Hawaiian Pizza: 'SparkRecipes Un-Chained' Contest Finalist

By MaryEllen

Pizza is one of my favorite foods, and the sweet sauce at Papa John's is my all-time favorite. My viewpoint is, if you're going to make it at home, don't make it "just as good," make it better! So I'm remaking a medium Papa John's pie with pineapple, onion and bacon(BACON!!!). Fresh homemade sauce and premium ingredients make this recipe more than worth the calories, and still trimmer than the fast food original!

Ingredients

• Crust:
• 1 premade pizza crust (SparkPeople recommends whole-wheat crust)
• Toppings:
• 4 slices center-cut bacon
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• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 cup pineapple chunks (fresh or canned, drained)
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• Sauce:
• 4 Roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and cored
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp fennel seed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 t minced garlic
• 1 t brown sugar (unpacked)
• Nutritional Info
• Servings Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 200.3
• Total Fat: 5.5 g
• Cholesterol: 9.4 mg
• Sodium: 624.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 31.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
• Protein: 8.3 g

Details

Preparation time 30mins
Cooking time 90mins

Preparation

Step 1

Set a large frying pan over medium heat, spritz with nonstick cooking spray and add bacon. Cook bacon for eight minutes, flipping every two minutes to keep it from curling up. Place bacon on paper towels to drain. The bacon should still be flexible and soft; it will crisp up on the pizza. Tear into small pieces.

Place tomatoes in a blender along with all the spices, salt, sugar and oil. Blend till smooth and pour into pot. Cook on medium high for 30 minutes or until reduced by half. (SparkPeople note: Use a low-sodium jarred tomato sauce to save time.)

While the tomato sauce is cooking, dice the onions and drain the pineapple.

Roll out the dough into your desired shape and thickness. Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place 1/2 cup of sauce on pizza. Sprinkle on 1/2 cup of cheese, 1 cup of pineapple and bacon pieces. Sprinkle on remaining 1/4 cup of cheese.

Bake in oven for 14 minutes on middle rack. If you prefer a browner pizza, broil pizza for an additional couple of minutes, watching to ensure it doesn't burn. Once it looks good and brown remove and let sit for 10 minutes to let the cheese firm up a little. Slice into eight pieces.

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Used the SP Whole Wheat Pizza crust recipe for the base. Don't forget to add the onions along with the bacon and pineapple. I think I might be tempted to omit the bacon, as I didn't get a lot of flavor from it. Sub black olives, peppers, maybe mushrooms? More veggies, less calories.