I love making pizza at home, but sometimes I get a bit bored with the normal cheese or pepperoni that my girls like to eat. I like trying out new things, especially in my own cooking. These two pizza recipes were both inspired by pizza I ate from local pizza places. So I figured I would try making them at home. Turned out well in both cases.
Hope that you will try making these when you get the chance. If you have a favorite pizza dough recipe you already use, feel free to use that for these. I like the premade dough mix because they’re so easy to make, cheap, and last for awhile if you don’t end up using them right away. And they taste great. As always, if there are ingredients you don’t have or don’t want on your pizza, feel free to add or substitute them. Make these pizzas your own.
Macaroni & Cheese Pizza
I had this pizza one day during a meeting at work and it was delicious. I had never thought to combine these two foods before, but it makes sense. I had to make my own recipe so I could recreate the yumminess anytime at home. It is a very filling pizza, so one slice may be enough to satisfy even the hungriest of appetites.
Ingredients
- Ready made pizza dough mix (I use betty crocker, but jiffy has a pizza dough that's great too)
- Macaroni & cheese from Baked Mac n Cheese recipe
- 1/2 cup spinach, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or whatever your pizza dough instructs you to heat it for).
- Prepare the Macaroni and Cheese from my Baked Mac n Cheese recipe, but you don't need to bake it. Just combine the pasta and the cheese together.
- Make the pizza dough by following the instructions on the pizza dough package. The one I use usually involves adding 1/2 cup hot water to the dough mix.
- Let the pizza dough rest in a bowl for about 5 minutes to let it rise.
- Spray the pizza pan and then knead the dough into a round pizza shape on the pan. Put it into the oven without any toppings for 2 minutes, to set the dough.
- Take out of the oven and spread the macaroni and cheese in a single layer on the pizza. Leave about an inch of crust around the edges. Sprinkle the spinach all over the macaroni. If you don't like spinach, you can definitely omit it.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden around the edges.
- Take out of the oven and let cool before slicing with a pizza cutter.
Big Mac Pizza
I had this pizza at a restaurant called Krueger Flatbread in Haverhill, and it was so tasty I had to recreate it at home. This is my version, which is almost exactly like the one that inspired me. It combines the best flavors of a Big Mac burger, but on a pizza. Try it and you'll thank me later.
Ingredients
- 1 ready made pizza dough package (I use Betty Crocker but Jiffy makes one as well)
- 1 1/2 cups Special sauce (Thousand Island Dressing)
- 1 lb hamburger, cooked and broken into small pieces
- 1/2 cup lettuce, chopped or shredded into small pieces
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup dill pickles, diced
- 1/2 cup onions, diced
- 1/2 cup cooked bacon, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees (or whatever your pizza dough instructs you to heat it for).
- Make the pizza dough by following the instructions on the pizza dough package. The one I use usually involves adding 1/2 cup hot water to the dough mix.
- Let the pizza dough rest in a bowl for about 5 minutes to give it some time to rise.
- Spray the pizza pan with cooking spray and then knead the dough into a round pizza shape on the pan. Put it into the oven without any toppings for 2 minutes, to set the dough.
- Take the pan out of the oven and a thin layer of thousand island dressing on the pizza, leaving about an inch of crust around the edges.
- Layer the rest of the ingredients evenly as follows: hamburger, lettuce, pickles, onions, cheese. I also sometimes add in chopped bacon but this is optional.
- Drizzle a bit more thousand island dressing on top of all the ingredients, but don't add too much.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden around the edges.
- Take out of the oven and let cool before slicing with a pizza cutter.