Vegan Bacon Pizza Burger
A quick and easy vegan version of America’s favorite food — pizza! The Beyond Beef, Sweet Earth Bacon, and Follow Your Heart mozzarella are key elements of this recipe, while the red onion, jalapeño, and italian seasoning really make the flavors and textures shine.
Searching through my Snapchat history to find video segments to use for my “Before I loved to cook” video (coming soon), I stumbled across the pepperoni pizza burgers an ex, who I was living with at the time, made for dinner.
Did he have a short fuse? Yes. Would he sometimes throw things when he got angry, thus instilling in me a sense of fear? Sure. Did he have an inflated ego and gaslight me whenever I brought up concerns? Certainly. Was he filled with the kind of Southern Pride that involves touting a confederate flag? Indeed. (There are several reasons he quickly became an ex).
Despite the flaws and obvious incompatibility we shared, I will hand him this — he was a damn good cook.
We did not get to know each other and then later move in together (unless you count one 10 minute conversation as “getting to know someone”) — rather, he moved in with me in place of my selfish roommate who neglected to tell me that not only was she moving out imminently, but she had already interviewed a man to take her place.
At said 10 minute meeting with Will — a meeting I demanded when I learned of Carly’s plan, I found that he checked all the boxes I was looking for in roommate. Fine with keeping the apartment at a reasonable temperature, not allowing his roommates to freeze or overheat needlessly? Check. Easy to talk to? Check. Loved to cook and had a full kitchen set to bring into the unit which would replace the extremely limited plasticware Carly abruptly left us with? Check.
He moved in. After two weeks and one drunken night, one thing led to another, and we ventured out of the friend zone. We proceeded to have a largely destructive relationship, arguing constantly due to our differences; however, I loved the food he made. As I did not cook at all back then, having a cook in the house was a welcome refreshment.
Reminiscing on the positive parts of our relationship — in this specific case, me getting stoned while watching him make incredibly comforting pizza burgers — I knew I had to bring that joy forward into the present.
So, I sought out to create my own (vegan) pizza burger — fully sober in this case, as new recipes and cooking in general typically require focused attention. Trial 1 did not wow me — but when I added the peppers, onions, and italian seasoning the second time around, it was a whole new world.
Next time you are looking for ideas for pizza night, I hope you will consider making these delicious, guilt free pizza burgers! If you made this recipe, I would love to hear about your experience and/or modifications in the comments.
Vegan Bacon Pizza Burger
Equipment
- Cast iron skillet (ideally 12")
- Large plate
- Spatula
- Cheese slicer
- Medium heat safe bowl or ramekin
Ingredients
- 1 lb package ground Beyond Beef separated into 4 patties
- 12 slices Follow Your Heart Mozzarella* sliced from block with cheese slicer
- 4 strips Sweet Earth seitan bacon Each piece sliced into thirds
- 2 small jalapeño peppers diced, seeds in or out depending on preference
- 12 red onion rings** sliced from raw onion
- 4 vegan white hamburger buns
- 12 heaping spoonfuls pizza sauce
- Sprinkle of italian seasoning for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat a cast iron skillet on medium or medium-high depending on your range power (mine is powerful, so I use medium). While waiting for pan to preheat, separate the Beyond Beef into 4 equal sized patties in the shape of your buns on a large plate, keeping in mind the Beyond Beef will maintain its shape and thickness throughout the cooking process, unlike ground beef.
- Once pan is preheated, add patties and allow them to cook on the first side for 5 minutes before checking the undersides with a spatula for browning. Cook longer on this side if needed – up to 8 minutes per package instructions.
- While patties are cooking, quickly clean the plate which contained the raw Beyond Beef and wipe dry. Using a cheese slicer, slice 12 thin pieces of cheese off of the mozzarella block and place them on one side of the plate. If your mozzarella is pre-sliced (you have a different brand), you will only need 4 slices, as they will be wider and thicker in this case.
- Remove 4 slices of Sweet Earth vegan bacon from package and stack on top of each other on the side of plate opposite to the cheese. Use a butter knife or sharp knife to slice the stack into thirds (so each piece will be similarly sized to a standard pepperoni slice).
- Flip patties, and add 3 slices of mozzarella on top of each in a way that covers the surface of the patty as fully as possible. If there is space in the pan, add in the seitan bacon (otherwise cook in step 7 below). Cover patties/bacon with a lid and cook for 5-6 minutes, checking on the seitan and flipping at about 3 minutes if you are cooking it at this stage.
- While patties cook, wash and dice the jalapeños, removing seeds or not. Slice the top off of the red onion, and then continue slicing that same direction (parallel to the base of the onion) about ¼ inches apart to cut off full onion rings. Start by slicing off 3 sections of rings and then add more later if needed.
- Once patties and seitan are browned and cheese well melted, transfer patties and bacon to a clean plate. If you did not cook the bacon earlier, add it now and cook for about 3 minutes per side on the same heat setting used for the patties.
- Once there is space in the pan, begin adding buns, insides down, to the pan. Allow to brown and soak up juices for up to two minutes.
- While the bread is browning, spoon 12 heaping spoonfuls of pizza sauce into a heat safe bowl or ramekin, and heat in 10 second increments in the microwave, covered. This will not take very long — you may want to heat for 2 or 3 sessions, give it a mix, and heat 2 or 3 sessions more. Remove from microwave and set aside.
- Begin assembling each burger in the following order — bottom bun, onion rings (I used alternating rings from the same onion slice for each burger, as using the whole slice and having onion covering the entire base was too much), patty with cheese, 3 pieces of seitan bacon to evenly cover patty, 3 heaping spoonfuls of pizza sauce, ¼ of the diced jalapeño, sprinkling of italian seasoning, top bun. Enjoy!!