Bacon, eggs and cheese usually found on pasta are baked on pizza dough for the ultimate carbonara pizza.
Let’s talk carbonara for a moment. While any carbonara recipe is traditionally made with pancetta, that delectable Italian meat can be a hard ingredient to find – or just an expensive one! What we do with something as flexible as pizza is substitute bacon for the pancetta and up the ante of how much we use while we’re at it. We also sub in bacon with our spaghetti carbonara recipe on the blog just like we do in this pizza version.
I also want to mention that the original recipe calls for Romano cheese, which is heaven in cheese form…but also kind of spendy, unless you buy it in bulk at Costco. Which we don’t. (Editor’s Note: Why not?!) So, we sub in grated parmesan cheese which has the same consistency and similar flavor, but is much more affordable!
And you know what? You cannot go wrong with bacon and parmesan. Just saying!
Unless you’re a vegetarian. And if that’s the case, this recipe isn’t for you, but we’ve got a whole (huge!) meatless section on the blog, including pizza without any meat at all!
We’ve probably made this particular pizza recipe dozens of times – it’s not our own recipe, it’s a Rachael Ray, and hers always turn out fabulously. Go figure, carbonara happens to be her husband John’s favorite meal, too!
I don’t know what happened – I looked in the fridge one day, I had all of the ingredients on hand to make this pizza, and I’ve always got some of our homemade dough in the freezer, so it was meant to be – here it is for you, too!
I think one of the things I love about this pizza is the creamy white sauce which, unlike a traditional red pizza sauce, is made with ricotta – YUM! And then we’ve got the aforementioned parmesan cheese, a little provolone cheese (which makes the most perfect, silky strands of melted cheese), and then, of course – ALL THE BACON!!!
This is one of those meals that would also work well for any time of day! Yes, not only dinner, but how fun for breakfast or lunch? Have you ever had pizza for breakfast? It’s kind of one of the best things since sliced bread…you know, technically actually also being sliced bread…and stuff…
Click here for the recipe for homemade dough.
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Comfort Food: Carbonara Pizza
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Bacon, eggs and cheese usually found on pasta are baked on pizza dough for the ultimate carbonara pizza.
Ingredients
Dough
- Click the link above for the homemade dough recipe.
Pizza
- Cornmeal (for sprinkling)
- 1 lb. pizza dough (at room temperature)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lb. bacon chopped (divided)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 large egg yolks (beaten)
- 1 clove garlic (grated)
- Black pepper
- 2 cups shredded provolone cheese
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle a little cornmeal on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Place the pizza dough on the pan and either roll is out to stretch and make it round (if using homemade) or stretch it to make a rectangle if using store-bought dough. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and par bake the dough until puffed and golden, about 8 minutes.
- In a small skillet, heat some more extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat and add all the chopped bacon. Cook and stir often until crisp, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and cool. In a medium sized bowl, stir to combine the ricotta, parmesan, egg yolk, garlic, pepper, and half of the bacon.
- Spread the ricotta mixture over the partially baked pizza dough, leaving 1/2 inch border all around. Top with the shredded provolone and remaining amount of bacon. Bake until the crust and topping are golden and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and cut into slices.
Notes
Slightly adapted from Rachael Ray Magazine
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main
