Pizza Burgers

By msippigrl

Kids of all ages will gobble these up!! It's pizza, in a bun! These pizza burgers are mash up of a sloppy Joe topped with pepperoni and melted cheese. Serve with French fries.

Ingredients

• 30 pepperoni slices, about 5-6 per sandwich
• 1 pound lean ground beef, I used 93/7
• Salt and pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced, about 1/2 teaspoon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 (14-ounce) jar Ragu Homemade Style pizza sauce
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I used 1/4 tsp)
• Grated Parmesan cheese, about 1/4 cup
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 6 hamburger buns (I used 5 Great Value Jumbo buns)

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 20mins
Cooking time 30mins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat then add the pepperoni and heat on both sides just until the grease is rendered, but not browned. Remove to paper towels to drain.

Wipe skillet clean and add the ground beef and a little salt and pepper, and cook just until no longer pink (not completely done), coarsely breaking it up as it cooks. When no longer pink, add the onion and garlic and continue to cook until onion is tender. (I covered the skillet for a couple of minutes then removed it to finish cooking). Drain off grease. (I drained in a colander then returned it to the skillet).

Stir in the pizza sauce and Italian seasoning and cook until heated through and sauce is slightly reduced. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Position an oven rack about 6" from the broiler heating element, then preheat oven to Broil.

Meanwhile, line a large jellyroll pan with foil. Open the buns up and spread them out, cut sides up, on the pan. On the bottom halves of buns, sprinkle a little shredded mozzarella (just enough to keep the sauce from soaking into the bun). Add a scoop of meat mixture on top, then sprinkle with Parmesan. Arrange 5-6 pepperoni on top of the meat, then top with more mozzarella.

Place under the broiler for a couple minutes to melt the cheese and lightly toast the top buns. Watch closely so they don't burn! Remove from oven and place the tops on the pizza burgers and serve immediately with French fries, if desired.