Cheeseburger Pizza
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Skip takeout and combine your favorites into one tasty dish!
Homemade cheeseburger pizza is made with seasoned ground beef, special sauce, onions, peppers, melty mozzarella, and smoky gouda cheese. Wowza!
Two favorite foods — cheeseburgers and pizzas — collide to make one delicious and fun family-friendly meal.
Recreate this recipe as-is or try one of the flavor variations listed down below. You could even set out a variety of toppings and have a “create your own” pizza party!
Once you learn how to make pizzas at home, you’ll never want to pay those pizzeria prices again. Try even more delicious and creative flavors with my BLT, Arugula Prosciutto, and Chicken Florentine recipes.
Key ingredients & substitutions for Cheeseburger Pizza
- Refrigerated dough — Cut down on prep by starting with a ready-made dough for the crust. You can also use a homemade version if you prefer! Be sure to let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before stretching it into shape.
- Ground beef — Choose a lean blend to limit the amount of grease and be sure to drain any extra from the pan. You could even use a plant-based alternative for a vegetarian option.
- Ketchup and mustard — This combo is what really makes your hamburger pizza taste like the real thing. Even if you aren’t a fan of mustard, I highly recommend leaving it in for the tang it adds to each bite.
- Steak seasoning — Use whichever blend you typically use on your burgers and steaks! You only need about a teaspoon.
- Cheese — Shredded mozzarella creates the classic gooey layer, while smoked gouda adds extra flavor!
- Veggies — Red onions are sweeter and milder than yellow or white varieties, and banana pepper rings add just the right amount of heat. You can also swap the peppers for pickles if you prefer.
Flavor Variations
- Add some bacon. Fry and crumble a few slices to add with the other toppings.
- Use Russian dressing. Instead of the ketchup-mustard mixture, substitute bottled Russian or Thousand Island dressing as the sauce.
- Serve up The Works! Top your cheeseburger pizza with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and pickles after you pull it out of the oven.
- Try a Tex-Mex twist. Substitute taco sauce for the ketchup-mustard sauce, Pepper Jack cheese in place of the smoked Gouda, and pickled jalapeño slices for the banana peppers.
How to make hamburger pizza?
STEP 1 | Prep the ingredients
Stretch the dough onto a prepared pan and mix up the sauce. Brown the ground beef, then stir in the steak seasoning, salt, and a little bit of the sauce.
STEP 2 | Add the sauce
Spread half of the remaining ketchup-mustard mixture evenly over the dough, then brush the edges with olive oil.
STEP 3 | Cover with toppings
Sprinkle on half of the cheese. Add the ground beef mixture, diced onions, and banana pepper rings. Top with remaining cheese.
STEP 4 | Bake
Cook for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the cheese is bubbly. Drizzle with the remaining sauce, then slice and serve!
Tips for making pizza at home
- Start with a hot oven — at least 475 degrees. Pizzas need to bake hot and fast!
- Lightly coat your pizza pan with cooking spray, then sprinkle evenly with a tablespoon of cornmeal before adding the crust. This will prevent the dough from sticking and will result in a crisper crust on the bottom.
- If you’ll be using a stone, place it in the oven to preheat first. Build the hamburger pizza on a piece of parchment, then carefully transfer it to the stone to bake.
- Stretch, don’t roll. Using a rolling pin to shape your crust will make it tough and cause it to deflate. Instead, lift and stretch the dough until it is the size you need.
Frequently asked questions
My homemade recipe uses the classic burger spreads — ketchup and mustard. Some chain restaurants use a combination of mayonnaise and ketchup or a secret blend of zesty ingredients.
Avoid a soggy crust by making sure you only use a thin layer of sauce, precook meat toppings, and add a sprinkle of cornmeal to the pan before baking. If you like yours a little extra crispy, bake your hamburger pizza on a rack in the lower third of your oven.
Since we prefer thin crust, I don’t find that cooking the dough before adding the toppings is necessary. That being said, if you prefer a thick crust, you may want to pre-bake the crust for 5 minutes before loading it up with your toppings.
Cheeseburger pizza: behind the recipe
We have some pretty serious pizza aficionados in our family. Our daughter and son-in-law got an outdoor pizza oven as a wedding gift, allowing them to perfect their homemade dough recipe and come up with all kinds of topping combinations.
Of course, I was happy to act as their personal taste-tester for pepperoni, pulled pork bbq, and margherita pizzas. This cheeseburger pizza recipe, however, just had to be shared!
Cheeseburger Pizza
Ingredients
- 12 ounces Refrigerated pizza dough
- ¾ pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon steak seasoning
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup shredded smoked gouda cheese
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- ¼ cup banana pepper rings
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Lightly coat a non-stick pizza pan with cooking spray and sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Transfer the pizza dough to the pan and press it to 1/8-inch thickness for thin crust or to 1/4-inch thickness for thick crust pizza.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook and crumble the ground beef until no longer pink. Drain off the grease.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup and mustard. Stir 2 tablespoons of this sauce into the ground beef along with the steak seasoning and salt.
- Brush about half of the remaining sauce evenly over the pizza dough and brush the edges of the dough with olive oil.
- Sprinkle half the smoked gouda and half the mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce, then add the ground beef mixture. Top with the diced onions, banana pepper rings, and the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crust is crispy and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven and drizzle with the remaining sauce and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Life Love and Good Food does not claim to be a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information shared on this site is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
My boys loved this pizza!
I only left off the onions and banana peppers because I decided to try making this on a spur-of-the-moment.
I will make again and next time I will be much more generous with the cheese:)
Absolutely delicious!!