Roasted Brussel Sprout and Onion Pizza with Feta and Bacon

One of my favorite easy meals is homemade pizza because the possibilities are endless! I've done thai chicken pizza, roasted veggie pizza, BLT pizza, pesto shrimp pizza... but tonight's topping might strike you as a little more unusual: brussel sprouts! That's right, the vegetable that most of us would have sworn we'd never eat at one point in our lives actually makes for an awesome pizza. Plus, how can you go wrong with cheese and bacon... 

I started out by slicing and roasting the brussel sprouts and onion. And here's where I made a bit of a "happy mistake." I seasoned the onion and a bunch of brussel sprouts with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and garlic but then I figured, while I'm at it, I might as well roast some more sprouts to have as leftovers for another time. This time, I decided to swap out the vinegar for sriracha. Well, when I went to top the pizza, the balsamic vinegar batch wasn't enough to cover the whole pizza so I ended up using both kinds. And hey, it was tasty! So I'll let it up to you. You can do all your brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar, do half and half like me, or I assume you could just combine the vinegar and the sriracha as well. Let me know how it turns out if you try it a different way! 


Anyway, I stuck the brussel sprouts in a 450 degree oven for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, I got the dough ready to go. I took a bit of a short cut and used store bought whole wheat pizza dough. This one happened to be from Wegmans, but I've also used Trader Joe's and Fresh Market's brands in the past. I prefer the kind that you spread out and bake yourself to the kind that's already cooked. Tip: room temperature dough will spread a lot easier than if it's straight out of the fridge. Use your hands to spread the dough to cover a cookie sheet. Then lightly drizzle or spray with olive oil and top with the parmesan cheese, garlic, a little salt, and roasted red pepper flakes. I put this in the oven for about 3 minutes while the veggies finished roasting. 

Next, top the pizza dough with the brussel sprouts and onions and put it back in the oven. The amount of time you'll need to bake varies based on the dough, so just keep an eye on it. Mine took about 8-10 minutes. Finally, I sprinkled the top with feta and bacon bits and popped it back in for another minute and voila! 

Dinner. is. served. 

Of course, I dipped mine in a little more sriracha. I warned you I like things spicy ;)

Roasted Brussel Sprout and Onion Pizza with Feta and Bacon

1 whole wheat pizza dough

30 brussel sprouts (approx.), quartered

1/2 large sweet onion, sliced

Olive oil

2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar

2-3 tsp sriracha

Salt

Garlic powder

Red pepper flakes

2/3 - 1 c. shredded parmesan cheese 

1/4 c. feta cheese 

2 tbsp crumbled bacon bits 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Chop the brussel sprouts and onion and toss with a drizzle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sriracha (optional). Spread on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with garlic powder and salt to taste. Roast for approximately 12 minutes until sprouts begin to brown. 

Spray another cookie sheet with cooking spray. Use fingertips to spread dough. Lightly drizzle or spray with olive oil and sprinkle with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and red pepper flakes to taste. Bake for 3 minutes. 

Top dough with roasted sprouts and onion. Bake until dough is cooked all the way through, approximately 8-10 more minutes. Top with feta cheese and bacon bits and cook for another minute until cheese begins to melt. Slice and serve.