Living that pizza life today, drizzled in hot honey 🙌 We’ve also got fat dollops of ricotta cheese, thinly sliced red onion, a roasted garlic crust, and, of course, crispy crumbles of sausage and perfectly roasted/borderline burnt broccoli. I feel like I’m really delivering the goods today.
Why shouldn’t I come at this with 110% and all the flavor? Pizza is so good to us, it deserves everyone’s best effort. Think about how many times in your life pizza has been there for you. If you don’t make it at home yet, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how simple and completely tasty it is.
First things first, start with a good pizza dough. I suppose store bought is ok, but… can we not today? Let’s do things right with Roasted Garlic Pizza Dough. All the cool kids know making your own pizza dough is where it’s at👌
While your dough is rising, crisp up some Italian sausage – hot or sweet is fine. Then, roast some tiny broccoli florets. When I say roast, I mean char to within an inch of its life. Because salty, olive oily, charred broccoli is heaven on earth. Feel free to extend the roasting time until it almost makes you uncomfortable.
Once your dough has risen and is ready to go, oil a pizza pan or a baking sheet with a high-temp oil like vegetable or grape seed oil, and gently push and prod the dough around until it stretches to fit the pan. Top it with sauce. You can make your own or buy it. Today, I used Trader Joe’s pizza sauce. Sprinkle on some shredded mozzarella. Follow that with sausage and explain to your dog that he has his own food.
Bear is so cute. Immediately after this picture was taken, he tore a hole in the brand new loveseat slip cover. Sigh💖 Somebody who can sew, please come see me?
Next, add your roasty broccoli and some red onion. Then, fill in any empty spaces with big spoonfuls of ricotta.
OK! Time to bake. Your oven needs to be as hot as it will go. For me that’s 500 and I let it sit at that temp for a good 30 minutes, with the rack in the lowest position, as close to the burner as possible. I also stick a pizza stone in there while it preheats. It’s not necessary but it does keep the pan nice and hot and distributes the heat evenly. (I’ll link my favorite pizza equipment in the recipe notes.) Pop the pan in there and bake until the edges and the bottom of the crust are golden brown. Please use a spatula to check the bottom of the crust before you pull it out. There is nothing sadder than undercooked pizza crust. In my oven, this pizza bakes for about 18 minutes but I rotate it and start checking after 10 minutes.
When this dream comes out of the oven… I can’t even contain my excitement here… drizzle it all over with hot honey! OMG, come on. The spiciness!… the sweetness!… the stickiness! It’s all there and so good with the roasted, charred broccoli, the fattiness of the sausage, and the creamy ricotta.
I’ll include a recipe for hot honey below BUT, I prefer store bought. The brand I use and love is Mike’s Hot Honey. I really like the smooth consistency and the spiciness is perfect. *Just an honest endorsement, not an ad – let’s be honest, I’d die for Mike to even know this blog existed.
Mmmmkay, lets get to the recipe and get on with our awesome pizza life.
PrintSausage and Broccoli Pizza with Hot Honey
This homemade pizza is loaded with craveable toppings – crispy sausage crumbles, roasted broccoli, big dollops of ricotta, red onion, and a healthy drizzle of spicy honey. So good!
- Prep Time: 1 hour 25 minutes (includes dough-rising time)
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 pizza 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 Roasted Garlic Pizza Dough
- 1/2 lb Italian sausage (hot or sweet)
- 1 bunch of broccoli, cut into small, bite-sized florets
- 2/3 C pizza sauce (approximately)
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella
- 1/4 of a small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 C whole milk ricotta (approximately)
- hot honey for drizzling – use the recipe below or buy it here
- flaky sea salt for finishing
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees for the broccoli then make the Roasted Garlic Pizza Dough, according to this recipe.
- Roast the broccoli: Toss the florets with a good amount of olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them out onto a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, use a spatula to flip and move them around, and continue roasting for another 10 minutes or so.
- Increase your oven to 500 degrees (or as hot as it goes) and place the rack as close to the bottom burner as possible. Put a pizza stone on the rack if you have one and allow it to preheat as well.
- Brown the sausage: Add the sausage to a skillet over medium-high heat and break it up with a wooden spoon while it cooks- you want bite-sized crumbles. Season with salt if desired and brown it well.
- Once the pizza dough has risen, lightly oil a pizza pan or a baking sheet with a high-temperature oil like vegetable or grape seed. Spread the dough out on the pan by gently pushing and stretching it with your fingertips until it fits the shape of the pan.
- Use a large spoon to spread the sauce onto the dough. Sprinkle on the cheese, then the sausage, broccoli, and red onion. Fill in any empty spaces with 5 or 6 big spoonfuls of ricotta.
- Bake the pizza for 15-18 minutes. I rotate mine after 10 minutes and start checking the crust. When it’s done, the edges and the bottom should be golden brown. Remove from the oven, drizzle with hot honey, sprinkle with flakey salt, and serve!
diy hot honey
Whisk together 3 TBS of honey, 3 TBS white wine vinegar, and 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes.
Notes
My pizza stone, my absolute favorite pizza pan, and a cool wooden pizza peel all came in this Kettle Pizza set, which turns your kettle grill into a pizza oven and allows the pizza to cook at a super high temp. As far as I can tell, you can’t buy the accessories separately so I am linking to the whole set. Sorry, that’s obnoxious, BUT the Kettle Pizza set is amazing and absolutely worth the cost if you’re in the market for better homemade pizza – we use ours all spring and summer.
Here is my favorite pizza cutter. I think my husband researched this for like a month before buying. It’s awesome.
*This recipe includes Amazon Affiliate links to the best hot honey and my favorite pizza tools, from which I may earn income!
Keywords: Homemade pizza, sausage broccoli ricotta pizza