When I found out about the 2012 North Carolina Sweet Potato “No More ‘Mallows” Blogger Recipe Contest, my mind went in a dozen different directions with ideas of what to make.
My initial instinct was to make something sweet, but I eventually decided to push the envelope by going the savory route.
I settled on a sweet potato version of my Individual Breakfast Pizzas, and decided that in order to fully pay homage to my very favorite food, I had to incorporate the orange vegetable into the recipe in not one, but two ways.
Pureed:
Roasted:
I baked and pureed one sweet potato to use as the pizza “sauce” and diced & roasted another spud with my favorite home fries spice blend: garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, & pepper.
Rich & creamy gouda cheese, eggs, and chopped fresh chives completed the individual pizzas, which are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
The pizzas are baked long enough so that the crust gets crisp and golden brown on the bottom but not long enough to fully cook the egg yolk; so you’re gifted with a crunchy crust topped with a velvety smooth sweet potato “sauce”, gooey melted cheese, pillowy sweet potato home fries, and an egg with a luscious golden runny yolk.
Whether or not this recipe ends up winning the contest, I’m thrilled with the way these sweet potato breakfast pizzas turned out!
Individual Sweet Potato Breakfast Pizzas
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 1/2 hours
Keywords: bake roast pizza main breakfast vegetarian sweet potatoes
Ingredients (4 individual pizzas)
- 2 large sweet potatoes (you’ll end up using 1 cup puree and 2 cups diced)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp for drizzling
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder/granulated garlic
- 1/4 tsp onion powder/granulated onion
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 2 pinches cayenne pepper
- 1 lb whole wheat pizza dough, at room temperature, divided into 4 equal portions (4 oz each)
- flour, for rolling out dough
- 1 cup freshly shredded gouda cheese
- 4 large eggs, preferably organic
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup diced chives
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place one whole sweet potato directly on the rack and bake until very soft, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before peeling and pureeing flesh in a food processor until smooth. Spoon out 1 cup to use as a pizza “sauce” (reserve any remaining puree for another use).
Increase oven heat to 450°F. Peel remaining sweet potato and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Toss 2 cups of the diced sweet potatoes (reserve any remaining for another use) with 1 Tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, and salt & pepper to taste; place in an even layer on a baking sheet. Roast, stirring once, until softened but not yet crisp, about 15-20 minutes (they will continue to cook when baked on the pizza). Remove roasted sweet potato cubes from the oven.
Lightly flour a clean, flat work surface. Roll each ball of dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness (about 7 inch in diameter). Transfer to a rimless baking sheet lightly coated with 1 tsp olive oil.
Spread 1/4 cup of the pureed sweet potato flesh evenly over the surface of each dough round, leaving about a 1/2-inch border. Top each sweet potato-coated dough circle with 1/4 cup shredded gouda, followed by 1/2 cup of the roasted sweet potato cubes. Carefully crack one egg on top of the sweet potato cubes in the center of each pizza.
Bake pizzas at 450°F for 8 minutes. Carefully remove the baking sheet from underneath the pizzas, and continue to cook – directly on the oven rack – until the crusts are golden brown on the bottom, the cheese is melted, and the egg whites are fully set, about 2-4 additional minutes. Carefully remove pizzas from oven with a pizza peel and let cool 2 minutes before serving.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and top each individual pizza with 1 Tbsp diced chives.
Nutritional Information Per Pizza:
555.6 calories, 20.4 grams fat, 7 grams saturated fat, 11.6 grams fiber, 23.4 grams protein
