Hear ye, hear ye, dearest Pizza Freaks. Today is a historic day in our cheesy history: the day of our 50th EPISODE of Eat the Pizza! Say whaaaaa?! And what more appropriate way to celebrate than by making an EPIC sliders pizza with a mini burger crust, made out of White Castle sliders?
Now, this isn't some run-of-the-mill pizza with a hamburger stuffed crust—no. For this most epic of pizzas, our mini burgers ARE the crust! That’s right, every bite of saucy, cheesy, pepperonied goodness, nestled right on top of a (formerly frozen) White Castle slider, in all of its miniature beefy glory.
We figured it’s just the natural, traditional thing to do for our halfway-to-a-hundred episode. And it’s the perfect kind of party pizza to share with friends. And by friends, we mean our stomachs—but also you, our fellow Pizza Freaks! Thank you SO MUCH for joining us in our many pizzaventures thus far, and here’s to many more.
So, join us as we serve up this tasty pizza by the SLIDER and learn how to make it for your next epic pizza party! (Which, we suggest, should happen tonight.)
Weird but True Facts about White Castle: the Original Fast Food
- Walt Anderson, the founder of the original White Castle burger stands, liked to take risks in the kitchen an often served up burger patties of different sizes and shapes. But one day, he gave birth to his greatest invention totally by accident. Walt’s meatballs were sticking to the griddle, which frustrated him immensely, so he smashed one with a spatula and created the first flat patty. Bada-bing, bada-genius.
- The origins of White Castle stretch back to 1916, when Walt Anderson opened up his own hamburger stand with an $80 loan. He quickly expanded to 4 burger stands, got a real estate broker to buy in, and they soon established the first chain of quick-and-cheap burger joints—making White Castle the founder of fast food in America. Back then, you could buy their burgers by the sack for a nickel!
- If the name White Castle seems random, you should know of course it’s not. In the early 1900s in America, books like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed all sorts of scary truths about the meat industry, so hamburger beef was seen by most people as unsafe—toxic even. But, Anderson and his business partner had a plan. They’d combine 2 words that evoked purity and solidity, to give their burgers a pristine and totally edible image, and those words were none other than white and castle.
- Back in the mid-‘80s, White Castle offered a “Hamburgers to Fly” program to satisfy their customers’ cravings, even when there was no White Castle nearby. Call their toll-free number, and you could have frozen sliders delivered right to your door! It was such a success, we can all thank those toll-free callers for the boxes of frozen White Castle sliders now available in a freezer aisle near you.
- Back in 2014, White Castle embraced their inner pizza freak by launching a Pizza Slider—featuring the classic square burger patty topped with pepperoni, marinara, and mozzarella. Sadly, it was only available for a limited time, but we hold onto the hope it may someday become a regular menu item.
Can’t Get Enough Epic Eat the Pizza Pizzas?
We can’t either—but here’s a few for you to chew on:
- Epic 6-Layer Pizza ‘Cake’ – 6 pizzas, stacked on top of one another
- Mac & Cheeseburger Pizza – ETP episode #1!
- Epic Mexican Pizza – giant quesadilla crust, topped with loaded tacos
- HUGE Pizza Cones – savory & sweet, bigger than your face
- Poutine Pizza with French Fry Crust
- Hot Cheetos Pizza, with teachings from the HCP inventor
- Sausage Egg & Cheese GIANT Bagel Pizza
- Pizza Meatloaf / Pizza Wellington
- GIANT BBQ Deep Dish Pot Pie Pizza
Eat the Pizza, by the Slider
Maybe you've seen hamburger stuffed crust pizzas out there, or pizza with hamburgers on it. But this right here is a true sliders pizza, a genuine mini burger crust pizza—with a bready, beefy, lumpy crust that's made entirely out of mini hamburgers fit together in a ciruclar-ish shape! Sort of like pizza pull-apart bread that's been EPIC-fied burger style.
Sure, it may not be the weirdest or gourmet-est or complicated-est of masterpizzas that we've created on Eat the Pizza. But, we gotta say, this White Castle sliders pizza turned out to be one of our top ten tastiest! And definitely one of our most EPIC-est of pizzas, for a truly epic occasion. You've gotta eat it to believe it, folks!
Again, thank you all SO MUCH for joining us in our past 50 episodes of eating all the pizza. We don't wanna be too cheesy, but we love you Pizza Freaks. And a huge thanks to everyone who's offered up their pizza-tastic ideas for us to try on the channel! PLEASE keep sending 'em our way.
And now it's time to make this sliders pizza. Seriously. You gotta try this thing.
Ingredients:
Epic Sliders Pizza Ingredients:
- 20-24 frozen White Castle sliders, cheeseburgers and/or regular
- ~1-2 cups pizza sauce
- 16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 pack (6-oz) pepperoni
- chopped basil, to taste
Equipment:
- deep round pan for steaming
- slotted/perforated round pizza pan (with holes in it, same diameter as deep pan)
*For steaming method: We used a large round cake pan (16-inch x 2-inch) for steaming, with a round 16-inch perforated pizza pan on top of it. If your slotted pizza pan is a bit too small to rest perfectly on top of your deep pan—like ours was—simply crumble up some small pieces of foil and place them in your deep pan as supports.
**If NOT using steaming method: This slider pizza recipe will probably work made on a regular pizza pan, too. But, we would recommend pre-steaming or microwaving your frozen sliders first! Then you can assemble your mini burger crust pizza with the cooked/thawed sliders, and just bake your epic pizza for a bit less time—about. 10-15 minutes
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Barely cover bottom of a deep round pan with water.
- Place slotted pizza pan on top of deep pan with water in it.
- Remove frozen sliders from wrappers and separate. Do your best arrange square sliders on slotted pizza pan in a cicular-ish shape.
- Spread pizza sauce on top of each slider. Cover mini burger crust with a generous helping of mozzarella cheese. Top each slider with a pepperoni and sprinkle some chopped basil over entire pizza.
- Cover entire slider pizza and slotted pan with a foil tent/dome, sealing tightly around the rim of your deep pan. (We used 2 large sheets of foil, criss-crossed over our slider pizza in a rounded dome shape.)
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. (Or, bake 10-15 minutes if using cooked/thawed sliders.)
- If desired, remove foil tend at end and broil for just a few minutes to melt and brown the cheese. Be sure to watch it closely so it doesn’t burn!
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. And now it’s time to grab a pizza-riffic slider and eat the epic mini burger crust pizza already.
Yields ~20-24 cheesy, saucy, pizza-fied White Castle sliders.
Like the Eat The Pizza swag from this episode? Get it here!
