'Impossible Burger' Meant Something Totally Different In The '80s — And It Involved A Box Of Bisquick

Back in the days before cell phones and tablets, we were left trying to entertain ourselves by reading whatever we could get our eyes on, from shampoo bottles to cereal boxes. I distinctly remember my peepers landing on the back of the Bisquick box, fascinated by the recipe for an impossible cheeseburger pie. I wasn't sure exactly what made it impossible, but I saw that it had Bisquick, ground beef, and cheese. It was tough to imagine much that could be better than that.

The "impossible" portion of the pie didn't refer to the vegan burger alternative that you can find at fast food restaurants and grocery stores alike today. Rather, "impossible" referred to the crust that formed from batter rather than a rolled-out pie crust. The version printed on the back of today's Bisquick box is called "Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie," and it's a throwback. We're not sure when it was first printed on the back of the box, but one commenter on the recipe remembered enjoying the dish in the '70s. While the magic of the crust was the star of the show, the rest of the pie was delicious.

We can't pinpoint the exact origin of the term "impossible pie," but we have some ideas about where the concept of a too-good-to-be-true self-forming crust came from. In many cases, the term is used (especially in the Southern U.S.) to describe sweet, baked desserts that form a crust all on their own. It seems like that's where Bisquick got the idea to give its pie the "impossible" moniker.

According to a 1992 newspaper article in Tampa Bay Times, Bisquick first got the idea for its back-of-the-box cheeseburger pie recipe from the Southern dessert. Speaking to the newspaper, Marcia Copeland, the then-director of Betty Crocker Foods and Publications, said the team at General Mills initially saw the recipe for similar, albeit sweet, pies "in Southern community cookbooks." She went on to say that the pie was popular through the '80s. Bisquick actually put out a "No Time to Cook" recipe book in 1982 that featured a few impossible-style pies, including impossible quesadilla pie, impossible green bean pie, and impossible zucchini-tomato pie.

If you want to give impossibly easy cheeseburger pie a go (I highly recommend you do), there are a few variations on the original recipe you can try to make your own. One fan of the recipe on Reddit mentioned giving the dish a Tex-Mex twist by adding Hatch chiles, black beans, corn, and chili seasoning mix (we can also see this being delicious with a few sliced jalapeños added to the top of the pie). Adding pickles to your pie before you pop it in the oven can add a little tang and sweetness just like you get from your favorite pickle-loaded burger.

Toppings are another place where you can make this savory pie your own. Try mixing up a little bit of copycat McDonald's Big Mac sauce and drizzling it on top of your pie, or serve it on the side for dipping. You could also top off the pie with some crispy bacon for a bacon cheeseburger twist, or add some fried onions (or whole onion rings if you want some serious onion flavor and crunch). No matter how you decide to top off your cheeseburger pie, you'll see there's a reason this dinnertime delight has stood the test of time.