Build your own pizza night has become a Friday Night family fave! Paired with our go-to games (Yahtzee or 21, usually) homemade pizza hits the spot! We’ve been experimenting with different crusts and toppings lately and I wanted to share our favorites with you…
Can’t go wrong with mozzarella, tomato, and pepperoni toppings, but we also like to create unique combos!
Since we love bacon wrapped dates I wanted to bring that flavor profile to pizza night. I’ve partnered with Natural Delights Medjool Dates to include a touch of sweetness! Crispy bacon, goat cheese, arugula, and caramelized onions and dates make this pizza burst with flavor. Sweet + savory mingle deliciously in this pie, you’ll definitely want to give it a try!
PrintBacon, Date, and Arugula Pizza
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter or ghee
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 Natural Delights Medjool pitted dates (chopped)
- 1 yellow onion (sliced into 1/4 in rings)
- 4–5 slices bacon (cut into small strips)
- 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- I large or 2 small frozen pizza crusts (I used Cappello’s Gluten Free Crust)
- 1/2 to 1 cup Goat Cheese crumbles (feta works well too)
- 1 cup Arugula
Instructions
Make the Crispy Oven Bacon
- Cut strips of bacon into strips and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Set oven to 350 and place baking sheet with bacon in the oven (you don’t have to wait for it to preheat)
- Bake for 20 minutes or until crispy.
- Transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain/cool.
Make the Caramelized Onion + Date Topping (while bacon is cooking)
- Heat butter and oil in a saucepan
- Add onions and toss with oil and butter over medium heat for several minutes.
- Once the onions soften add the chopped dates to mixture and stir until coated. Keep heat on low/medium.
- After a couple of minutes, stir the onion/date mixture and add the balsamic vinegar.
- Keep an eye on the mixture, stirring often to incorporate for about 4-5 minutes. You want the mixture to continue to soften, but not get sticky.
- Turn off heat and set aside.
Make the Pizza!
- Place your crust on a baking sheet or pizza stone.
- Spread the onion/date mixture on the crust
- Add goat cheese, bacon, and pepitas
- Bake for the amount of time specified for your pizza crust
- Remove the pizza from oven and top with a generous handful of arugula
- Allow the arugula to wilt a couple of minutes and then slice/serve.
- Enjoy!
Pizza Night Family Favorites!
Crust Matters: A few of our favorite frozen finds are: Cappello’s Gluten Free Naked Crust, Earthbound Farm Organic Mini Cauliflower Pizza Crusts, Trader Joe’s Organic Whole Wheat Crust, Caulipower Cauliflower Crust
Get Saucy: For the base, we like Rao’s Pizza Sauce, Seggiano Fresh Basil Pesto Genovese (dairy free!), and Trader Joes Vegan Cashew Pesto
So Cheesy: Organic Mozzarella, Goat Cheese crumbles, Feta cheese, and parmesan to top are all great options, as is a totally cheese free pie!
Tasty Toppings: Anything goes here but a few of our favorites are green chile, bacon, caramelized onions/dates, mushrooms, black or kalamata olives, pepitas, pepperoni, sausage, tomatoes, grilled chicken, walnuts, spinach, arugula, artichoke hearts…
Looking for more ways to use delicious, nutrient dense dates in everyday day cooking? Check out more of my recipes here…
- Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates
- Collagen Chia Pudding
- Stuffed Hatch Green Chile Goat Cheese Dates
- Chocolate Chile Energy Bites
- Coconut Chocolate Energy Bites
- Caramel Apple Crumble (with Date Caramel Sauce)
- Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Dressing
- Dairy Free Whipped Cream
- Cinnamon Vanilla Green Smoothie
- DIY Mini Charcuterie Boxes
- Snickers Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
- Lemon Coconut Energy Bites
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!
This post is sponsored by Natural Delights. Recipe and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Loubies and Lulu!
Thanks for the pizza crust recommendations. My gluten free crust game is rusty. NEEDED this to update me!!!
You are so welcome! These GF crusts/pizzas are game changers!