Zesty Italian Burgers
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Feb 16, 2025 
A fun take on a classic summer burger. How to grill a burger with pancetta, smoked mozzarella, grilled onions, and pesto piled on a ciabatta roll. These Zesty Italian Burgers are sure to impress at your next summer gathering.
Why We Love Zesty Italian Burgers
We Americans like our comfort food.
We are always trying to turn the unfamiliar into the familiar. You have to agree this is better than the old tradition of shunning the unfamiliar altogether.
American fusion food is a great example of this new-found fascination.
Dishes like Mexican pizza and Asian-style hot dogs are just the beginning of our efforts to bring world flavors into the mainstream. You can hardly go out to eat without seeing menus with ingredients from around the globe. What an exciting time in culinary history!
Italian food has made its way, full force, into the heart of America.
Very few people here would ever think of it as an exotic cooking style. Americans eat enormous amounts of pizza, pasta, cured meats, and cheese, which are probably only comparable to the eating habits of, let’s say, Italians!?
So I thought it would be fun to take the comforting flavors of Italy and layer them, like a warm fuzzy blanket, over the only thing that might be even more comforting. A hamburger.
Introducing Zesty Italian Burgers—a combination of all my favorite Italian flavors in one meaty sandwich! These Zesty Italian Burgers are piled with smoked mozzarella cheese, pesto, pancetta, grilled red onions, ripe tomato slices, arugula, and tomato butter on a ciabatta bun.
Zesty Italian Burgers are glorious dripping towers of international bliss. American style!
How To Grill A Burger – Expert Tips
- Thickness – You want to keep your hamburger patties about 1 inch thick. This will keep them juicy and flavorful while still leaving room for plenty of toppings. More importantly, you want to ensure they are all the same thickness and size. This will keep them cooking at the same rate and make it easier to ensure they all come out perfectly.
- Don’t Overwork – Overworking burger meat can make it tough and unpleasantly chewy. Be gentle while shaping the patties, and try to handle the meat as little as possible.
- Timing – Keep a close eye on how long those burgers have been on the grill. The perfect medium rare typically takes about 6-7 minutes of total grill time. If you like them a bit more done than that, leave them on an extra minute or two for a medium to medium-well burger or up to 10 minutes for a well-done burger.
- Season – Season. Season. Season. Don’t be afraid to use the salt and black pepper liberally or even throw a few spices of your own on the beef patties if you’re feeling adventurous. However, be sure to do so after you are finished shaping the patties; salt can dissolve the proteins in the beef, making your burgers a bit tough and dry.
- LEAVE. THEM. ALONE. – I know it can be tempting to keep lifting up your burgers to check how they are coming along, but burger meat likes to stick to the grill. Repeatedly lifting the burger patties before they are ready will tear them apart and disrupt the cooking process. By the time they are ready to be flipped, they will be released from the grill on their own.
Our Easy Pesto Sauce Recipe
If you’re in a hurry, feel free to top these burgers off with some store-bought pesto. However, you’d be surprised how quickly you can whip up a delicious batch of your own.
Pesto is an Italian sauce typically made from basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan. It is wonderful with pasta, risotto, or even on its own. No fancy tricks are required to make it. Just throw all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse together.
And bonus: if you have some pesto left over, it is great to throw on a sandwich, grilled meat, or to use it as a dip.
What is on a Zesty Italian Burger?
- Pancetta – there’s truly nothing better than salty cured pork (prosciutto can be used as a substitute)
- Pesto – homemade or store-bought
- Smoked Mozzarella – or burrata for a creamier texture
- Red Onion Slices
- Tomato Anchovy Butter – feel free to exclude the anchovies if you are sensitive to salt
- Baby Arugula
- Tomato
Get The Full (Printable) Zesty Italian Burger Recipe Below.
Looking for Other Delicious Burgers to Grill Up This Summer? Try These:
- Smash Burger
- Spicy Cowboy Burger
- Tuna Burger
- Easy Sesame Chicken Burgers
- Best Hamburger Patty Recipe
- Mediterranean Burger
- Caribbean Shrimp Burger
- Pizza Burger
- Greek-Inspired Lamb Burger
Zesty Italian Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 8 slices pancetta
- 4 ounces basil pesto (or make your own!)
- 1 large ball smoked mozzarella
- 1 red onion, cut into thin rounds
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- Baby arugula
- ripe tomato slices
- 4 ciabatta buns
Instructions
- Heat the grill to high. Divide the ground beef into 4 portions. Salt and pepper the patties. Layer each patty with a slice of pancetta on top and bottom. Press the pancetta into each patty.
- Cut the onion and mozzarella into rounds. Melt the butter and mix it with the tomato paste and anchovy paste. Cut the ciabatta buns and brush the insides with tomato-butter.
- Carefully brush the grill with oil or use non-stick grill spray. Grill the patties and onions at the same time. Grill the patties for 3-5 minutes per side and the onions for 1-2 minutes per side.
- Once you flip the burgers, lay the onion rounds over the top of each patty, followed by the mozzarella slices. The cheese will melt while the burgers finish cooking.
- Place the buns on the open grill and toast for 1 minute. Once the buns are toasted, slather them with pesto. Layer arugula leaves, tomato slices and a patty on each bun. Top and serve!
Notes
- 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino cheese
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Now THAT looks heavenly! I love those Italian ingredients.
Perfect Italian style burgers, very creative, I think you nailed all the flavors and they look grilled to perfection:)
Waw!! I love everything in & round & on top of that burger!! It all looks so tasty & mighty pretty too!
MMMMMMMMMM,..fantastic real flavours in here & I also love the fact that you made your own pesto!
Yummmm,…!!!
You know I like pesto on burgers, but I definitely think adding pork into the mix is a brilliant idea. This is one of the better versions of fusion food–some of it is SO weird!
Glorious. Delicious and glorious. Of course, if you could please make mine with a bit more pink in the middle? Medium rare is perfect. Wow, that looks so good.
This burger looks delicious. Great pictures, too. And you're right, we Americans really can't resist good comfort foods!
Wow, this burger is absolutely mouthwatering…
Good idea, Sommer! I love fusion food-there is no shame in it, girl (smile). Plus, this looks really wonderful. Oh, how I do miss burgers…Oh;)
You had me at smoked mozzarella. YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY! This looks so good to me. I am going to make it. My husband has been challenging me to make him the ultimate burger and i think i found it!
my do these look delicious!! must try it out sometime!!
I'd like to be nearby when you make these just to smell the aroma of those amazing burgers grilling. Yum!!
I have a question about the examiner gig you have going. How often do you have to post?
Italian Burger…I'm sold! Love the pancetta, tomato butter, and pesto. Put it all on ciabatta and that's pretty much heaven. I think this would also be good with some other meats mixed in the burger like pork and veal.