Fun with Pita Pizza (15-Minute Cheater’s Pizza)

15-minute cheater’s pizza using pita bread

Ever since I discovered making pizza the cheater’s way a year ago, my family had stopped relying on pizza delivery. My 15 minutes short-cut pizza – using pita bread (instead of making pizza dough from scratch) and readymade sauce (such as pasta sauce) – comes to the rescue whenever I crave for pizza but have not much willpower to cook. There were times when I’m so laid back that I don’t feel like going out at all (that includes going out for meals), and I just want to relax at home doing “nothing” – meaning indulging in passive activities like watching a movie or playing console games. Lazy times warrant lazy fixes. I want something fast to prepare (5 minutes), easy to cook (10 minutes), easy to clean up (get someone else to do it hehe) and at the same time, not too shabby.

A slice of mushroom pita pizza

Even though these pita pizzas are a short cut, we find them decent and in fact, comparable if not better to the ones that we ordered via delivery (but maybe we’re just biased hehe). And this is a great way to serve a quick meal any time of the day (lunch, dinner, supper) and even for one person (I like to make a mini pita pizza if I’m home alone or suddenly hungry).

Hawaiian pizza on wholemeal pita bread (before being baked)

I’m definitely not denouncing the proper & traditional way of making fresh pizza dough and sauce – I love eating them especially at authentic Italian or Mexican joints. But since the quality of home delivery pizzas are pretty blah (to me) most of the time, I like this cheaper, yummier and easy alternative when I’m home. And I’m having lots of fun experimenting with all kinds of pizza toppings.

Vegetarian pita pizza (bell peppers & olives)

With the following basic step-by-step recipe, you can try out different pizza flavours by experimenting with ingredients on your own. If you discover any creative ideas for pizza sauce & toppings, share your recipe with me at the comments section :) Stay tuned for my recipes for the different pizza flavours featured on this page – they will be posted as individual recipes on the blog and the links will be compiled at the end of this post.

Ingredients

1) Pita Bread

Seafood Pita Pizza using paper thin pita bread

Seafood Pita Pizza using 1cm thick pita bread

Pita bread comes in different sizes and thickness.

Most of them can be stored in the freezer compartment for many months and you just have to thaw them before using. You can use tortilla too but that’s another post ;)

2) Sauces (Base)

Mushrooms pita pizza using Campbell’s cream of mushroom (instead of normal pizza sauce) as a base

Besides using pizza sauce, you can also use tomato-based pasta sauce. You can also go creative by experimenting with other sauces such as bbq sauce, pesto and even cream of mushroom.

Freezing excess pasta sauce in ice cube tray

Here’s a tip for you if you can’t finish a bottle of sauce at one go – I freeze the excess sauce in an ice cube tray so that whenever I need to make a pizza, I just thaw one or two cubes in a small bowl for use. Once frozen, you can store the cubes in an air tight ziplock bag in the freezer. If you are using pizza sauce or any tomato-based pasta sauce, do note that the tomato sauce will likely stain your ice cube tray. I purchased a S$2 ice cube tray from the thrift store (Daiso) just to freeze the tomato sauces because I do not want to stain the ice cube trays that comes with my fridge.

3) Toppings

Mushroom Pita Pizza

You can use nearly anything for your pizza toppings. You can come up with a theme (such as Hawaiian, Japanese, vegetarian, spicy) and see what creations you can come up with.

Some ingredients (such as ham, pineapple & bell pepppers) do not need pre-cooking while some (such as seafood) will benefit from pre-cooking before being used as pizza topping.

Don’t forget the cheese. The most popular cheese for pizza is mozzarella cheese. You can use other types of cheese such as cheddar, parmesan and romano, or a combination. They need to be grated or shredded before use (or you can buy pre-shredded).

4) Tools

You need an oven to bake the pizza and a flat oven-safe tray (I use a cookie tray). A toaster oven might also work if the ingredients do not need pre-cooking; you just have to make sure all the cheese melts. You also need a pizza cutter to slice the pizza.

Directions (Step by step photos)

1. Place a piece of pita bread (I am using 13 cm/5 in wholemeal here) on a flat oven-safe tray (I am using a cookie tray).

2. Spread some pizza sauce (you can also use tomato-based pasta sauce which was what I used in this case) evenly over the pita bread using the back of your spoon.

3. Add toppings of your choice (I’m making Hawaiian pizza here, and hence the pineapples & ham), followed by a layer of shredded cheese (I am using mozzarella here), followed by more toppings over the cheese.

4. Bake in preheated oven of 200C (392F) for roughly 10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Serve with tobasco sauce and grated parmesan cheese if you like.

List of Pita Pizza Recipes
(links will be updated when the recipes are posted)

– Hawaiian Pita Pizza
– Vegetarian Pita Pizza
– Mushroom Lover Pita Pizza
– Seafood Pita Pizza