Meatballs speak my love language and when they’re by themselves they’re sending me all the right signals, but when they mosey on over and place themselves on top of pizza, that’s a whole other story. That’s the ultimate love story right there. Don’t even get me started. Since I’m in Italy at the moment I thought it would be a great idea to share a pizza recipe on the blog, mainly because it’s been a while since my last pizza which I believe was this Spicy Sausage, Potato and Kale Pizza. I’m not mad about it, I just think it’s about time I shared some more of this glorious dish. Nothing screams Italian more to me than meatballs and/or pizza. Rather than having to decide between the two, I thought the wisest decision I could possibly make right now would be to put meatballs on my pizza. Now I’m not saying I invented this by any means, because let’s face it, people have been putting tiny balls of meat on pizza forever now. What I am saying is that I’m jumping on the delicious band wagon and trying to get you guys to hop onboard as well.
I’m taking a few shortcuts and some help from the store by using store-bought pizza dough and pizza sauce because when you really want pizza, you don’t have time to mess around with making your own dough and sauce. Instead, I’m investing my time to making the most delicious homemade meatballs to go on top of the pizza. That’s where it really counts. That’s where it matters the most. If you really want to go all semi-homemade on this pie, feel free to use frozen meatballs and just cook them in the oven in a baking sheet before placing them on the dough before cooking the pizza itself. But if you have that little bit of extra time, I highly recommend that you give the homemade meatballs a whirl. They’re actually fun to make, but I guarantee you that it’s not nearly as much fun as the pizza is to eat. Pizza is always fun. It’s the life of any party.
Let’s start by making the meatballs. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, salt, and pepper until mixed well together.
**Note: With meatballs, the key is to not over mix. If you do the meatballs themselves will become tough and chewy. That’s not what you want when it comes to meatballs. You want soft, melt in your mouth meatballs.**
Roll them out into balls a little bigger than a tablespoon in size and place them on a baking sheet. Just make sure to keep them all relatively the same size as best you can because that’ll ensure that they all cook at the same time.
**Tip: To keep them all the same size, I like to use a medium to small ice cream scoop and then roll them in my hands to make them smooth.**
Drizzle the meatballs with olive oil and place under the broil under charred on top, about 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the meatballs over and continue to cook on the second size for another 4 t0 minutes. Because the meatballs are so small, they’ll cook faster than regular sized! Just make sure to keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn; the broiler can be fickle and burn things quick.
Roll out the store bought pizza dough, one at a time, on a lightly floured work surface. Transfer to a pizza stone or pizza pan and spread the top with that store bought pizza sauce. Let’s make things easier on us moving forward.
**Note: If you can get your hands on a pizza stone, if you don’t already have one, then you’ll have the BEST pizza at home experience of your life. I promise it. You have no idea how great it makes the pizza crust.**
Top each pizza with a few slices of mozzarella cheese (or if you’re going the shredded cheese route, then sprinkle the cheese all on top) and then place a few of the cooked meatballs on top, mini pepperoni, fresh cracked black pepper and some grated parmesan cheese. Kind of space it out all evenly, you want every bite to have a little bit of everything.
Cook in a super hot oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown around the edges and the cheese has melted and started to bubbly.
**Tip: The key to really great pizza at home is a pizza stone or a pizza steel and a very hot oven. Crank that thing up to high 400’s and just about low 500’s. Believe me, your crust will be golden brown and crispy and chewy and amazing.**
The great thing about any pizza, is of course the fact that you can top it a thousand different ways. Go wild with the topping and do whatever you really like. You must try the meatballs though. That’s necessary. But if you want to adding some healthy veggies to this, I wouldn’t be mad. Peppers, onions, or olives would be great with the meatiness from the meatballs.
If you want a quick vegetarian option, omit the pizza and pepperoni and just have slices mozzarella and sliced tomatoes on top and then you have a delicious classic Margherita pizza!
With a little help from the store, by grabbing the pre-made dough and store-bought pizza sauce, you can have pizza night in no time at all. This is the perfect way to do a Monday. So forget about grabbing that phone to order delivery because that’s not always the answer. I mean, sometimes it is, but not this week. Make some meatballs and have your next favorite pizza for dinner tonight.
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup bread crumbs
- ½ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 store-bought pizza doughs
- ½ cup store-bought pizza sauce
- 16 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced or 3 cups shredded mozzarella
- ½ cup mini pepperoni
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons sliced fresh basil
- Preheat the broiler to high.
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, milk, parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes until well combined. Shape the mixture to small meatballs, a little larger than a tablespoon and place on a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle the top with olive oil and place under the broiler until charred and browned all around, about 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure to turn them over halfway through cooking. Remove from oven and let them cool slightly.
- Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
- Roll out the dough, one at a time, on a lightly floured work surface into a large circle. Transfer to a pizza stone or pizza pan that has been dusted lightly with cornmeal. This will prevent it from sticking. Spread a thin layer of sauce over the top, leaving about a 1-inch border along the edges for the crust. Place a few slices of mozzarella evenly around the pizza, or sprinkle the top completely with shredded cheese if you decide to go that route. Top with the cook meatballs and sprinkle with mini pepperoni, parmesan cheese and black pepper. Repeat with the second pizza dough and the remaining toppings.
- Bake until golden brown around the edges and the cheese has melted and is bubbly, about 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully remove the pizza from the very hot oven and let cool slightly before slicing and serving. Garnish with fresh basil on top. Enjoy!
How fun, this will be good for a football game next weekend I only need one pizza so I’ll put the extra meatballs in the freezer for another time.
i love meatballs, but can somehow never get them to cook round (last time i tried to saute them, and they became meatcubes). love that when you cook them on pizza, it doesn’t matter as much :3