Ok, Full disclosure, the first time I heard about sloppy joe pizza, I wasn’t overwhelmed with enthusiasm. But then I tasted one. Well, what can I say? It’s like a cheeseburger and a pizza all in one handheld mouthful. Pizza is great convenience food, even when you make them at home. I take one or two short cuts, but I promise the end result is still worth it. I’m going to show you how to make this delicious pizza.
How to Make Sloppy Joe Pizza
Pizza’s are great when it comes to convenience. Not much equipment is needed, and you even save on the washing up as everyone just uses their fingers! It would be a shame to have all that convenience ruined by spending ages making dough, rolling it out, and preparing all the ingredients from scratch. That’s why I came up with this recipe.
Remember I said I made a few ‘shortcuts’? Well… I really haven’t got time to be making pizza dough, so I use premade pizza bases. I’ll be honest, a sloppy Joe pizza isn’t authentically Italian anyway, and I haven’t had any complaints yet.
I also use premade cans of sloppy joe sauce. It is possible to make this entirely from scratch, but to be honest, after a busy day, the last thing I want to do is add to my workload.
While this is a Sloppy joe pizza recipe, I prefer my pizza to be a little less sloppy. For this reason, I give my pizza bases a little bit of a head start before I add the toppings. That way, I can be sure that I get a really crisp crust.
I find a short hot blast is all that’s needed once the toppings have been added. This recipe features ground beef, which takes longer than the pizza to cook. For that reason, I get it there in a pan before adding it towards the end of cooking.
From there, it’s just a case of adding my toppings and giving the pizza a final blast in the oven to get all the ingredients melted together and ready to serve.
Sloppy Joe Pizza
Course: MainCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes20
minutes218
kcalSloppy Joe pizza is one recipe you’re not going to want to miss out on. This pizza delivers 2 full size pizzas and serves 4.
Ingredients
2 x ready-made 12” pizza bases
1 lb 1 ground beef
1 can 1 sloppy joe pizza sauce
2 cups 2 shredded mozzarella
1 cup 1 shredded cheddar
1 handful 1 grated parmesan
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 430°F. Once the oven is up to temperature, place your pizza bases inside and bake until very lightly golden before removing them to a counter.
- In a large pan, cook your ground beef until it is browned, be sure to drain any fat, then stir in your sloppy joe pizza sauce. Divide your sloppy joe pizza sauce equally between the two bases and sprinkle equally with the cheeses.
- Bake for a further 5-7 minutes until the top is bubbly and melted.
- Serve and enjoy!
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Tips and Tricks
- This recipe can be made entirely from scratch. If you want to make your own pizza dough, go right on ahead. You can use it in exactly the same way as I describe in this recipe.
- Speaking of making things from scratch, you can also make sloppy joe sauce from scratch if you wish. It is a little extra work, and the results aren’t that much different, so I prefer to keep it easy.
- The key to making sure my sloppy joe pizza recipe turns out perfectly is to prebake the pizza base briefly before you add the toppings. This recipe features both ground beef, cheese, and sloppy joe sauce. All of these ingredients can make an uncooked pizza base a little bit ‘soft’. Don’t get me wrong, I love a sloppy joe pizza, but I don’t like it that sloppy.
- If you are vegetarian, fear not. You can make sloppy joe pizza for vegetarians. You can substitute ground beef for a meat substitute, like Quorn, for instance. It will taste pretty similar.
- If you’ve read any of my other recipes, you’ll know that I love mixing it up a bit from time to time. In this recipe, I’ve used mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan. However, feel free to ‘play jazz’ with your choice of cheese. Blue cheese, Monterey Jack, and spicy Mexicana all work really well too!
- This pizza is not one that you are going to want to make ahead of time. The ingredients are all a little too ‘wet’ to survive for long without being baked.
- Now I’m going to let you into a little secret. The key to a successful pizza lies in the oven. What do I mean? Well, you want your oven blisteringly hot before you try to bake your pizza. I’ve invested in a pizza stone for absolutely perfect results, but if you don’t have one, a hot baking tray will do the job pretty well.
- Here’s another top tip. Pizza dough sticks to hot surfaces. When you have a fully laden sloppy joe pizza, it can be a real pain getting it into the oven without spilling the topping off one side. Here’s what I suggest. Assemble your sloppy joe pizza on top of a piece of baking paper. Then carry the pizza ‘Fireman’s blanket’ style and put it in the oven. This ensures it arrives in one piece, and it also saves washing up. (Can you tell I hate washing up?)
Conclusion
How easy was that? Not bad for a Friday night dinner. Sloppy Joe pizza is a real treat in our house and is great for movie nights or when you have surprise company. The key is a hot oven (and to use premade pizza bases). There are lots of versions of sloppy joe pizza, what’s yours? Leave a comment below and tell me your toppings!
