Cowboy Pizza

Do you like applesauce?  Then you'll want to read about the new applesauce offerings from Musselman's on A Life Less Sweet Reviews!  These applesauces will undoubtedly become pantry staples for snack time at my house.

This past weekend we took a trip up to West Yellowstone, MT to play tourist and visit the geysers.  A friend of ours told that we absolutely had to try the BBQ Pizza at the Wild West Pizzaria in West Yellowstone.  What makes this pizza special?  Baked beans!  A pizza with a BBQ sauce base and baked beans - it definitely peaked our interest.  We did visit Wild West Pizzaria, but we ended up getting other pizzas instead of the BBQ Pizza.  I was too skittish about the baked beans (I'm pretty picky about my beans), and I must admit that I greatly prefer pork BBQ to beef brisket BBQ, which is what the restaurant uses.

Of course, the first thought in our head was that we could make it at home using the ingredients that suited us.  We did, and let me tell you, this is one good pizza!

The Meat
We put our own spin on it by using pork BBQ.  My husband and I are both from Mississippi originally, and if there's one thing that we love, it's pork BBQ.  I don't have the time or inclination to babysit a pork shoulder slowly cooking on the grill all day, so I cheat and use a crockpot.  The result is delicious, juicy pork BBQ meat.  Simply put a bone-in pork shoulder or butt in a crockpot and cook it on low for 10 hours or so.  I add a little BBQ sauce on top and sometimes a little liquid smoke (which is literally smoke that has been condensed and collected) at the beginning.  When it's all finished, the meat should be super tender and practically falling off of the bone.  Cut it up or use a couple of forks to shred the meat.  What we didn't use on the pizza tonight I plan to freeze for future use.

I think that this pizza is divine with shredded pork shoulder meat on it, but it would also be good with shredded beef brisket, BBQ chicken, or even thinly sliced sausage.  Choose what works best for your palate and time constraints.

The Sauce
Take a stroll down the BBQ sauce aisle and take a look at the ingredients.  One thing you'll instantly notice is HFCS.  It's rampant in BBQ sauces.  There are a few good ones out there that are cane sugar based instead, though.  Stubbs uses cane sugar instead of HFCS.  Bullseye does as well.  Both are tasty, but we typically buy Bullseye BBQ sauce.  Bullseye is what I used as the BBQ sauce base for this pizza.

You could, of course, make your own BBQ sauce.  Honestly, I haven't had much luck with making a BBQ sauce that really suits my taste buds.  I tend to go the easy route when it comes to BBQ sauce and just buy it.

Whether you choose to buy or make it, watch those ingredients!

The Beans
I've said it before, but I am not a huge bean fan.  I do, however, like baked beans - at least some of the time.  As with BBQ sauce, I go the easy route with baked beans and buy them in a can.  One of these days I'll get around to trying my hand at making them, but not yet.

Baked beans are another item that often has iffy ingredients.  Partially hydrogenated oils and HFCS are common ingredients.  I like to use Bush's Baked Beans, which are cane sugar based and have no trans fat.  Because I am not completely content with the flavor straight out of the can, I add some ketchup, mustard, and sometimes just a little brown sugar. 

Now it's time to put it all together!  We made this as a grilled pizza which really was a good choice for this pizza.  The grilled flavor definitely complimented the ingredients.  It would still be good as a plain ole pizza cooked in the oven, though!

Cowboy Pizza

BBQ sauce
shredded, cooked pork shoulder (or meat of your choice)
baked beans
thinly sliced onion (to taste)
shredded cheddar cheese (to taste)

Spread 2-3 TBSP of BBQ sauce (adjust the amount to your own personal taste) on pizza crust.  Top with thin layer of baked beans, meat, and onion.  Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.  Finish grilling or cook in oven.

If this is your first time grilling pizza, zip over to my post on Grilled Pizza for some tips.  You'll also find the breadmaker pizza dough that I like to use.  It's good for grilled pizza or pizza cooked in the oven!