Jalapeno Popper Pizza

You all know how much we love pizza in this house. If you can put it on a crust and eat it with your hands – the kids are ecstatic for dinner time. This time around I wanted to turn the classic pub grub – Jalapeno Popper – into a whole meal! So I decided to make this Jalapeno Popper Pizza and it was true success! The smokiness from the bacon, creaminess from the cream cheese and kick from the jalapeno was exactly what I had hoped for.

For the bacon no this pizza, you don’t want to just fry it up and sprinkle it on. You want to make what I like to call Bacon Chips. You have to carefully fry each two inch piece so that it stays flat, but it’s totally worth the extra effort. Not just for the aesthetic effect on the finished pizza, but because you want the bacon to stand up tall as the protein on the pizza. PS… these Bacon chips are great for salads, sandwiches, wraps and even on top of some homemade mac and cheese!

You will notice that I specified Whipped Cream Cheese – and yes this matters. Brick cream cheese just doesn’t spread out as well on the warm pizza crust. You want an even layer but not a super dense layer. The airiness of the whipped cream cheese helps with the melting too, as long as you are careful not to smush it down too much. I used a sharp cheddar, but you could use any type of cheddar or even a cheddar blend like Colby Jack.

The pizza dough recipe I included below is my very favorite version of pizza dough. It is a light dough that can be pressed thin into a 12x17inch rectangle or slightly thicker on a 14inch round. The recipe does make two pizzas, regardless of shape you pick. If you do not have the time (dough has to rise for at least an hour) to make the dough fresh, you could use one of those premade parbaked pizza crusts. Or if your grocery deli has fresh pizza dough, that will work too. You just need to follow the directions of the product that you select to make this pizza.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Jalapeno Popper Pizza

The spicy delicious flavors of a classic popper made into a homemade pizza!

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword bacon, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, homemade pizza, jalapeno, jalpeno popper, pizza

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 recipe Pizza Dough makes 2 pizzas, see recipe below
• 1 lb Thick Cut Bacon cut into 2-inch pieces
• 16 oz Whipped Cream Cheese
• 2 Fresh Jalapenos cut into ¼ inch slices
• 3 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese rustic cut

Instructions

• Prepare Pizza Dough as directed in recipe below. If you using different recipe or store bought pre-made pizza crust, follow directions of product up to point of adding toppings to pizza.
• In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add bacon. Make sure to keep the pieces flat while cooking. Flip each piece as needed, cooking until crispy and remove to a paper towel covered plate.
• To build one pizza – smear parbaked crust with half of the cream cheese. Then sprinkle with one cup of shredded cheese. Add half of bacon chips and half of jalapeno slices. Sprinkle with a half cup of cheese. Repeat with second pizza.
• Place in oven to bake for 10 minutes. Slice and serve.