Cafeteria Spoon Burgers are here to enter your dinner rotation! A quick one-pot meal cooks standby veggies, ground beef, and simple pantry condiments to make a meal that graduates from the school’s lunchtime menu.

Why it is called spoon burgers? Well, it’s a bit of a mystery. From guesswork, one can assume that, since the meat was in a loose sauce, a spoon was a requirement for eating it, hence the name. A 1963 McCall’s advertisement for spoon burgers has it elegantly plated on fine china served onto a bun in a hamburger-patty-like shape being piled high with Hunt’s tomato catsup. But when it comes to it being a cafeteria food, it is easy to see why it was made for school lunches. It was saucier than sloppy Joes, making it easier to feed more people. The prep did not require the formation of patties and allowed cooks to cook up big batches of the spoon burgers over the stove (no finicky troublesome flipping of burgers in site), almost akin to the same way one cooks up a batch of chili or soup. Put an ingredient in the pot, cook it, put an ingredient in the pot, cook it, and do this on repeat for the entirety of the ingredients. 

While we don’t need a cafeteria portion of spoon burgers, this recipe does make several helpings.  After the onions and bell peppers are sautéed a bit, the garlic and ground beef are added in. When the beef is broken up with a spatula or spoon, the sauce elements of the spoon burgers are added.

Everything is brought to a boil and simmered until the excess cooking liquid evaporates. Piled onto toasted buns or toast, these Cafeteria Spoon Burgers are ready to serve!

Here, the meat is surprisingly savory, and the sauce has a well-developed flavor that is akin to a meaty pasta sauce. 

The onion bell peppers, and garlic add the perfect amount of aromatics to bolster the meatiness and create a dish that might surpass your go-to sloppy Joe recipe.

It’s quick and straightforward, creating a robust meal that can feed a crowd.