Sloppy Joe and Pizza…Two family favorites blended together using a homemade sloppy Joe sauce. The sauce is so easy to make, using simple ingredients. Try it before buying the canned stuff! Sloppy joe pizza is a family-friendly meal that is pretty inexpensive to make, delicious and healthier than frozen or takeout.
Sloppy Joe’s, cheeseburgers and pizza. Possibly three of the most popular and beloved American foods. What if you combine these into one amazing dish and use ingredients that make it healthier than frozen or takeout pizza? The result, a crowd pleasing homemade pizza that all can enjoy as an easy weeknight meal, a game day snack or at family/friend get -togethers.
The trick to keeping this healthy is limiting the amount of cheese, using a lean protein and eliminating the excess grease or oils present on all takeout and frozen pizzas. That’s right, a homemade cheeseburger pizza can be included on your list of healthy meals.
Is this a traditional pizza?
Absolutely not, but neither are 90% of the slices present on the counter of a typical New York pizzeria. This is a delicious take on pizza using classic American toppings. Pizza traditionalists may not approve, but if you love non traditional versions of pizza, give it a try. There aren’t many toppings we wouldn’t try on a homemade pizza.
How to make sloppy joe pizza
For the base of the homemade pizza, store bought pizza dough will work fine. For those more adventurous, we included our recipe for a simple pizza dough made with a bread machine. Most if not all bread machines have a dough setting. In our opinion, the quality is much better and you can have fresh dough in about 90 minutes.
For those looking to further improve the nutrition of this dish, you can make whole wheat dough. To make whole wheat dough, substitue 1 cup or 6 grams of whole wheat flour for an equal part bread flour in our recipe below. Just a word of caution, our experience is that the whole wheat does not stretch and behave as well as the dough made solely with bread flour.
The sloppy joe topping is also extremely simple to prepare. To limit salt and other unnecessary additives, make our homemade sloppy joe sauce and avoid “Manwich” or other store bought canned varieties. The sloppy joe topping is really simple using minimal ingredients. We use ground turkey or chicken to reduce fat and calories , but beef would also work. For vegetarians, plant based meat is also an option. The sauce and meat can be put together in 15 minutes.
The choice of toppings is endless. We went with cheddar cheese and a mix of banana and cherry peppers. Any topping that you would place on a cheeseburger would work great with this pizza. Due to the robust amount of toppings, we used a 14 1/2 inch round pan that yielded a thick crust. If you are partial to thin crust you can use a larger pan and stretch the dough further. With a thin crust you would have to reduce the volume of toppings or be prepared to eat with a knife and fork . Using less toppings and a thinner crust would also have the benefit of reducing calorie count of each slice.
If you are using a conventional oven and want to add some char to the cheese, broil the pizza when done. Please be careful as a small char can turn into a burnt mess very quickly when the broiler is on high. Please give this a try and feel free to comment on how you liked it and what toppings or modifications you tried. Enjoy! Buon appetito!!
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Sloppy Joe Pizza
4
servings5
minutes25
minutesA non traditional pizza that combines 2 favorites, pizza with cheeseburgers.
Ingredients
1 1/2 lb ground turkey defrosted
1 lb pizza dough
16 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 small onion finely chopped
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup +3 Tbs ketchup
1 1/2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
Sliced banana or jalapeño peppers (optional for topping);
Crisco for coating pizza pan
Directions
- I have a bread machine and make my pizza dough in there. However, if you have store bought pizza dough and it is frozen, let it defrost over night in the fridge. In the morning, take the dough out and place in a lightly floured bowl and put a kitchen towel over it to keep it warm and let it rise for at least an hour or more preferably. If not frozen, just make sure to bring it to room temperature in the bowl and allow it to rise by placing a kitchen towel over it. This allows for easier spreading.
- In a large skillet, add the ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Crumble meat while it is being cooked. Once done, drain any excess fat and remove from pan. Set aside.
- In the same pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium/high heat. Add onions, celery and green pepper and cook until onions are translucent and vegetables are tender.
- Add the ground turkey back to the pan along with the cooked vegetables. Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper and stir to combine. Cook for another minute or two, just until ingredients are well combined. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 435 degrees. Once dough has risen, we can prepare our pizza pan. I used a deep dish 14 1/2 inch pizza pan because it has a lip and I wanted to make sure the meat didn’t fall off. You can probably use a regular pizza pan, however, you may not be able to fit all of the meat on there. Lightly coat the pizza pan with crisco and spread the pizza dough in pan. If the dough is a little too sticky to handle, sprinkle a very small amount of flour on the dough before spreading. Poke the dough with a fork a few times throughout once it’s spread.
- Add the sloppy Joe mixture on top of the dough and spread evenly. Add cheddar cheese. I had a block of cheese and grated my own. I used 1 cup. If you are using the finely grated bagged cheese, you may want to use more than that. Maybe 1 1/2-2 cups. Add peppers if using for topping. Sprinkle with oregano.
- Place pizza in the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Check the bottom of the crust. If not lightly browned all around, turn pan and cook for approximately 3-5 more minutes.
Notes
- If you would like to brown the top a little, put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Makes it look like it came from a pizzeria.
- Dough:1.5 Cups water, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp salt, 2 tbs olive oil, 4 cups bread flour and 1 package (1/4 ounce) rapid rise yeast. Place all in bread machine on dough setting. Will make enough dough for 2 pizzas.
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