Spicy Sausage Pizza

Spicy Sausage Pizza

• SAUSAGES
• EASY FAMILY DINNERS

Put this homemade pizza topped with spicy Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese at the top of the list for your next pizza night. Don’t skip the hot honey sauce for dipping the crust!

Nick Evans

When most people think of pizza, they first think of pepperoni. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with pepperoni pizza, but I’ve been experimenting with this Spicy Sausage Pizza, and I think it can hold up to any other pizza topping out there. This is especially true if you pair it with some hot honey for dipping AND cook it in a blazing hot Gozney Roccbox so the crust is crispy like a cracker! (Read my review of the Gozney Roccbox here.)

No matter how you cook it though, this pizza is a great addition to your homemade pizza arsenal.

The Best Dough for This Pizza

There are many different pizza dough recipes out there, but for my money (and time) I like No-Knead Pizza Dough. Generally, I’ll make it a day in advance so it has plenty of time to rise slowly. Then I take it out at least an hour before I’m ready to make pizza so it can come to room temperature.

If you don’t want to bother with homemade dough, you can buy dough at most supermarkets these days, or if you have a local pizzeria, they will most likely sell you a few dough balls for a few bucks.

Nick Evans

Toppings for Spicy Sausage Pizza

The toppings for this pizza are few, but it’s important to not over-top the pizza, especially if you are cooking it in something like a Gozney Roccbox.

Add just enough sauce to lightly coat the dough and enough cheese so the pizza is covered, but it isn’t piled up.

For the sausage, find a good quality spicy Italian sausage and tear it into very tiny meatballs. Small meatballs are important so the sausage cooks all the way through during cooking. Dot the entire pizza with these meatballs and they will cook very quickly in the hot oven.

Other than that, I like a little sprinkle of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes on my sausage pizza. Add some fresh basil when it comes out of the oven and you are in for pizza perfection!

Hot Honey Dipping Sauce

One of my little tips for homemade pizza (any homemade pizza!) is to make this hot honey sauce. It takes literally seconds to stir together the honey, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes and is always a hit. After you finish your pizza, dip the crust in this hot honey and you’ll never want non-honeyed pizza crust again!

Nick Evans

Cooking Pizza in the Gozney Roccbox

If you have a Gozney Roccbox, preheat it for 10 to 15 minutes until the temperature gauge is in the orange section (roughly 600-700 ̊F).

Once the Gozney Roccbox is preheated, slide a topped pizza onto a lightly floured peel and then immediately slide it into the hot Gozney Roccbox. As the pizza cooks, turn it with the peel every 30 seconds or so to make sure the pizza is cooking evenly. It’ll be completely cooked in three to four minutes.

The pizza is done with the sausage is browned, the pizza is bubbling, and the crust is blistered and golden brown.

Cooking Pizza in the Oven

If you don’t have a Gozney Roccbox, I recommend cooking this pizza on a pizza stone in a 500 ̊F oven. Preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes so the pizza stone is nice and hot. Then slide the pizza onto the stone.

The pizza will need to cook for eight to 10 minutes in a traditional oven to get cooked through. This will vary to some degree based on your oven and pizza stone, so check the pizza every few minutes.

• You could also grill your pizza following this method: How to Grill Pizza.

Nick Evans

Reheating Leftover Pizza Like a Pro

If you have leftover pizza (lucky!), please avoid the microwave! All that work will be wasted as your crust turns soggy in the microwave. Instead, add the pizza to a skillet and warm it over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes so the crust heats up. For the last minute, add a lid to the skillet so the cheese melts. Be very careful removing the pizza from the skillet. It will be very hot!

Spicy Sausage Pizza

PREP TIME10 mins

COOK TIME4 mins

TOTAL TIME14 mins

YIELD4 pizzas

Ingredients

• 2 pounds prepared pizza dough, divided into 4 balls
• 1 cup marinara sauce, store-bought or homemade
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese (low moisture), grated
• 8 ounces spicy Italian sausage
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• Fresh basil, garnish
• Extra flour, for rolling and throwing the pizza
• Hot Honey Dip:
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method

1. Warm the dough (if refrigerated):

   If your dough has been refrigerated, take it out of the fridge an hour before you want to make pizza.

   Divide the dough into four balls and let them sit at room temperature so they become easier to work with. Keep the dough covered with plastic, though, so it doesn’t dry out. (If your dough was not refrigerated, divide the dough just before shaping.)

   
2. Preheat the Roccbox or oven:

   Preheat your Roccbox to 600-700 ̊ F (somewhere in the middle orange color); it should take about 15 minutes to preheat.

   If cooking in the oven, preheat the oven to 500 ̊F with a pizza stone for 20 minutes so the stone is very hot.
3. Prepare the hot honey dip:

   Add honey to a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 10 seconds. Then stir the honey together with hot sauce and red pepper flakes. Serve the honey as a dip with any and all pizza!
4. Assemble the pizza:

   On a lightly floured surface, roll out one dough ball until it forms a 10-inch round. It should be pretty thin. Top the pizza with a few tablespoons of marinara sauce. I don’t like my pizzas very saucy, but add an extra spoon of sauce if you do.

   Then top the pizza with four ounces of cheese and dot on two ounces of spicy sausage. Be sure to tear the sausage into very tiny meatballs so they cook quickly. Season the pizza with red pepper flakes and a tiny pinch of salt and pepper.
5. If cooking the pizza in the Roccbox:

   Lightly dust your pizza peel with flour and quickly slide the topped pizza onto the peel. Then slide the pizza off the peel, directly onto the hot Roccbox stone. The pizza will cook very quickly in the Roccbox. Turn it about every 30 seconds so it cooks evenly. The pizza will be done in 3-4 minutes.

   

   
6. If cooking the pizza in the oven:

   Slide the topped pizza onto the pizza stone and cook for 8-10 minutes until the crust is crispy and golden brown and sausage is cooked.
7. While the first pizza cooks, prepare the next pizza
8. Cool briefly and serve:

   Remove the cooked pizza from the Roccbox or oven, and let it cool briefly before. Garnish with fresh basil, slice, and serve with the hot honey dip. Repeat for cooking the remaining pizzas.

   

   REHEATING PIZZA: If you have leftover pizza, reheat the pizza in a skillet over medium heat. Cook the pizza for a few minutes so the crust stays crispy. Add a lid to the skillet for a minute so the cheese melts. Be careful removing the pizza from the skillet. It will be very hot!