Pizza Calabresa
This Homemade Cheesy Calabrese Pizza is simple to make, savory, slightly spicy, and very delicious! Perfect for Pizza Fridays!
Pizza Calabresa
Welcome back to another Pizza Friday! This week we got Pizza Calabresa! This pizza recipe is simple to make, savory, slightly spicy, and very delicious! Y’all are going to love how delicious this pizza is!
What Makes a Calabrese Pizza:
This spicy Calabrese Pizza is paired with tomato sauce and the right type of cheese. It’s absolutely delicious. One thing to offset the heat is to add a drizzle of honey on top. You will be impressed and hooked. Below are the ingredients you’ll need to make this delicious pizza:
- Pizza dough – homemade or store-bought dough. We like a thinner pizza crust for this pizza.
- Marinara – homemade or store-bought. If I had to choose, I would make homemade marinara because it’s crazy easy! Our homemade marinara is ready in 10 minutes! However, Rao’s Marinara Sauce is also a good fall-back.
- White Cheddar Cheese – Adds nice flavor and pairs nicely with the Havarti cheese and Calabrese.
- Havarti Cheese – Adds nice creamy notes. If you haven’t tried Havarti cheese on your pizza, you are missing out. It’s super creamy and flavorful.
- Calabrese – We love the brand Gusto when we buy salami for pizza or cheese boards. Gusto’s Calabrese is not super spicy, but it has a ton of flavor and goes well with the melted cheese, and tomato sauce on this pizza.
- Basil – Optional, but adds a nice herby flavor with each bite.
- Mike’s Hot Honey – Optional, but drizzling honey on this pizza after it bakes is amazing. You will be hooked.
How to Make Calabrese Pizza:
The best way to make this pizza is by heating your oven to the highest temperature possible with the pizza stone inside. Preheat the oven to at least 550 degrees F and keep it running for at least 10 minutes at this temperature before you add your pizza. Your oven and the pizza stone need to be the same temperature so the bottom of your pizza bakes nicely. Nobody wants a soggy pizza dough and overcooked cheese. Yes – that’s a thing! Your cheese becomes too chewy and you want stringy and melty cheese for this pizza.
Add all your ingredients on top and bake for 15 minutes. Once you remove it from the love, add basil and honey, and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before cutting it into slices!
Pizza and Wine Pairings Ideas:
We selected a Cabernet Sauvignon to pair with this pizza recipe Calabrese. However, a full-bodied to a medium-bodied wine like Cabernet Franc, Merlot, or Shiraz would pair nicely. Every sip after each bite enhances the spicy notes more and more, making it the perfect match.
Don’t forget to make the best overnight pizza dough to go with your pizza Fridays! We hope you all love this pizza! It’s simple to make, savory, slightly spicy, and very delicious!
Need more pizza recipe ideas? Be sure to check out some of our other favorites: the best Margherita pizza, the best homemade meatball pizza, the best veggie pizza, or everything bagel Margherita pizza.
Pizza Calabresa
Instructions
- Heat the oven. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 550 degrees F or as high as possible. You want your oven as hot as possible.
- Prepare pizza dough. Flour a surface and add your pizza dough. Use your hands or a rolling pin to roll the dough from the center to the edges until the circle is about half an inch thick. Once fully rolled out, place parchment paper on your pizza peel, gently pick up the dough, and lay it on top.
- Add Toppings: Add about 1/3 cup of marinara and spread it evenly on the dough with the back of a spoon.Add spicy calabrese, and sprinkle the white cheddar cheese and Havarti cheese evenly on top.
- Bake: Gently slide pizza onto the pizza stone and bake for about 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown. Turn on the broiler to make the cheese brown on top if needed. Be careful not to burn the pizza, as this process goes quickly.
- To serve: Remove pizza from the oven, add minced basil leaves on top, and drizzle Mike's hot honey or regular honey. Cut into slices to serve immediately.
WOW! The cheese recommendation for this pizza is perfect. Such a delicious recipe. Thank you.