The Best Tasting Pizza Burger

If I'm not cooking out on my gas grill, there are probably two types of food I love the most: pizza and a good cheeseburger. Finding quality pizza is hard enough where I live, and if you want a good cheeseburger, you have to drive 30 miles up the interstate. But because I'm a sucker for experiments, I decided to tinker with something of my own creation. You don't even want to know about the first attempts at making the perfect cheeseburger. And the pizza... well, let's just say that didn't work out so well either. Then it hit me: why not combine the two? I've heard of cheeseburger pizza, but I've never ate a pizza burger.

After a few tries I had what I thought was the best burger I had ever tasted. I couldn't wait until the spring hit so I could try it out on the gas grill. They were a smash hit with my wife and kids. The taste is indescribable. It's somewhere between a pizza and a good burger, but yet totally unique to each. I've been making them every weekend for my kids. They can't seem to get enough.

Super Pizza Burgers

We'll need to think harmony here. You might like ham and pineapple on your pizza, but I'm not sure how good that will taste on a burger. So, at the store, pick up some simple ingredients for a template before you decide to get bold. I like 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of Italian sausage, some olive oil, mozzarella cheese, your favorite jarred sauce, pepperoni, one red onion, a green pepper, and your choice of buns. I personally like pita bread because it's more like pizza crust, but pick up whatever you want.

The first thing I do is mix up the beef and sausage. All I add to this is some olive oil (a few tablespoons to keep it moist), and some salt and pepper. I like these types of burgers a little on the thin side. If I'm eating a regular cheeseburger, I want it so thick that I get a headache just opening my mouth wide enough. But these burgers really need a balance of all the ingredients. I can usually make 12 burgers out of 2 pounds of meat, so that gives you an idea of how big they should be. When they're all patted out, I cover them and leave them on the counter while I finish the other simple prep work.

I slice the onion super thin and cut the green pepper into strips. I like to have my cheese all nice and portioned out in advance. It just makes it easier. When you're ready to throw the burgers on, let your grill come up to medium heat and make sure those racks are oiled. Though there's a lot of fat in this meat, we still don't want to take the chance of the burgers sticking. They're thin, so if they do stick, they'll just fall apart. Place your burgers down and let them go for about 6 minutes with the lid closed. We want these well done because of the pork in there. Flip them over and give them another solid 6. Except this time, line them all up on 1 side of the grill; drop the heat on the other side to low, and top with some pepperoni, and then the cheese.

Place your buns down on the opposite side to get warm and toasty. After the 6 or so minutes are up, go ahead and take everything off of the grill. I like the thin onion and green pepper on mine, but you can top with anything you'd like. I spread the sauce on like mayo instead of pouring it on; it likes to run off on your shirt.