Butterball Meat Lover's Breakfast Pizza

*This post is sponsored by Butterball and was written for their Turketarian program... but all opinions are my own!

You’re a special breed of person if you’ve never opened last night’s pizza box and nibbled on cold pizza for breakfast when you roll out of bed at 10:00 a.m. You likely have an amazing amount of self-restraint and somehow know how to ward off the evil temptations of leftover pizza. How do you do it?? Teach us your ways! Actually, I think I found the solution because this recipe will have you shoving last night’s takeout box aside and whipping up a pizza that’s actually meant for breakfast. That is eaten hot. And is packed with breakfast foods, especially meat. With turkey bacon, turkey sausage, and eggs, you’ll feel like you’re eating a real breakfast, but still indulging with pizza. In fact, you might have the opposite problem with this pizza… 6:00 p.m. rolls around you’ll be eating the leftovers out of the fridge for dinner. I definitely do not blame you.

I developed this recipe as part of my partnership with Butterball for their Turketarian program, and was super excited to work with both their turkey bacon and turkey sausage for one delicious breakfast. More importantly than being a meat lover for this one, you need to be a turkey lover…a Turketarian some might say! Oh, and the cracked black pepper crust will spice your morning right up! (Seriously though, it’s just a little zing and not at all spicy).

While it’s super easy to put together in the morning when you’re half asleep, I do recommend making the dough a day or two ahead of time. My goal is to always have a batch of pizza dough in my fridge or freezer because you never know when a pizza craving is going to hit. 6:00 a.m.? No problem; I can have breakfast on the table in 30 minutes!

Meat Lover’s Breakfast Pizza (serves 4):
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• ½ batch cracked black pepper pizza dough (recipe below)
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 slices Butterball Turkey Bacon
• 1 Butterball Hardwood Smoked Turkey Sausage
• 1 T minced garlic
• ⅓ C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 5 large eggs
• 4 scallions, chopped

Cracked Black Pepper Pizza Dough:

• ⅓ T granulated yeast
• ¼ T sugar
• ¾ T salt
• 1 ⅓ C warm water
• ⅛ C extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 t finely ground black pepper
• 3-3 ¼ C unbleached all-purpose flour

For the bacon, I used Butterball’s Original Turkey Bacon.

And for the sausage, I used Butterball’s Hardwood Smoked Turkey Sausage.

To make the cracked black pepper dough, all you need to do it mix the yeast, sugar, salt, warm water, and olive oil together in a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Then, stir black pepper and 3 cups flour into the mixture with a wooden spoon. If mixture is still wet, stir in another ¼ cup. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and set in a warm spot for 2-3 hours to let rise. If you’re not using the dough right away, cover bowl with plastic wrap and keep in fridge.

Now, when you wake up at 6:00 a.m. and are craving pizza, stumble down the stairs and heat a pan over medium heat. Place six strips of Butterball turkey bacon on the pan and let cook for about two minutes before flipping. Cook for another two minutes and then flip again.

Repeat until bacon is crispy, but not overly so as you’ll be baking it more on the pizza. Remove to paper towel-lined plate.

While bacon is cooking, slice sausage and place it in a frying pan with 1-tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Stir frequently and cook until lightly browned. Remove to paper towel-lined plate.

While all that delicious turkey is cooking and everyone in your house is starting to wake up due to the smell, I recommend rolling out the pizza dough. And also pre-heating your oven to 425 degrees.

Roll dough on a floured surface into a large, thin round. I don’t generally create a crust on my homemade pizza, but since I was going to crack eggs on top, I thought a crust barrier would be useful. I recommend pinching the edges just a bit to create a little crust.

Place dough round on whatever you’ll be cooking pizza on, either a hot pizza stone or a foil-covered round pan. Drizzle remaining tablespoon olive oil over the top and brush lightly. Sprinkle minced garlic all around.

Sprinkle cheese across the entire dough round and crack eggs atop the pizza, too, making sure to keep them contained onto the dough.

Then, crumble bacon and sprinkle over the pizza dough, along with sausage, and scallions.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12-14 minutes, until eggs are cooked and crust is crispy.

Good morning! Rise and shine, sleepy head! Breakfast has arrived and it smells like the best morning ever.

I want to say this is the kind of breakfast you should be making for a brunch gathering. But I also want to tell you to make it on a random Sunday morning when you just want to eat good food and relax. I also won’t blame you if you eat it when you’re home alone and you don’t want to share with anyone else.

One piece turns into two turns into “omg I cannot stop eating this.” Every single piece is packed with flavor and protein. And everybody knows starting the day with protein is always a good idea. If that protein comes in pizza form, that’s just a bonus.

My favorite is when you crack the yolk a little bit and it becomes kind of like a pizza sauce.

And also when you take a bite and get a bit of turkey bacon, turkey sausage, egg, and scallion in it. Those are the best.

While you definitely can save some of this for leftovers, this pizza is one that tastes way better coming right out of the oven. But I don’t think that will be too much of a problem, right?

Now the question is, what could you possibly have for lunch and dinner that will be half as delicious as your breakfast? Life is tough.

How do you incorporate turkey into your breakfasts?

[Sues]