Chicken Sausage Pizza

Chicken Sausage Pizza is Friday Night Pizza comfort food! In trying to eat healthier, I’m using more chicken-based products in my meals. Chicken sausage is just as tasty as the pork or beef versions. And there are a number of delicious chicken-based products on the market these days.

You can make your own sausage. Or you can purchase pre-made sausage. One of my new discoveries is Al Fresco’s Chicken Sausage. It’s fully cooked, so you just need to heat it in a pan and slice it to add to your pizza. Flavors include Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage and Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Sausage. Either of these flavors work well on this pizza! Additionally, I like Trader Joe’s Sweet Basil Pesto Smoked Chicken and Turkey Sausage, which is also fully-cooked. You don’t have to heat the sausage first, but I like to ensure any sausage that I’m using is fully heated before baking it on a pizza.

Start out by either making your own pizza dough or buying a premade dough. I like to make my own dough using my Vitamix. I’ve modified the original Vitamix pizza dough recipe to add some whole grain flour and some dried herbs for a different and richer flavor. If you don’t have a Vitamix, you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. My Easy Pizza Dough is a simple dough for the stand mixer. Then preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. A crispy crust requires high heat.

Once you have your dough made, and rolled out onto a greased baking sheet, it’s time to saute the sausage. When the sausage is cooked and slightly browned, slice it into coins and set aside. Keep it warm.

While the sausage is heating, slice some onion lengthwise and saute in some olive oil until translucent. You can also saute some sliced mushrooms along with the onion. I think mushrooms pair nicely with chicken sausage.

Top the dough with some of my roasted tomato sauce which is a great pizza sauce! Or you can use your favorite tomato-based pizza sauce. A white pizza sauce goes nicely with this sausage, too. Then add some shredded mozzarella cheese, the sliced sausage and sauteed onions and optional mushrooms, and some more cheese on top. And your pizza is ready to bake!

Bake the pizza at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until the pizza dough has browned around the edges and the cheese has browned — about 10 to 15 minutes. Keep watch to ensure the bottom of the crust doesn’t burn.

Remove the pizza from the oven and let it sit a few minutes before slicing. Then slice, and plate. Sprinkle on some shredded Parmesan, and serve!

Enjoy!

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From the kitchen of A Food Lover’s Delight….

Chicken Sausage Pizza

Ingredients:

1 prepared fresh pizza dough or my Easy Pizza Dough
2 fully cooked Al Fresco chicken sausages
2 T olive oil
2 medium onions, sliced lengthwise (not in rounds)
8 oz mushrooms (optional), cleaned, stems removed, and sliced
1 c (or more) Roasted Tomato Sauce or your favorite pizza sauce
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese (or your favorite pizza cheese)
Shredded Parmesan for topping after baking

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Roll out your prepared pizza dough and transfer to a greased a baking sheet or pizza pan.
3. Heat the chicken sausages in a non-stick skillet over medium low heat, turning frequently until slightly browned. You can use a bit of water if you find that the sausages are sticking to the pan and not heating quickly enough.
4. In a separate pan, while the chicken sausage is heating, warm the olive oil over medium low heat. Saute the onions until translucent. Add the optional sliced mushrooms, and saute until the mushrooms have cooked slightly but not all the way.
5. When the chicken sausages have warmed through, slice the them into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
6. Spread some pizza sauce over the pizza dough. Be careful not to use too much sauce or your pizza dough won’t cook property and your pizza will be soggy.
7. Sprinkle half of the shredded mozzarella cheese over the pizza sauce.
8. Arrange the cooked chicken sausage rounds and the sauteed onions and mushrooms over the mozzarella. Top with the remaining shredded mozzarella.
9. Bake the pizza at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 – 15 minutes or until the crust has browned and the cheese is bubbling.
10. Remove the pizza from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes for easier slicing.
11. Cut the pizza into slices. And serve! Sprinkle some shredded Parmesan over the slices.

Serves 4 – 6 hungry pizza eaters! Offer with a side salad such as a Caesar Salad with my Hubby’s Caesar Salad Dressing or my Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Peppered Goat Cheese or my Simple Cucumber Salad.

Variations: Use a pork or beef sausage instead of chicken. Use a different pizza cheese mixture other than mozzarella. You could add some sauteed red or green bell pepper or some sliced black olives. Slices of fresh tomato are colorful and tasty as well. Sprinkle on some chopped fresh basil after baking and before serving.

Buy your own Vitamix at Amazon.com:

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