Cranberry Pizza
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This Cranberry Pizza is easy to make, tangy, creamy, perfectly spiced, and delicious. This is a festive appetizer that’s perfect for parties and holidays. It’s made with fresh cranberries, pistachios, and fresh thyme with tangy and creamy goat cheese and drizzled with hot honey over the top before serving it for a sweet and spicy flavor. It is the perfect quick winter or fall appetizer, and we think you all will love this easy recipe.
🦃 Pizza on Thanksgiving
Whether you have family and friends coming over for Thanksgiving or are doing Thanksgiving solo and want to use up those extra cranberries, this recipe is for you. It’s made with festive ingredients and served as a delicious appetizer to excite everyone for the main meal. Pizza lovers behold the best pizza appetizer to serve this Thanksgiving! If you want to make a cranberry-inspired pizza with those thanksgiving leftovers, check out our Leftover Turkey Pizza.
🍕 Ingredients
This vegetarian pizza is perfect for a holiday party and requires simple ingredients that you can easily find at the grocery store. So let’s dive into what you will need to make it.
- Cranberries. Fresh or frozen works since we will make cranberry sauce or chutney-like sauce.
- Jalapeno. A jalapeno adds a nice kick to the cranberry sauce, but feel free to omit it or don’t use the seeds to keep it mild.
- Shallot and Garlic. We use about 1 tbsp of each to make the cranberry sauce for the pizza. It adds nice comforting notes.
- Salt and Pepper. We use only a pinch to season the sauce.
- Maple Syrup. We used dark maple syrup when making the cranberry sauce to add sweetness and cut back on the tart from the cranberries.
- Orange Juice. We use only 1/4 cup of fresh orange juice from 1 orange to add some acidity, plus it rounds out all the flavors to make a delicious sauce.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Only a little is used here to make the cranberry sauce.
- Pizza Dough. Use homemade pizza dough, store-bought, or flatbread for a quick and easy option. You could also use naan bread and make mini cranberry naan pizzas.
- Goat Cheese. It adds a creamy and tangy flavor and balances out the tartness. Two other great options would be brie cheese or feta cheese.
- Fresh Thyme. It adds a nice lemony herb flavor and pairs really well with the cranberry sauce.
- Pistachios. Adding pistachios on pizza adds a nice salty kick and unique flavor.
- Hot Honey. When serving, we used Mike’s Hot Honey for a pop of heat and sweetness. Don’t skip it, as it’s too delicious.
🫓 Instructions
This cranberry goat cheese flatbread is easy to make. When shaping your pizza dough, make it into a rectangle-shaped flatbread when serving it as an appetizer.
- Preheat Oven. Preheat your oven to the highest temperature (about 550° F), and place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven. A higher temperature is crucial to making delicious homemade pizza. Once the oven is preheated, let it sit for 10-15 minutes to ensure the pizza stone is at the same temperature as your oven.
- Make Cranberry Sauce. Add fresh cranberries to a small saucepan over medium heat with olive oil, minced garlic, shallots, and jalapeno pepper. Add fresh minced thyme, orange juice, and maple syrup until the sauce thickens into a chutney.
- Prepare Pizza Dough. Roll pizza dough out with your hands or a rolling pin on a floured surface. Try to make the pizza dough as thin as possible and place it on parchment paper so it’s easier to slide on the pizza peel.
- Add Toppings. On the pizza, spread the homemade cranberry sauce/chutney with the back of a spoon or a sturdy pastry brush in an even layer, and generously add goat cheese all over.
- Bake Pizza. Slide the pizza on the hot pizza stone and bake for 8-10 minutes until the outer crust is golden brown.
- Add Additional Toppings & Enjoy. Add fresh thyme and crushed pistachios to the baked pizza and generously drizzle the hot honey before enjoying it.
❔ FAQs
Pair with a wine with bright acidity and floral notes, like Sangiovese or Nebbiolo. Or, serve with a Dry Rose or Sparkling Rose as everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner and snacking on appetizers.
Yes. Be sure to store leftover pizza in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Leftover pizza is delicious when heated up in a saute pan with little olive oil or in an air fryer.
This Cranberry Pizza with Goat Cheese is the perfect appetizer to make for holidays and parties. It’s vegetarian, sweet, savory, tart, spicy, and absolutely delicious. We hope you all love it! ♡
Cranberry Pizza
- 1 tbsp jalapeno minced and deseeded (about 1 jalapeno)
- 1 ½ tbsp shallot minced (about 1/2-1 small shallot)
- ½ tbsp garlic minced (about 2 garlic cloves)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups cranberries fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup orange juice fresh from 1/2 orange
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- pinch of salt and black pepper
- 1 tsp thyme fresh and minced, plus more to serve
- 1 lb pizza dough homemade or store-bought, or substitute with naan bread or flatbread
- 4 oz goat cheese crumbled
- 2 tbsp hot honey
- 2 tbsp pistachios roughly chopped
- Preheat Oven. Preheat your oven to the highest temperature (about 550° F), and place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven. A higher temperature is crucial to making delicious homemade pizza. Once the oven is preheated, let it sit for 10-15 minutes to ensure the pizza stone is at the same temperature as your oven.
- Make Cranberry Sauce. Add fresh cranberries to a small saucepan over medium heat with olive oil, minced garlic, shallots, and jalapeno pepper. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the cranberries start to pop and release their juice. Add fresh minced thyme, orange juice and maple syrup until the sauce thickens into a chutney.1 tbsp jalapeno, 1 1/2 tbsp shallot, 1/2 tbsp garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 cups cranberries, 1/4 cup orange juice, 2 tbsp maple syrup, pinch of salt and black pepper, 1 tsp thyme
- Prepare Pizza Dough. Roll pizza dough out with your hands or a rolling pin on a floured surface. Try to make the pizza dough as thin as possible and place it on parchment paper so it’s easier to slide on the pizza peel.1 lb pizza dough
- Add Toppings. On the pizza, spread the homemade cranberry sauce/chutney with the back of a spoon or a sturdy pastry brush in an even layer, and generously add goat cheese all over.4 oz goat cheese
- Bake Pizza. Slide the pizza on the hot pizza stone and bake for 8-10 minutes until the outer crust is golden brown.
- Add Additional Toppings & Enjoy. Add fresh thyme and crushed pistachios to the baked pizza and generously drizzle the hot honey before enjoying it.2 tbsp hot honey, 2 tbsp pistachios, 1 tsp thyme
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