The All Italian Burger

A Mediterranean twist on a classic burger! Creamy mozzarella, ripe tomato, vibrant pesto and juicy beef on a soft burger bun. You will love this All Italian Burger!

About this All Italian Burger

If you love a classic cheese burger, you’ll love this All Italian Burger as it has every ingredient but with a slight twist. Forget about cheddar, this burger swaps it for oozing, creamy mozzarella cheese. Lettuce not your thing? This burger is layered with peppery arugula. Burger sauce just not hitting the spot? This All Italian Burger is dripping with nutty, fresh pesto! You just have to try this Mediterranean twist on a classic burger!

Ingredients

• Ground beef (Pressed into a burger patty)
• Burger buns
• Handful of arugula (rocket)
• Salt & pepper
• Tomato slice
• Slice of fresh Mozzarella
• Fresh Pesto
• Butter

See recipe card for quantities.

Step by step photographs:

1. Step 1: In a pan on medium heat, toast your burger buns with a tablespoon of butter.

2. Step 2: Season both sides of your burger patty with salt. Turn up the heat to high then once smoking hot, add your burger patties and fry for 5 minutes. Then flip over.

3. Step 3: Once you have flipped your burger, add the sliced mozzarella and cover with a burger dome or pan lid to allow the cheese to melt.

4. Step 4: On your top bun, spread a healthy layer of your pesto, place it onto your burger patty and cover again with the burger dome. This allows the bun to steam.

Which buns can I use for this recipe?

I have paired this burger with a brioche bun, the easy recipe can be found here: Brioche Hamburger Buns recipe.

Alternatively, you can definitely use a simple burger bun, the recipe can be found here: Homemade Hamburger Buns.

Substitutions

The flavors of this All Italian Burger are so perfectly balanced, with the gooey mozzarella complementing the nutty pesto perfectly. However, if you want to use up other items that you have in your refrigerator then here are some ideas:

• Pesto - Instead of garlicky green pesto, why not try a Red Pesto if you enjoy a tomato base more? Fancy a bit of spice, why not keep the flavors Mediterranean by using a ‘Nduja spread?
• Bun - use gluten free buns instead of brioche buns to make this gluten free.
• Cheese - If you want to stick to Italian cheese then Provolone will work perfectly and melt just as well. If you have some Gouda in your refrigerator then that will melt perfectly as well!

Equipment

All you need to make this recipe perfect is a pan and pan lid. Instead of using a burger dome, simply use the lid for your pan to perfectly steam your buns and melt your cheese to perfection. You can easily fry your burgers in a pan, or be a star chef and grill on an iron skillet or griddle.

Storage

Store the wet ingredients (lettuce, tomato, onion) separately from the dry ingredients (buns) in the fridge, and recombine when ready. Good for 2-3 days.

Refrigeration: You can store your burger patties raw in the fridge for up to 2-3 days before you want to cook them. Make sure to store them in an airtight container, away from non-meat products. You can store cooked patties for 3-4 days in an airtight container, keep away from any raw meat in your fridge.

Frozen: You can freeze your raw or cooked patties for up to 3 months, ensure they are separated by parchment paper so they don’t stick together and store in freezer bags.

Reheating: To reheat your raw patties, simply thaw out overnight in the refrigerator and fry as instructed above. If you’re reheating cooked patties, heat them in a pan or skillet until they are heated through.