use this simple homemade one.
• Sprinkle with parmesan cheese to evenly coat the pie.
• Spread half of the shredded mozzarella cheese across the crust, followed by half the beef, onion, and mushroom mixture. Repeat with the other half of the shredded cheese, followed by the rest of the beef mixture.
• Top with fresh mozzarella cheese pieces, spreading evenly.
• Bake in a 425° oven for 12–15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and gooey.
• Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a dash of Italian seasoning (if using) and allow pizza to rest for about five minutes before slicing.

Notes

• This pizza freezes well as individual slices. Reheat it in the microwave for about 45 seconds, or until warm throughout.
• This pizza can be made using vegetarian ground beef substitutes like the Veggie Crumbles from Boca Burger or Morning Star Farms. No need to pre thaw. Cook the onion and the seasonings in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil until the onions are translucent. Then add the crumbles and the mushrooms and cook and stir until the beef substitute is warmed through and the mushrooms have begun to brown.
• Want to jazz it up a bit? Add 1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper to the beef mixture just before adding the mushrooms. Or had 1/2 cup of sliced ripe olives after the mushrooms.