I clearly haven’t learned my lesson when it comes to trying to take decent photos of dinner recipes once the sun starts its descent in late summer/early fall. The first time I made this pizza was in early September of 2011. Sure, I could have taken the photos outside as I did for this post, but it would have looked a little very odd to carry a pizza down the stairs and to take photos of a pizza outside of our apartment (where we lived at the time). Now that we’re in our own house it’s much easier to just step outside onto the deck that’s off of our kitchen and snap a handful of quick photos.
I’m still not thrilled with the pictures, but these are a drastic improvement from the Instagram shots I took last time. You’ll just have to trust me that this pizza is GOOD.
I did make a few revisions to my initial recipe, but nothing too drastic. Tangy barbeque sauce stands in for the traditional tomato sauce, and is topped with sweet caramelized onions and a trio of cheeses.
The flavor combination makes for one delicious pizza, and I should remember to toss this pie into our rotation (yep, we still do Pizza Friday every week) on a more regular basis!
BBQ Pizza with Caramelized Onions & Blue Cheese
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Keywords: bake entree main pizza cheese
Ingredients (1 pizza)
- 1 lb wheat pizza dough (I buy mine from the freezer section of Whole Foods)
- 3 medium yellow or white onions
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- olive oil, for coating baking sheet
- flour, for rolling out dough
- 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (we like Stubbs)
- 3/4 cup freshly shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
Bring pizza dough to room temperature (I like to thaw the frozen dough in the fridge overnight, and then take it out in the morning to sit at room temperature for the day).
Slice the onions in half lengthwise (through the “poles”) and then remove the papery skin. Thinly slice the onions widthwise (around the “equator”), discarding the ends. You should have about 3 cups of sliced onions.
Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet set over medium heat. Add onions to skillet, spreading them out into an even layer. Let onions cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle salt and sugar over the onions, reduce stove heat to low, and cook (stirring occasionally) for 45 minutes, or until they are soft and golden-brown. If the onions are sticking to the pan, you can add a few teaspoons of water to the skillet.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Lightly & evenly coat baking sheet with olive oil.
On a lightly floured flat surface, roll the room-temperature pizza dough out to desired thickness (I like a very thin pizza crust).
Carefully transfer the rolled-out pizza dough onto the oiled baking sheet.
Spoon BBQ sauce onto the pizza dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge.
Top with the caramelized onions, followed by the cheeses.
Bake pizza for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the baking sheet from underneath the pizza and continue to cook the pizza until the cheese has melted and the bottom of the crust is golden-brown and crisp, about 5 more minutes.
Using a pizza peel (or the baking sheet), carefully remove the pizza from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before cutting into slices.
