When I was a kid, my sisters and I were allowed to pick whatever we wanted to eat for dinner on our birthday. This became known in our house as the “birthday dinner.” As a kid, this made us feel special because that meant we were in charge of household decision.
Every birthday (or nearly most of them) I’d pick this hamburger pie dish. It’s like fancy cheeseburger in a pie dish (or heaven on a dinner plate, however you want to look at it). Well, to a kid it was fancy anyway.
Hamburger Pie Recipe
(About 4 servings)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup Spanish olives (optional)
- 4 slices American cheese
- 1 tube crescent rolls (original flavor)
Directions:
- In a skillet, cook the ground beef.
- Stir in the ketchup and set the meat mixture aside. Depending on the fat content of your ground beef, you may have residual meat juices in the pan. If you do, remove the meat juice. (This will help prevent a soggy pie.)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Grease an 8 x 8 baking dish.
- Lay half of the crescent rolls into the dish.
- Lay the meat mixture over the crescent rolls.
- (Optional) Sprinkle with olives.
- Cover with the cheese in a single layer.
- Lay the second half of the crescent rolls on top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes (it took 16 minutes in my oven) or until the top is lightly brown.
Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
If you know how to put a cheeseburger together then you’re golden. 😉 First the crescent rolls on the bottom of the pan act Just like the bottom bun. Without the bottom bun, what would you have besides a mess?
Spread the meat mixture (the ground beef and ketchup) on top.
I highly recommend adding Spanish olives because they’re an awesome addition (and that’s how my mom used to make this dish). However, my husband doesn’t like olives so I left them out today. (My husband is not a picky eater, thank goodness. No olives or cottage cheese and that’s about it for him.)
American cheese is the perfect choice, but you could certainly substitute for whatever cheese you prefer. Are you starting to see the fancy cheeseburger take form? Or would it be a regular cheeseburger with a fancy bun? 😉
Top the whole deal with the second half of the crescent rolls. You guys are in for a serious treat!
Hello hamburger pie! Seriously guys, this is comfort food at its finest moment. Sometimes I see recipes being pimped as “kid friendly” and I’m not quite sure I know what qualifies something that way. However, because I’m an expert knowing that this was my favorite dish as a kid (and still is one of my favorite), I can say with a straight face that this is certainly kid friendly!
I mean anything made with crescent rolls is crazying amazing, right? Bye bye hamburger bun and hello buttery and flaky layers of goodness!
Dinner had to be simple, quick, and easy for my mom to make for a family of six! Yes, this dish meets all those criteria AND it’s delicious. One thing I haven’t touched on yet, and is actually super important, is that this meal is also dirt cheap to prepare. Literally just a few dollars of meat and a couple bucks for the crescent rolls and cheese and mere pennies worth of ketchup and olives and you have a meal. This is what I would call awesome on a budget. 🙂
I wasn’t sure if my husband was going to love this as much as I do. Have you ever hyped up something to someone and the other person is just not as impressed? Let’s just say that the reason why you see parts of the piece missing below is because my husband and I were taking turns eating it! He loves it too. 🙂
Can you see how juicy the meat mixture is? And look at that gooey cheese! Oh man, I wish I had a piece of this because I’m drooling as I sit here right this up. Hehe.
Mom, thank you for being a wonderful source of inspiration, inside the kitchen and out! I love you tons! xoxo
Source: My mom (Thanks mom!) My mom has been making this recipe for over 20 years and she can’t remember if she made it up or saw it in a magazine. I searched online and didn’t see any recipe identical to this one so I’m giving credit to my awesome mom. 🙂
A good old fashioned Homemade Chipwich would be the perfect dessert to follow this dish because it was a favorite of mine as a kid.
This looks way better than a plain hamburger! The flaky crust looks awesome. I can certainly understand why’d you choose it as a special birthday dinner, what a meal! And I love that it’s so easy to put together and cheap too. Genius! x
Hehe. Thanks! 🙂
I love this simple dish, Tina! It’s perfect for a busy weeknight. Pinned!
Awesome! Thanks Julie. 🙂
I’ve had something like this, but it has been SOOO long. That needs to change. I just ate but suddenly I’m hungry again! Gotta love crescent rolls!
Looking at pinterest and food blogs always makes me hungry. 😉
Aren’t crescent rolls amazing?! I’m always thinking of new ways to use this yummy ingredient. 🙂
This dish looks and sounds great! I love how fast but flavorful it looks and with so few ingredients. My hubby would go over the moon for this! Great choice for your birthday dinners growing up 🙂 Thanks for sharing Tina 🙂
Thanks so much Kelly!
Birthday dinners are such a fun idea! This looks like total comfort food.
Thanks Joanne. 🙂
WOW! Care to cater my next birthday party?!?!
Hehe. Absolutely! 😉
Great recipe by your mom!! It looks delicious! And if she made it for 20 years I’m sure it tastes delicious too 🙂
Thanks Ashley!
P.S. Pinning!
Yay 🙂
My dad is also big on hamburger pie! He puts giant slices of tomatoes on top of his. Me? I’m a fan of your version. It looks fantastic!
That’s awesome! Thansk so much for stopping by. 🙂
I definitely used to eat something like this all the time when I was little! Brings back memories.
Fun! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ummm easiest dinner ever? Perfect for people who claim to be too busy to cook!
Lol! Exactly. 🙂
This is a great idea, I bet the crescent rolls and cheese and ground beef go so well together!! I can’t wait to try this!!
Awesome! Let me know if you end up trying it. 🙂