Pizza is one of my favorite foods. I mean if it's not one of yours then we probably shouldn't be friends. You know how to make pizza even better? Top it with homemade meatballs instead of the usual pepperoni or sausage. I love pizza and I love meatballs so I decided to combine the two. BOOM. You're welcome. It also helps to add three types of cheese, homemade pizza sauce, Soppressata, roasted red peppers, banana peppers and fresh basil. And to make your pizza crust from scratch. Which I promise you is a lot easier than you might think!
Start by making your homemade pizza dough. Recipe is captured in the above post!
While your dough is doing it's thing, make your pizza sauce. You will need: olive oil, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and bay leaves.
Start by heating some olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for a few minutes. Add garlic and sauté a couple more. Pour in your tomato sauce, paste and red wine. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Stir in all spices. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until reaches desired consistency.
Make your mini meatballs. Follow my meatball recipe linked below, however instead of adding them to a sauce at the end, simply brown a little longer then set aside until ready to use. Also make them smaller than my original recipe calls for since we're using them as a pizza topping.
https://www.cuisineandcocktails.com/dads-meatballs/
Aside from your meatballs and sauce your other toppings can vary. However, I like to use fresh Parmesan, Fontina, mozzarella, Soppressata, roasted red peppers (jar or you can make your own), banana peppers and fresh basil.
If you're using my dough recipe then this should have been your last step (set in a warm place in the shape you plan to use for 10 minutes). If you're using store-bought simply follow instructions for use and continue with this recipe once your dough is in place.
Spread on a generous helping of sauce.
Then add your Fontina.
Then meat and banana peppers.
Mozzarella.
Roasted red peppers. I actually started to bake the za and forgot about the peppers which is why the cheese started to melt. LOL I make mistakes too don't @ me. Feel free to add them under the mozzarella with the banana peppers if you'd prefer but I kind of liked them on top. Bake for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.
Top with Parm and basil. Allow to cool slightly before slicing. Sometimes I make these on a baking sheet in rectangular shape, sometimes a pizza stone in a round shape. Variety is the spice of life.
Actually I'm pretty sure this right here is all the spice you'll ever need in your life.
Check out that cheese pull. mmmmmm. Feel free to change up the order of your toppings or the toppings themselves. I'm not the pizza God. But how cool of a job would that be?! Enjoy!
- 1 pizza crust, recipe linked in post
- mini meatballs, recipe linked in post
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 - 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- splash of dry red wine
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- ½ tsp. dried basil
- ¼ tsp. dried parsley
- ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 oz Fontina, grated
- 8 oz Mozzarella, sliced
- 1 jar roasted red pepper, sliced
- 2 tbsp. banana peppers, sliced
- 4 slices Soppressata, sliced or torn
- Fresh Parmesan to top, grated
- Fresh basil, sliced or torn
- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a medium pot over medium heat add olive oil.
- Once heated add onion and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, paste and wine and bring to boil stirring frequently.
- Add spices and reduce heat to simmer.
- Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Place about 1½ cups sauce on your dough and spread out.
- Top with Fontina.
- Then meats and banana peppers.
- Then Mozzarella.
- Then roasted red peppers.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Top with Parm and basil. Allow to cool slightly before cutting and serving.
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