Vegan Pizza Burgers

Can’t decide between “burgers” and pizza? This easy compromise comes together fast and really delivers!

Impossible Burgers are a big hit in my household. They cook up from frozen in about 10 minutes time. You can prepare them with little effort and eat them on a bun with ketchup, mustard and pickles. I usually saute some onion slices and prepare a burger sauce with ingredients I have on hand, such as peanut butter, hummus, ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, mayonnaise, etc. Those turn out great. But sometimes I’m looking for something a little different.

I’m always looking to use good building block recipes to build new recipes. This recipe uses two: pizza/pasta sauce and sausage seasoning (no salt). What’s great about making some of the same recipes again and again is that it becomes easier each time you make them, and it becomes easier to come up with new ideas that incorporate them. Instead of putting all your focus and energy into making the components, you can channel it into coming up with new ways to use them. If you make enough, you can reheat for a new dish.

The first night I made this one, I made the pizza/pasta sauce recipe and used sausage seasoning (a staple that’s always on hand in our kitchen). Turning the hamburger bun into toasted garlic bread adds some decadence and drives this deeper into pizza territory. Liberally sprinkling the Impossible Burger Patties with sausage seasoning helps turn them into meatball patties. The Plant-Based Babybel cheeze melts beautifully and adds creamy mozzarella lusciousness to the “burger.”

This recipe makes four servings. But it’s easily adjusted.

INGREDIENTS

• Pizza/pasta sauce (one recipe will leave leftovers you can later use for pasta or for another pizza burger night)
• ½ red onion (sliced)
• ½ red bell pepper (sliced)
• Avocado oil (enough to coat pan)
• 3-4 dashes Maggi sauce
• 4 Impossible Burger Patties
• Sausage seasoning (for liberally sprinkling over patties)
• 4 Plant-Based Babybels (sliced into four slices)
• 4 hamburger buns
• 2-3 TBSP vegan butter
• Garlic powder (for sprinkling over buttered buns)
• Dried basil (for sprinkling over buttered buns)

DIRECTIONS

1. Start making pizza/pasta sauce and heat on stove over low to medium-low heat
2. Slice ½ red onion and add to cast iron pan coated with avocado oil spray
3. Add 3-4 dashes of Maggi sauce (to taste)
4. Slice ½ red bell pepper and add to the case iron pan
5. As onion and bell pepper sliced begin to soften, push onions and peppers to one side of the pan and add the Impossible Burger Patties to the other half of the pan.
6. Sprinkle patties with sausage seasoning
7. Carefully slice each Plant-Based Babybel into 4 slices
8. Butter the hamburger buns and sprinkle with garlic powder and basil
9. Add hamburger buns to toaster oven
10. Flip patties and sprinkle with sausage seasoning
11. Add 1 TBSP pizza/pasta sauce to each patty
12. Add two slices of Plant-Based Babybel to each patty
13. Add a TBSP of water to the pan and cover with a lid to steam-melt the cheeze
14. Check on hamburger buns. Shut off the toaster when they’re toasted to your preference and plate them.
15. Add 1 TBSP pizza sauce to the bottom slice of each bun
16. Top the patties with sauteed pepper and onion slices
17. Add the two remaining slices of Plant-Based Babybel per patty to each patty
18. Steam-melt the new layer of cheeze under a lid, as before
19. Put each patty on a bottom bun slice
20. Top each patty with another 1-2 TBSP of pizza/pasta sauce
21. Add the top bun slice and serve with a knife. This eats best sliced in two