This Sausage & Mushroom Pizza is spicy, satisfying and easy to make at home, and it has a secret ingredient (hot sauce for the pizza sauce) that takes the flavor over-the-top!
You guysssss, I can’t believe that I’ve been blogging for 4 years, and have never shared my most favorite pizza ever with you. Please meet my Sausage & Mushroom pizza.
Slapping palm to my head, I’m wondering how I missed something so obviously tasty to share. Geez. I’m sorry! Before we get started though, I have a bit of a warning… if you are not into extreme pizza building, please exit here. 🙂
I realize the insane amount of ingredients heaped on top of this pizza is extreme (ahem, LOTS of Italian sausage), but you knowwwwwww me – I have to show it to you just the way I serve it at home.
Bam! There you have it. Extreme pizza challenge.
Ok, it is not just the hot Italian sausage that makes this pizza great (although that’s pretty much awesomesauce right there), but I think the “secret ingredient” adds a pretty fantastic spicy flavor profile all on it’s own.
Secret ingredient = hot sauce. Say whaaaaat???
Yep. You heard me right. I use hot sauce instead of pizza sauce on top of a thin, crispy crust. Trust me – it’s delish. You won’t want to stop eating it. And, you shouldn’t. You totally shouldn’t.
This little surprise came out of sheer desperation one night. I’d made a pizza crust, and was getting ready to assemble my pizza and realized I had no pizza sauce on hand. Sure, I could’ve made some from tomato sauce in the pantry, but it dawned on me to try hot sauce on top of the pizza instead. Once I started that, I’ve never looked back. And, if you try it, you may not either. 🙂
You might be wondering what kind of hot sauce I use. Well, sometimes I make my own, but most often times I use store-bought La Victoria hot sauce. What’s so great about La Victoria is, it comes with different heat levels (hot, medium, mild), so you can choose the one you’re most comfortable with.
Give this little trick a try the next time you have a pizza night – you will be glad you did!
Enjoy!
Sausage & Mushroom Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 16-ounce package hot Italian sausage
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional, see note
- 1 4-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
- 1/2 yellow onion sliced (or diced)
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup hot sauce
- 1 and 1/2 cups shredded 4-cheese blend divided
- *****
- 1 prepared pizza crust
Instructions
- Coat a skillet with cooking spray and heat over high heat until hot. Once hot, turn down to medium to medium-high. Add crumbled sausage and crushed red pepper flakes to skillet and cook until done throughout. Remove skillet from heat and drain fat. Set aside.
- Layer hot sauce on top of prepared pizza crust. Evenly spread 1 cup of cheese on top of the hot sauce, and then layer crumbled sausage, onions and sliced mushrooms. Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese sprinkled on top.
- Bake in 500 degree oven for 7-9 minutes until hot and cheese is melted. Remove from oven, slice and serve.
Notes
You can make your own pizza crust (as I do) (get the recipe here), or you can buy a store-bought prepared pizza crust. This pizza is really good with a thin, crispy crust, so I highly recommend you make your own!
The additional 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes is totally optional. It adds heat, so if you want it less spicy, omit this from the recipe!
Sausage & Mushroom Pizza
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