Open Face Pizza Burgers – A Nostalgic Recipe Like No Other

When you think about some of your favorite childhood meals or snacks does Open Face Pizza Burgers come to mind?

For Jim, just the mention of this recipe takes him back in time when he was a child. A friend of the family would serve them when they visited their house and he fell in love with them.

In fact, his entire family enjoyed them so much that the recipe was shared with them so they could make their own open face pizza burgers any time they wanted.

Now fast forward many years later. Jim and I were sitting around our fire pit having a conversation about some of our favorite childhood meals and the mention of pizza burgers came up.

I definitely recalled having pizza burgers in school. However, when I explained my recollection of this type of burger, Jim laughed and said that wasn’t anything like the pizza burgers that he was talking about.

I was talking about a hamburger patty topped with pizza sauce, pepperoni and Mozzarella cheese. To me, this was a Pizza Burger.

However, Jim told me that his pizza burgers were served open faced and were much different than what I was talking about.

Open Face Pizza Burgers

He tried to explain to me that his version of a pizza burger was made from a homemade spread made from bologna, pepperoni, cheese, and pizza sauce. And then it was served open faced and heated under a broiler.

Because this seemed so ‘odd’ to me, we decided to consult his mother for the exact recipe.

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. But after we made our first batch, I was hooked! They were surprisingly delicious and easy to make.

And I would imagine that it was a great way to feed a bunch of hungry teenagers at a moment’s notice.

Open Face Pizza Burgers Recipe

This recipe requires only 5 ingredients.

It starts with an equal portion of garlic bologna, pepperoni, and Colby cheese.

Then you place the ingredients through meat grinder. However be sure to alternate the ingredients as they go through the grinder so that you get an even mix.

We use a Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment and this process literally takes just a few minutes. But any type of meat grinder will work as well!

And although I haven’t tried it yet, I would imagine a food processor could work in a pinch too.

Once you have mixture, pour the pizza sauce in the bowl with the meat and cheese mixture and combine until well incorporated.

Now comes the fun part! Open a hamburger bun and place a mound of the pizza burger on top of each side. Repeat until you have topped as many buns as you need.

Place each open face pizza burger on a baking tray. Then place the tray on an oven rack positioned in the top third section.

Broil until the mixture begins to bubble and the bun becomes golden around the edges. Serve warm.

There you have it, an Open Face Pizza Burger like no other! What other nostalgic recipes can you remember from your childhood?

Enjoy!

Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.

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