Breakfast Pizza Is The Tastiest Way To Feed A Crowd At Brunch

Making a hearty, well-rounded brunch for family and friends takes thorough planning and carefully curated recipes. Besides using Ina Garten's pro tip for buffet-style scrambled eggs, why not surprise your guests with an unconventional morning pizza? While omelets can be a risky brunch choice, breakfast pizza is simple to prepare, can be made with several different toppings, and feeds more than a few people at once.

Instead of covering pizza dough with tomato sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese, consider all your favorite breakfast foods and start layering accordingly. Breakfast pizza is the perfect meal to serve at your next brunch-friendly gathering since many toppings can be prepared in advance. If you plan on using bacon or sausage, cook your meat ahead of time. Sausage gravy serves as a perfect tomato sauce alternative and can also be made a day or two before your event. Wash and chop any vegetables and crack and whisk your eggs in a separate bowl for easy pouring or scrambling.

To create this unique crowd-friendly dish, follow the same steps you would take with any traditional Italian-style pie. First, cover a baking sheet with raw pizza dough. Then, depending on your selected toppings, you can either pre-bake your pizza crust or layer on a gamut of extra ingredients right before baking.

Instead of making homemade pizza dough, you can easily use ready-made dough from the grocery store. Better yet, use packaged crescent rolls for a breakfast-friendly option — the store-bought ingredient Ree Drummond uses on breakfast pizza. Before deciding how you want to assemble your breakfast pizzas, consider your toppings. For example, when adding eggs to savory-style pies, you have several options. 

For a fried egg aesthetic, layer your meat and vegetables on raw dough and crack eggs directly on top before baking. Alternatively, if you plan on using a cream-style sauce like sausage gravy, par-bake your crust and then add gravy, meat, and soft scrambled eggs. Give your prepared pie an extra five minutes in the oven for all the ingredients to meld together.

There are many tasty extras to use when making savory breakfast pizzas including hash browns, refried beans, and shredded cheese. Before serving, give your guests the option to add chopped herbs, scallions, salsa, or sour cream.  

Varying preparation methods apply to sweeter breakfast pizzas as well. For pizzas layered with Nutella, or a mascarpone-style spread and fresh fruit, pre-bake your crust. For a cobbler-style pizza with roasted apples and a streusel topping, first assemble your pie, then bake. By using an array of ingredients that range from savory to sweet and preparing your toppings in advance, breakfast pizzas are the perfect dish to serve at your next brunch party.