Spicy Sausage and Arugula Pizza

This easy spicy sausage and arugula pizza recipe will be on the table in less time than it takes to wait for delivery!

this recipe

I can't stop staring at this pizza.

It's just so PRETTY.

What's better than a pile of gorgeous, green, fresh arugula? On top of spicy sausage and crushed tomatoes? On top of BREAD?!

Pretty much nothing. THAT'S WHAT.

I have been ALL ABOUT the spicy sausage + arugula combo lately. Mostly because I bought a lot of both of those things at the grocery store and now I have to use them up. But also because spicy things + sausage + arugula = YUM.

I've actually made this pizza twice in the last week because I just can't stop thinking about it. It MIGHT even make another appearance at lunch today. Simple and quick to make (especially with my faaaaavorite 15 minute pizza dough!) but a nice twist on the classic plain-tomato-sauce-and-sausage-or-pepperoni-combo that we usually default to.

One of my goals for 2015 (I don't like the word "resolutions," because let's be real, I don't keep those) is to branch out on things that I generally don't experiment with very much: ice cream, pizza toppings, cookie flavors, etc. I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater, but for some reason I stick to the same ol', same ol' with certain foods. And that's boring, so I'm going to try to switch it up a bit this year! Starting with this pizza. (So far, so good with the topping adventuring!)

What are your favorite pizza toppings? Let me know in the comments (and then make yourself some o' this spicy sausage arugula pizza)!

Spicy Sausage and Arugula Pizza

• Author: Jessie
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4
• Category: Pizza
• Cuisine: Italian-American

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Description

An easy homemade spicy sausage and arugula pizza!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• ½ lb. uncooked hot Italian sausage
• 1 batch of your favorite pizza dough
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup fresh arugula

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Instructions

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees F (or as hot as it will go!) If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven while it heats up. No pizza stone? Use a sturdy baking sheet and place it in the oven upside-down. This will give your pizza a hot surface to sit on right from the get-go, helping you get that extra-crispy crust.
2. Heat a medium saucepan over high heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up into chunks with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Cook sausage, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Set aside.
3. Roll or stretch out pizza dough on a floured surface. I like my dough relatively thin – maybe ¼-1/3″ thick. Leave the dough on the floured cutting board or a pizza peel, or place a piece of parchment paper between the dough and the board so that it will slide into the oven easier. You want your pizza to easily slide off of your peel or cutting board and onto the hot sheet pan or pizza stone.
4. Top pizza dough with crushed tomatoes (you may not need them all!) and a layer of mozzarella cheese.
5. Slide pizza into the hot oven and bake at 500 degrees F until pizza is lightly browned and crispy. The baking time will vary depending in your oven and the size of the pizza, so keep an eye on it – I check my pizza every five minutes and generally bake it for 10-15 minutes total.
6. Use a pair of tongs to gently pull the finished pizza out of the oven and onto a cutting board (you could also use a pizza peel for this if you have one).
7. Top your pizza with the fresh arugula. I like to set it in a pile at the center of the pizza, but you could also give it a rough chop and scatter it over the top if you aren't a big fan of huge arugula leaves.
8. Slice pizza and serve immediately.

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Notes

Use a good, thick tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes here - you want a thick sauce so that water doesn't seep out of the tomatoes and give you a soggy pizza!

Use sliced fresh mozzarella in place of shredded mozzarella if you like.

Keywords: pizza, sausage, comfort food

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