Top Five Uses for Cheap Pub Burgers — Updated October 2021

When pub burgers go on sale at a great per-pound price, use them like ground beef in your favorite recipes! Here are a few top uses for cheap pub burgers.

Updated October 2021 with new easy ground beef recipes!

During grilling season — and especially around holidays — many grocery stores tend to run fantastic sales on 8 oz pub burgers or hamburger patties as loss leaders to get people into the store. At my local Jewel-Osco, for instance, pub burgers go on sale a few times a year at $1.00-$1.25 each, This makes them just $2.00-$2.50 a pound.

Don’t just look at your cheap pub burgers as hamburgers, though, because they can be used for so much more. The per pound price on these sale burgers is usually much less than grocery stores charge for an equivalent package of ground beef, and pub burgers are usually 85% lean, making them a great choice for use in recipes.

Top five uses for cheap pub burgers

So here are my top five favorite ways to use pub burgers in recipes. Please do comment with your own!

1. Make stir fry with your pub burgers

Got 20 minutes, two pub burgers, and some broccoli on hand? You are so lucky: You have the core of this easy Ground beef & broccoli Stir Fry recipe all ready to go, the next time you need a quick weeknight dinner idea.

Other ideas along these lines? Ohhhh yes:

• These Korean style ground  beef & spinach rice bowls are a perennial favorite over here
• Ramen noodle stir fry with ground beef is a tasty alternative to stir fries over rice
• Or, really mix things up in this beef & cabbage stir fry with giardiniera!

Just break up those pub burgers and use them like ground beef in your own favorite stir fry.

2. Use crumbled pub burgers in soups, chilis, and stews

Chili is always a hearty favorite, so try using crumbled up pub burgers in:

• Beef & sausage salsa verde chili
• Easy chipotle chili
• Simple ground beef stew
• Basic easy chili

Pub burgers also break down so nicely to make just the best taco soup! This easy chipotle taco soup only requires one pound of ground beef, or two pub burgers’ worth. Try them in your own favorite beef soup, chili, or stew.

3. Use cheap pub burgers in tacos, quesadillas, or nachos

Crumble up cheap burgers and cook with your favorite taco seasoning for a quick weeknight dinner, or get a little crazier with a dinner of taco naan pizza! Mix up taco night further with:

• Keema inspired ground beef quesadillas
• Low carb taco casserole
• Sneaky ground beef & mushroom tacos

There are so many different directions to take your favorite taco- and taco-inspired recipes.

4. Pub burgers work great in pasta

Pasta (and pasta alternatives) and ground beef naturally go together, but there are a lot of fun & different ways to mix it up! Here are just a few to help get your creative juices flowing:

• Gyros inspired pasta with Greek yogurt sauce is a different choice for weeknight dinner
• Easy cheesy beautiful pasta skillet — kid pleasing, and so much easier & quicker than lasagna
• Beef, tomato, & spinach tortellini is another quick weeknight dinner option

Pub burgers again break down just fine for use in any pasta recipe calling for ground beef.

5. Make gyros or burgers

Ground beef gyros for the win — so easy, so tasty, and with all that gyro flavor! Or, instead of just grilling up your pub burgers as-is, jazz them up at little! Cook up a batch of Pokéball pizza burgers, or try using them your own favorite summer burger recipe.

Stretch those burgers

If you’re cooking for kids or want to make these huge half pound burgers stretch further, you can also just cut them in half lengthwise and turn them into quarter pound patties.

Bonus tip: Get the best value from your pub burgers

If you are buying pub burgers or hamburger patties priced per each, always weigh or eyeball them to make sure you’re getting your full per pound value. Just as with produce, sometimes the pre-packed packages will be off one way or the other.

What are your own favorite uses for cheap pub burgers? I always try to buy extra on these sales, and throw them in my freezer to use later in any recipe calling for ground beef.