Easy Crockpot Pizza Burgers
This recipe combines classic pizza and burger flavors into an easy slow cooker meal, perfect for weeknights, game days, or comforting dinners. Requires minimal hands-on time.
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 2 lbs Ground Beef 80/20 suggested
- 30 oz Pizza Sauce usually two standard 15oz jars
- 0.5 cup Pepperoni Slices cut in half for better distribution, or use mini pepperoni
- 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella for mixing
- 8 Slices Mozzarella Cheese for topping; Provolone works too
- 8 Rolls hamburger buns, sub rolls, or crusty rolls work
Instructions
- First things first, you need to brown your ground beef. Grab a large skillet and cook the ground beef over medium heat, breaking it up as you go.
- Once the beef is cooked through and nicely browned, drain off any excess grease. This is an important step to keep your final mix from being oily.
- Now, transfer that cooked and drained ground beef into your trusty slow cooker.
- Pour both jars of pizza sauce right over the beef. Get all that saucy goodness in there!
- Add the halved pepperoni slices and the shredded mozzarella cheese to the slow cooker.
- Give everything a really good stir until it's all combined. Make sure that cheese and pepperoni are nestled into the sauce and beef.
- Put the lid on your slow cooker. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high for 1.5-2 hours. You're essentially letting the flavors meld and deepen – the longer on low, the more developed the taste will be, but it's ready pretty quickly!
- About 15-20 minutes before you're ready to serve, lay the slices of mozzarella (the 8 slices) over the top of the mixture in the slow cooker. Pop the lid back on and let the cheese get all melty and gooey.
- While the cheese is melting, prepare your rolls. I like to lightly toast mine under the broiler or in a pan for a minute or two – it adds great texture and prevents them from getting soggy. (Just a little tip from my kitchen to yours!)
- To serve, simply spoon the hot, cheesy, saucy pizza burger mixture onto the bottom halves of your rolls. Place the top halves on, and get ready to enjoy!
Notes
Drain the Beef: Don't skip draining the grease after browning. This keeps the final mixture from being greasy.
Choose Your Sauce Wisely: Use a pizza sauce you genuinely love the taste of, as it's a major flavor component.
Don't Overcook: While it's hard to mess up in a slow cooker, you don't need to cook the beef mix for hours and hours beyond the recommended time once everything is combined, especially on high.
Toast Those Buns! Seriously, take the extra minute. It makes a difference in texture.
Choose Your Sauce Wisely: Use a pizza sauce you genuinely love the taste of, as it's a major flavor component.
Don't Overcook: While it's hard to mess up in a slow cooker, you don't need to cook the beef mix for hours and hours beyond the recommended time once everything is combined, especially on high.
Toast Those Buns! Seriously, take the extra minute. It makes a difference in texture.