bacon egg and cheese pizza

In 1988, my parents bought a boat.  Overall, the boat served us well (in spite of all the money they sunk into it, no pun intended – you know how having a boat goes) and we spent many a weekend for the better part of 10 or 12 summers crammed into my parents’ 25-footer at our favorite little beach on Fire Island.  Like camping, feeding a family on a small boat requires a good bit of planning; refrigeration is limited (think dorm-size fridge) or sometimes non-existent except for ice in coolers and if the beach/marina you’re staying at even has water available, your hook-up is done through a garden-like marine hose plugged into the side of the boat.  Our showers were made possible by a sun shower that we’d let heat up on the dock all day then hang up on a nail in one of the stalls of the public bathroom to wash away the sand, salt, and sunscreen.

In a semi-distant but totally comforting way, this bacon, egg, and cheese pizza reminds me of Sunday mornings at the beach.  For the most part, my mom packed food for breakfast – our electric griddle was king – but on a rare Sunday, after giving in to our pleading and whiny voices (dad included), she would allow my dad – we were always on a budget – to hit up the snack bar for freshly made-to-order egg sandwiches.  He practically floated down the dock on the smell of cooking bacon and sausage wafting over the marina like a cartoon character drawn to his favorite food.  Those sandwiches were rare, special, and so satisfying.

This breakfast pizza, being all of those sentiments, admittedly was Kyle’s idea.  He gets me.  He knows that I find it virtually impossible to find a decent freshly made egg sandwich sandwich (i.e., not microwaved – gross) anywhere near our home.  This pizza idea is the brainchild of observing my frustrations all these years and it encompasses all that I [we] love in an excellent egg sandwich.  Plus?  It’s pizza.  So yeah, two of my favorite foods wrapped up in one little package.  Like I said, he gets me.

As with any pizza or egg sandwich, feel free to add whatever toppings you want.  We went for bacon, Monterey Jack, sautéed onions and peppers, and a whole bunch of fresh herbs.  The key to this pizza is to make sure you push the pizza dough up the sides of a baking sheet so that the beaten eggs have a place to stay.  It’s almost like making a quiche in that you don’t want the eggs leaking under the crust, else they will make it soft and difficult to remove from the baking sheet.  Use a well-seasoned baking sheet if you have one and sprinkle on a little cornmeal before you put the dough down – don’t skip this step.  The end result is a something magical: fluffy eggs, salty bacon, tons of freshness from the herbs, crispy pizza crust.  It’s pretty much the perfect breakfast pizza and because we made a whole sheet pan of it, we had plenty of leftovers for breakfasts later in the week.  I can see this being a great Mother’s Day breakfast project with a kitchen full of kids or even a quick throw-together breakfast-for-dinner kind of meal during the week.  Either way, this breakfast pizza is a big winner here: it evokes great memories for me and fills our bellies at the same time.

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Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Pizza
source: Smells Like Home original recipe
Ingredients:
  • 1/2 batch pizza dough (we always use this recipe)
  • Cornmeal
  • 6 eggs, beaten with 1 tsp water
  • 4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
  • 8 strips bacon, cooked crisp and broken into 1-inch pieces
  • 1/2 large onion and 1/2 bell pepper, sliced and sauteed in olive oil until soften, about 8 minutes
  • 2 green onions/scallions, white and light green parts only, sliced
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme, stems removed
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. Sprinkle a little cornmeal on the bottom of a 12″ x 18″ baking sheet.  Roll or stretch the dough out to an approximately 14 x 18 inch rectangle (the dough will be thin so take care not to rip it).  Drape the dough into the pan, stretching it out to and up the sides of the pan.  Using a fork, prick the dough 10 or 12 times to reduce bubbling when baking.
  3. Carefully pour the eggs over the dough (don’t let the eggs overflow), scatter half of the cheese, then the bacon, peppers and onions, and the remaining cheese.  Bake for 13-15 minutes.  Sprinkle the herbs over the hot pizza before slicing and serving.

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Leave a Comment

  • May 9, 2012 at 11:55 AM

    Oooooohhhh. I’ve seen pizzas with eggs on this before, but I LOVE this idea of using the scrambled eggs instead of a sauce. Definitely going to try this, thanks!

  • Lesley
    May 9, 2012 at 12:58 PM

    This sounds very strange but I really want to try it!

  • Maria in NJ
    May 9, 2012 at 1:44 PM

    I agree, I love pizza, this sounds so go, I cannot wait to try it…

  • May 10, 2012 at 10:25 AM

    I’m dying here. This looks fabulous. There is a pizza place/deli near my house that does scrambled egg pizza, so I re-created that one once. Great stuff- eggs on pizza!

  • May 10, 2012 at 12:12 PM

    Um, HELLS YES!!!!!!!!!!

  • May 10, 2012 at 10:14 PM

    This is great! I saw a breakfast pizza two weeks ago being sold at our local farmers market, and decided I was going to try to recreate it at home. Well, girl, you did the work for me! Making this STAT!

  • May 11, 2012 at 7:15 AM

    This pizza looks so yummy! It’s a bit different, but I like it!

  • Chau
    May 13, 2012 at 1:08 AM

    I made this today and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing 😀

  • May 14, 2012 at 10:55 PM

    This pizza looks delicious!! seems like an easy breakfast to make ahead and then heat up quick in the morning too!

  • Denise
    May 25, 2012 at 12:05 PM

    I made this last night for the family (breakfast for dinner, oh yeah!) Anyway, since I wanted the kids to eat it, I shied away from all the good stuff and only had eggs, bacon and cheese. The whole family loved it. Plus, my four year old thought it was a silly meal…pizza for breakfast?!?! (Oh, he has no idea what he’s in for in college.)