Make pizza night special with this sausage and pesto pizza. Italian sausage, caramelized onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and melty cheese come together for a family-favorite homemade pizza.
How This Sausage and Pesto Pizza Became a Family Favorite
The first time I ever tried this pizza recipe was at a Pampered Chef home party. Remember those? The Pampered Chef consultant came to my home and assembled this pizza and baked it for a whole room full of my friends.
I remember thinking it was the best pizza I ever had in my life!
I started making it for my family, and the boys even requested it more than once for their special birthday dinners.
And, yes, I fell in love with stoneware at that Pampered Chef party!;) In fact, I loved it so much that I was a “consultant” for them for a few years – and did my own parties demonstrating recipes like this.
And yes, I still am using the pizza pans I bought way back then!;)
Ingredients you’ll need for this pizza with Italian sausage
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Refer to the printable recipe card for more detailed instructions and amounts.
- Pizza Dough – Use whatever kind is your favorite. You can make homemade dough in your bread machine (just look in the bread machine’s recipe book for a recipe), from scratch, pre-made from the store, or raw pizza dough purchased from a local bakery.
- Pesto sauce – Of course you could make it from scratch if you choose, but I never have. Classico brand pesto sauce tastes amazing. I just use it.
- Italian sausage – Italian sausage for pizza can be mild or spicy. We find either tastes amazing on this pizza. Choose whatever your family prefers.
- Caramelized onion – These deliciously slightly sweet and tender onions taste amazing with this italian sausage pizza.
- Sauted mushrooms
- Diced sundried tomatoes (I buy sundried tomatoes in a jar with olive oil. One jar goes a long way!)
- Mozzerella Cheese -Or use whatever kind of cheese you happen to have in the house. Parmesan is also very delicious on this pizza.
Step by Step Instructions
Refer to the printable recipe card above for detailed instructions.
Prepare the toppings and then layer the pizza dough toppings this way:
Layer 1: Pesto 
Layer 2: Carmalized onions 
Layer 3: Browned italian sausage
Layer 4: sauted mushrooms 
Layer 5: Sundried tomatoes 
Layer 6: grated mozzerella cheese
Slice with a pizza wheel and serve.
Delicious!!
Helpful kitchen tools for this recipe
Here are some of my favorite kitchen tools that I used for this recipe. I can’t link up the exact items (since mine are old and well use), but below are similar items.
- Pizza Stone
- Pizza Cutter Wheel
More main dish recipes your family will love!
- Tator Tot Casserole
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Upsidedown Cheeseburgers
- Hamburger Steak
- Creamy Tortellini Soup with Sausage & Spinach uses Italian Sausage, too!
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Homemade Italian Sausage Pizza
Bring excitement to pizza night with this superb Italian Sausage Pizza preparation. This pizza, rich with spicy sausage, tender caramelized onion, and pesto, is incredibly tasty! You can utilize homemade pizza dough or a pre-made crust; regardless, it promises to be a success!
Ingredients
Method
- Begin by heating your oven to 425°F (220°C). Prepare a stoneware pizza pan or baking sheet with a light coating of grease.
- Work with the pizza dough, spreading it out evenly across the pan using either a pressing or rolling motion.
- Brown the Italian sausage in a skillet. Remove the casings from the meat and cook it while breaking it into pieces, then set the cooked sausage aside.
- Create caramelized onions by thinly slicing one small onion. Melt roughly 1/4 cup of butter in a saucepan, add the sliced onions, and cook until they soften. Mix in 1/4 cup of brown sugar, lower the heat, cover the pan, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes until it turns lightly browned. Add extra butter if necessary.
- Sauté the mushrooms by cleaning and slicing them, then cooking them in about 2 tablespoons of butter until they become tender. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper.
- Get the remaining toppings ready by dicing the sun-dried tomatoes and grating the cheese.
- Layer the pizza starting with:
- Pesto sauce
- Caramelized onions
- Italian sausage
- Sautéed mushrooms
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Cheese
- Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 20–30 minutes, or until the crust turns golden and the cheese melts. To test if it is done, carefully lift a section of the crust — the bottom should be lightly browned.
- Cut and serve the pizza using a pizza cutter.
