This title seems way too long. You’ll have to forgive me – I couldn’t leave any of it out though, right? It just wouldn’t be fair to call this a “Bacon, Spinach and Pineapple Pizza” when the crispy onions and basil are significant contributing factors here! I’m trying to be fair to all the ingredients, they all deserve a little recognition now and again.

I make pizza about once a week, and generally we do the exact same thing: andouille sausage, spinach, pineapple, and plenty of cheese. I love this pizza. Love. Which is weird, because as a kid I strongly disliked pizza with sausage and/or pineapple on it. Sometimes I swap the sausage for bacon. I think I learned that pineapple is the secret ingredient to anything (#1 being PASTA!), and therefore opened my eyes to the possibilities! Oh how life has changed.

This pizza is pretty perfect: enough ingredients to keep you excited, but not too many to weigh it down. I always use my homemade pizza dough, which is the other secret to a fabulous pizza. The crispy onions on here were half experiment, half luck – I thought I would just caramelize them, but then I (purposefully) left them cooking to get them a bit blackened. They were super tasty! I love blackened fish, burnt cheese, crispy edges to a medium-rare steak – call me weird, but I love a little burn on my food. These onions gave the pizza a bit of a crunch, with an almost smokey taste on top of the onion. Delicious. Try it.

The rest of the pizza is rather self-explanitory – bacon (yum), pineapple (essential), spinach (my favorite), lots of cheese (duh), and basil (heck yes). I may or may not have a slight OCD reaction to making pizza, and by that I mean I usually place each individual piece of meat/pineapple/basil so that everything is perfectly distributed. It makes for maximum pleasure in each bite! Trust me on this. I tried to relax a little and be normal while making this pizza – I semi-succeeded… feel free to express your eccentricities while making your own.

Bacon, Spinach, and Pineapple Pizza with Crispy Onions and Basil

Makes 1 pizza

1/2 recipe of Pizza Dough

1/4 lb thick cut bacon (about 5 slices), chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1/3 cup pineapple tidbits
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
6 large basil leaves, sliced
3 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella

Preheat your oven to 500 F. If you’re using a pizza stone, place it in the oven before heating the oven.

Cook the bacon, and keep the grease in the pan. Cook the onions in the bacon grease until blackened and crispy.

Roll or toss your dough into your desired shape, and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Spread 1 cup of cheese across the dough, then layer spinach, pineapple, bacon, onion, and basil. Top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 8 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. It’ll go quick!

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