A Papa John’s copycat recipe, this Cheeseburger Pizza is topped with a special sauce, ground beef, mozzarella, pickles, and onion.
We LOVE our pizzas here at TBFS, so don’t miss our popular BBQ Chicken, Chicken Alfredo, or pesto veggie pizza!
My husband insisted on ordering Papa John’s Cheeseburger Pizza one day, and while it’s not the type of pizza I would have ordered, I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did, cause it’s a new favorite. Something about the sauce, crumbled meat, and pickle combo on crispy pizza crust is just spot on!
Like my other copycat recipes, I knew immediately I wanted to make my own version!
How to make Cheeseburger Pizza:
- Make the pizza dough. Our easy recipe has basic ingredients and gets rave reviews. Pre-bake the dough for 6 minutes.
- Cook ground beef: in a skillet over medium heat, browning and breaking up into small pieces until it’s cooked through.
- Mix the sauce: combine pizza sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Top the pizza: Spread sauce on pre-baked pizzas, sprinkle a small amount of cheese on top of the sauce, sprinkle ground beef and onion on top of the cheese and spread desired number of pickle slices on the pizza. Top with additional cheese.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes
Recipe Variations:
- Add French fries: top the pizza with precooked french fries before baking. Don’t judge until you’ve tried it!
- Add hot sauce to sauce: sprinkle hot sauce on the final product or mix some in with the sauce before spreading on the pizza.
- Add other “burger” toppings: cooked bacon pieces, peppers, different cheeses, onion rings.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Completely make the pizza dough, including pre-baking it in the oven for 6 minutes. Top with cheeseburger pizza toppings, cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours, until ready to bake your pizza.
To Freeze: Assemble pizza on partially pre-baked crust. Cover well and freeze for up to 2 months. Bake as directed, from frozen, adding a few minutes to the cook time.
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Recipe
Cheeseburger Pizza
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 recipe pizza dough (makes 2)
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 5-6 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2/3 cup sliced dill pickle coins
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
For the cheeseburger pizza sauce:
- 2/3 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup mustard
- 1.5 Tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Make the pizza dough.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Roll out/stretch pizza dough and pre-bake the dough for 6 minutes.
- Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, browning and breaking up into small pieces until it's cooked through. Remove grease.
- Combine pizza sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
- Spread sauce on pre-baked pizzas. Sprinkle a small amount of cheese on top of the sauce. Sprinkle ground beef and onion on top of the cheese and spread desired number of pickle slices on the pizza. Top with additional cheese. Bake for 8-12 minutes
Notes
Variations:
- Add French fries: top the pizza with precooked french fries before baking. Don’t judge until you’ve tried it!
- Add hot sauce to sauce: sprinkle hot sauce on the final product or mix some in with the sauce before spreading on the pizza.
- Add other “burger” toppings: cooked bacon pieces, peppers, different cheeses, onion rings
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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I’ve been making this for years . Must admit never tried it with mayo and the sauce definitely gonna give that a shot,but I also add mushrooms and crispy bacon bits. I have also added pineapple chunks at times.My granddaughter has started to add banana slices. on hers.When I make them, I let everyone put on their on toppings.
It’s okay. Next time I make it I will use the sauce sparingly and just brush the crust with it. The pickles were just not needed for our taste.
Made this last night and my family devoured it! It took some time, only because I made the dough, but I plan on making up a few dough recipes, throwing them in the freezer, which will make this a super quick, delicious weeknight dinner! Thank you again for a great recipe.
We made this for dinner tonight and my kids DEVOURED IT! They said it tasted like a cheeseburger from one our their favorite fast food places. This will definitely be added to our dinner rotation.
The recipe is pretty good. I used about 4 oz. of chopped hamburger meat and worked on the sauce balance based on not using a pound of ground beef. I did not use onion.
Honestly I’ve never had cheeseburger pizza before and I was a bit skeptical, but this is delicious! The sauce is super yummy and totally makes the pizza, I didn’t have any pickles to add but next time I will try it with pickles! And this was super simple to put together, I keep browned ground beef with onions in my freezer so having that prepped ahead made this an easy peasy dinner tonight!! Will be making it again thanks!
Very yummy! I added a splash of pickle juice to the condiments as well.
Loved it. Assembled faster than I thought. I spiced up the ground beef with salt.pepper and a generous shake of garlic powder. For the cheese I did not skimp. I used the recommended Mozzarella and a colby,chedder mix.
This just took our Friday night, pizza night to a whole new level. My kids love cheeseburger pizza (it’s not my favorite) so I don’t make it very often. I honestly haven’t found a recipe that’s worth keeping. I’ve had great success with your recipes, so I thought I would give it a try. I swear to you, my kids thought it was take out. It was so good! For me, it was the sauce. I followed your advice and added a little hot sauce and OMG! We all loved it!