Smash Burger Pizza

Name: Smash Burger Pizza
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 x 250g pizza dough balls, cold fermented 48–72 hours; See The 72-Hour Pizza Dough Guide for the full method; 4 tablespoons mayonnaise; 2 tablespoons ketchup; 1 tablespoon yellow mustard; 2 tablespoons finely diced dill pickles; 1 teaspoon pickle brine; Pinch of garlic powder; Pinch of smoked paprika; 400g 80/20 ground beef; 1 teaspoon fine salt; 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 tablespoon neutral oil; 80g low-moisture mozzarella, torn; 4 slices American cheese, torn into pieces; 3 tablespoons finely diced white onion; 6–8 dill pickle slices; 1 tablespoon yellow mustard, for finishing; Shredded iceberg lettuce, for finishing; Flaky sea salt

July 20, 2026|HALO

Special sauce base. Seasoned ground beef with crispy edges. American cheese and mozzarella together. Cold pickles and shredded iceberg lettuce added the moment it comes off the stone. This is the pizza that combines the two best things on the menu and makes both better for it.

Smash Burger Pizza

Rated 5.0 stars by 1 users

Cuisine

American

Author:

HALO

Servings

2 pizzas

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

10 minutes

Spread the special sauce across the surface in a generous even layer leaving the border clear. This is the base so it should be visible and present, not a thin smear. The sauce is one of the defining flavors of this pizza.

Cook Mode

Ingredients

Dough

2 x 250g pizza dough balls, cold fermented 48–72 hours
See The 72-Hour Pizza Dough Guide for the full method

Special Sauce Base

4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
2 tablespoons finely diced dill pickles
1 teaspoon pickle brine
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of smoked paprika

Burger Beef

400g 80/20 ground beef
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon neutral oil

Toppings (per pizza)

80g low-moisture mozzarella, torn
4 slices American cheese, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons finely diced white onion
6–8 dill pickle slices
1 tablespoon yellow mustard, for finishing
Shredded iceberg lettuce, for finishing
Flaky sea salt

Directions

Make the special sauce first. Combine mayonnaise, ketchup, yellow mustard, diced pickles, pickle brine, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Mix until fully combined. Give it a taste test. It should be tangy, slightly sweet, and unmistakably burger sauce. Refrigerate until needed. It keeps for a week (and is better the next day).
Cook the ground beef on your Elite Griddle at high heat. Add oil to the surface and add the beef in small rough pieces, no need to form them into patties. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder as it goes on. Break it apart into irregular crumbled pieces as it cooks. You want uneven texture, some pieces with more crust, some with less, rather than one uniform mince. Cook until deeply browned and slightly crispy at the edges, approximately 5–6 minutes. Remove and set aside. Drain excess fat if there is significant pooling.
Fire up your Versa 16 Pizza Oven and bring the stone to 700°F. Slightly lower than a standard Neapolitan bake, the cheese and sauce content of this pizza benefits from a slightly longer bake at a marginally lower temperature. Allow 10 minutes for the stone to reach full temperature.
Flour your work surface. Press the dough ball outward from the center leaving a 1-inch border. Stretch gently to approximately 10–12 inches. Lay onto a lightly floured peel.
Spread the special sauce across the surface in a generous even layer leaving the border clear. This is the base and the sauce is one of the defining flavors of this pizza.
Scatter torn mozzarella across the sauce. Distribute the cooked ground beef evenly across the cheese. Tear the American cheese slices into rough pieces and scatter across the beef. American cheese melts differently from mozzarella and the combination of both is what produces the cheeseburger quality this pizza is aiming for. Scatter finely diced white onion across the top.
Slide onto the rotating stone. Close the door. Bake for maximum 5 minutes at 700°F. The American cheese will melt completely and begin to bubble. The mozzarella will develop golden patches. The crust will blister and spot. The beef pieces will crisp slightly further against the heat.
Remove with the peel. Immediately add the dill pickle slices across the surface… cold pickles on a hot pizza is the contrast that makes this work. Drizzle a thin line of yellow mustard across the top. Add a small pile of shredded iceberg lettuce directly in the center, it wilts slightly from the heat and provides crunch and freshness against the richness underneath. Finish with a pinch of flaky salt. Cut and serve immediately.

Recipe Note

Ground beef cooked on the griddle before the bake not on the pizza raw. A 2-minute pizza oven bake does not fully cook raw ground beef to a safe internal temperature. Cook it completely on the griddle first properly browned with crispy edges and it finishes perfectly on the pizza with the residual oven heat.
American cheese is non-negotiable for this recipe. It melts in a way that mozzarella alone doesn't — into a smooth, creamy, slightly salty layer that is specifically what a cheeseburger tastes like. Substituting with cheddar or another melting cheese produces a different result.
Cold pickles post-bake not pre-bake. Pickles heated in a pizza oven lose their crunch and their acid sharpness, both of which are why this pizza works. Add them once the pizza comes off the stone.
The iceberg lettuce goes on immediately before serving. This is not a garnish, it is a structural component of the flavor. The cold crunch of raw lettuce against the hot, rich, cheesy surface is the whole joke of this pizza landing properly.
Heat up to 700°F instead of 750°F for this recipe.