Chicken Meatball Pizza

As I’ve mentioned before, I am not typically a fan of leftovers. No matter what careful and meticulous steps you take to warm them up and return them to their original glory… it just doesn’t work. The second serving of a meal just always seems to turn out dry, or soggy, or overcooked, and it makes me sad – so I just don’t do it (with very few exceptions – for instance, that spinach and artichoke lasagna was AWESOME on the second and third and fourth days)! Luckily for me, my husband LOVES leftovers, and he is repeatedly delighted to take whatever we had for dinner this week to school for lunch.

My newest culinary mission is to try and use up leftovers in a way we’ll BOTH enjoy – which not only results in a delicious meal for both of us, but a slightly smaller amount of time spent cooking, for me! As much as I love cooking, there are certainly days that cooking one more meal and washing one more pot is surely going to push me straight over the edge, and it’s nice to have a solution that doesn’t involve calling for Chinese take-out.

So, here is one of my most recent leftover makeovers. I swear, I am not joking in the least when I say my husband STILL talks about this pizza (and I made it like, 2 weeks ago – as a matter of fact, it was our very romantic Valentine’s Day dinner). I will agree with him, it was really, really delicious – a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, good and cheesy, and FILLING!

Chicken Meatball Pizza
Makes one medium-sized pizza

You’ll need:
– Leftover Balsamic Chicken Meatballs (about 8 of them, give or take a couple)
– Pizza Dough (I made my regular recipe x 1.5 – my pizza dough is typically fairly thin, and I knew I’d need a slightly heftier crust to stand up to the weight of the meatballs)
– Pizza sauce (I use jarred marinara sauce, usually)
– Extra meatball glaze (1 T tomato paste, 1 T balsamic vinegar, 1 T olive oil, pinch of salt – whisked together)
– Pickled jalapenos or hot cherry peppers, diced (you can use banana peppers, if you’re not into spicy peppers)
– 8oz mozzarella cheese, grated

1.) Start by making your pizza dough as instructed. When it’s ready to go, roll it out and place onto a rimmed baking sheet that has been misted lightly with olive oil, and preheat your oven to 475°.

2.) Spread a thin coat of your pizza sauce or marinara sauce onto the dough. Slice the meatballs in half (I cut them in half side to side – since the meatballs kind of flatten as they cook, this gives me two flat-ish meatball disks), and evenly place them around the pizza.

3.) Use a basting brush to spread the extra meatball glaze onto the meatball halves without glaze.

4.) Sprinkle your diced hot peppers over the top of the meatballs, and then cover everything with your grated mozzarella.

5.) Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the cheese is totally melted and browning. Let the pizza stand for a few minutes once you pull it out of the oven, so the cheese can set up, then slice and serve!

I can promise you that this pizza will be making an appearance in my house every single time I make those meatballs from now on. It was SO delicious – and super filling, too. I barely made it through two pieces of the pizza, and that is saying a lot, coming from someone who can typically take down half a large pizza without even blinking (my talents, they are never-ending)! The sweet glaze on the meatballs pairs so nicely with the tiny little pieces of hot pepper, and the gooey, browned cheese just takes the whole thing over the top. Best of all, it uses up leftovers AND requires very little work! Win-win, I say.

Nothing says love like a meatball pizza,
Tina