| Southwest Harvest Pizza |
Author: Anita
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Ingredients
- 1 10-12 inch pizza crust (see notes)
- 1 cup mild salsa
- ½ lb mild Italian sausage
- ¼ cup medium hot diced green chiles
- 1 cup sliced onion
- 1 cup coarsely chopped red or orange bell pepper
- ¼ cup medium hot green chiles
- 1 cup shredded mozarella or pizza blend shredded cheese
- ½ cup shredded cheese for tacos (see notes)
- sliced black olives
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place crust on pizza pan or cookie sheet and bake according to package directions. If using cauliflower crust, bake just until starting to brown around edges. It should cook about 10 minutes per side.
- While crust is cooking, in a skillet, start sausage browning over medium heat, breaking up into small chunks. Add the green chiles and mix in well. When meat is browned, remove from skillet onto a plate and set aside.
- In the same skillet without draining sausage fat, add 1 tbsp olive oil and the onion and bell pepper. Over medium heat, saute until peppers and onion are soft.
- Spread salsa evenly over the pizza crust. Top with the mozarella or pizza blend cheese and then with the taco cheese. Then spread the onions and bell pepper evenly on top and then the sausage. Top with black olives.
- Bake 5-10 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted.
- Cut into 6 slices, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
Notes:
Crust is a matter of preference. Corn meal crust, cauliflower crust, or regular pizza crust. This recipe is ideal for a 12-inch crust, but the Trader Joe's cauliflower crust is 10-inch, so it is piled high as you can see in the photo. Be careful to undercook rather than overcook cauliflower crusts so they don't crumble.
Cheese is also your preference. Mozarella is fine, but the taco-seasoned Kraft Cheddar & Asadero adds more of a Mexican flair. You can simulate this by taking ½ cup shredded cheddar and sprinkling ¼ tsp mixture of cumin and chili powder over it and tossing the cheese to blend.
Commentary:
Who doesn't love a loaded pizza? Especially with green chiles? This is a classic easy-to-make Southwestern pizza - salsa instead of pizza sauce, lots of green chiles and some Mexican cheese and spices. I made with a mild Italian sausage - my favorite. You just can't beat Italian sausage for flavor and texture. Sometimes I use chicken Italian sausage.
This one I made with a pre-made crust, super-easy. Not just any premade crust, but Trader Joe's Cauliflower pizza crust (made with cauliflower & corn flour) - perfect for those who are gluten-free. For flavor and gluten-free, I prefer the corn meal Vicolo pizza crusts at Trader Joe's. I thought the toppings dominated the flavor of the cauliflower crust. On the other hand, I served this pizza to my friend Connie, and she especially liked the cauliflower crust. Note the instructions said to brown the crust on both sides, but if you do it starts to crumble; I baked it just had a hint of browning around the edges.
I also used a combination of pizza cheese and Kraft cheese for tacos (shredded cheddar & asadero with taco seasoning). Very nice, but this will also be good with straight mozarella. All in all, this dish is one of my feel-good, always satisfying indulgences. Hope you enjoy it!
Crust is a matter of preference. Corn meal crust, cauliflower crust, or regular pizza crust. This recipe is ideal for a 12-inch crust, but the Trader Joe's cauliflower crust is 10-inch, so it is piled high as you can see in the photo. Be careful to undercook rather than overcook cauliflower crusts so they don't crumble.
Cheese is also your preference. Mozarella is fine, but the taco-seasoned Kraft Cheddar & Asadero adds more of a Mexican flair. You can simulate this by taking ½ cup shredded cheddar and sprinkling ¼ tsp mixture of cumin and chili powder over it and tossing the cheese to blend.
Commentary:
Who doesn't love a loaded pizza? Especially with green chiles? This is a classic easy-to-make Southwestern pizza - salsa instead of pizza sauce, lots of green chiles and some Mexican cheese and spices. I made with a mild Italian sausage - my favorite. You just can't beat Italian sausage for flavor and texture. Sometimes I use chicken Italian sausage.
This one I made with a pre-made crust, super-easy. Not just any premade crust, but Trader Joe's Cauliflower pizza crust (made with cauliflower & corn flour) - perfect for those who are gluten-free. For flavor and gluten-free, I prefer the corn meal Vicolo pizza crusts at Trader Joe's. I thought the toppings dominated the flavor of the cauliflower crust. On the other hand, I served this pizza to my friend Connie, and she especially liked the cauliflower crust. Note the instructions said to brown the crust on both sides, but if you do it starts to crumble; I baked it just had a hint of browning around the edges.
I also used a combination of pizza cheese and Kraft cheese for tacos (shredded cheddar & asadero with taco seasoning). Very nice, but this will also be good with straight mozarella. All in all, this dish is one of my feel-good, always satisfying indulgences. Hope you enjoy it!
Recipe by Denver Green Chili at https://denvergreenchili.com/recipes/main-courses/southwest-harvest-pizza/