Meat Lovers Flatbread Pizza – Easy, Crispy, Delicious, and Ready in Minutes

Some evenings I simply crave pizza, but I am definitely not in the mood for spending hours preparing the dough and waiting until it rises. This meat-lover’s flatbread pizza recipe is perfect for busy nights like that since it offers you everything you expect from a homemade pizza without having to turn your kitchen into a full-fledged pizza shop.

When I first tried to make this pizza, I simply put too much pizza sauce and ended up with a very soggy flatbread base that never became crisp. Now I use just enough pizza sauce and always leave a little border around the edges of the flatbread.

To me, the thing that I appreciate the most about this recipe is speed – crispy bacon, chunky sausage, and lots of melty cheese are always ready in minutes!

[INSERT RECIPE CARD HERE]

What You’ll Need

For the Flatbread Pizza

• 2 pre-made flatbreads or flatbread pizza crusts (around 14 ounces / 400 g in total)

The great thing about pre-made flatbread is that it helps you to prepare this pizza quickly. You can always buy naan-style flatbread from the supermarket or make your own flatbread crust.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil (15 ml / 13 g)
• 1 teaspoon pasta seasoning (2 g)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (2 g)
• 1 cup pizza sauce (240 g)

If you prefer to prepare pizza sauce from scratch, you can always use my easy recipe.

For the Meat Toppings

• 6 slices of bacon (170 g)
• 8 ounces Italian sausage (225 g)
• 20-24 slices pepperoni (85 g)

For the Cheese

• 1 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese (113 g)
• 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese (170 g)

Low-moisture mozzarella cheese works best for this flatbread pizza.

Cook the Bacon

In order to prepare this pizza, you need to start by cooking the bacon. Put it into a cold skillet and turn the stove on to medium heat. Slowly cooking the bacon makes it crisp but prevents the bacon from burning too soon.

As the bacon cooks, the whole kitchen fills with that wonderful smoky, salty smell.

You will notice that the edges of the bacon slices turn a light gold color and get slightly crispy. There is no need to fry the bacon until perfectly crisp since it will get cooked further in the oven.

Once the bacon is nearly crisp but not completely cooked, remove it from the pan and place it onto paper towels. Keep the bacon grease since it will be used for cooking sausage.

Pro tip: The first time I made this flatbread pizza, I fried the bacon till crisp. However, I was surprised that it became too crunchy in the oven.

Brown the Sausage

Place the Italian sausage into the bacon grease and fry on medium heat until completely cooked and golden brown.

Stir the sausage with a spoon so that it breaks apart a little bit, but remember that you don’t want the sausage to be crushed.

As you cook it, you will notice that Italian sausage smells really delicious – it releases wonderful spices and aromas due to its fennel content.

In the beginning, I was crushing the sausage too finely. Of course, the flatbread pizza tasted delicious anyway, but I felt like the sausage was not crispy enough in the end. Therefore, it’s better to cook bigger sausage chunks.

Remove the sausage from the pan and set it aside.

Prepare the Flatbread

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).

Place the flatbread pizza onto a baking sheet or pizza pan. Lightly brush the olive oil onto the flatbread to make it crispy during cooking.

Sprinkle the pasta seasoning and Italian seasoning on top of the flatbread. At this point, you will notice the smell of warm herbs.

Finally, cover the flatbread with pizza sauce, leaving a thin border around the edges.

Pro tip: In the beginning, I used too much pizza sauce on the flatbread since I believed that the more pizza sauce you use, the tastier the pizza is. Unfortunately, that only made the flatbread soggy and prevented it from getting crispy underneath.

Add the Cheese

Start by covering the pizza sauce with shredded cheddar jack cheese.

On top of the cheddar jack cheese, cover the flatbread with the mozzarella cheese.

It’s better to combine two types of cheese for this pizza since the cheddar jack adds more flavor, and the mozzarella cheese melts into those gooey pizza pockets that we all love so much.

Occasionally, I add some more cheddar cheese on top of the melted cheese in order to give the pizza a unique golden touch once cooked.

Add the Meat

This is where the fun begins.

Start by spreading the pepperoni slices around the pizza flatbread. On top of that, cover the flatbread with sausage chunks that you’ve cooked earlier.

Finish by adding the crispy bacon that should be spread all over the pizza evenly.

This is the point when you can say “it’s time to eat”! All the red pieces of pepperoni, chunky brown sausage pieces, crispy bacon, and melted cheese make a beautiful sight.

Add the remaining pasta seasoning and Italian seasoning over the pizza toppings.

Pro tip: I always try to leave some sausage chunks on top of the pizza and not to hide everything under cheese. They crisp slightly in the oven and taste unbelievably delicious!

Bake Until Bubbling

Put the flatbread pizza into the preheated oven and bake it for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).

Since all the meat ingredients are pre-cooked, all you need is to melt the cheese and warm up the pizza.

During baking, the pizza becomes bubbly with the edges getting golden brown and crispy. The aroma of melted cheese combined with the smell of sausages and pepperoni creates an unbelievable flavor combination.

Let the pizza cool down for a couple of minutes before cutting.

Pro tips:

Do Not Use Too Much Pizza Sauce

A pizza sauce makes the flatbread base soggy in the middle. Therefore, it’s recommended to use less of it, especially if you want a crispy pizza.

Do Not Cook the Bacon Too Long Before Baking

Fully crisp bacon tends to get tough in the oven. Cook it just a little less so that it will continue cooking in the oven.

Do Not Crush the Sausage Too Finely

Sausage crumbles tend to disappear among other ingredients, making this pizza not as tasty as it could be. Cook chunkier sausage pieces in order to enjoy the sausage in each bite.

Preheat the Oven

The flatbread pizza bakes in 8-10 minutes, so the oven should be preheated to the required temperature.

Do Not Add Too Many Ingredients

Of course, it’s nice to put plenty of sausage and pepperoni, but if you add too much of it, you risk making the flatbread soggy and preventing the cheese from cooking well.

Ways to Change the Recipe

Add Different Meats

If I really want to have a meat-lover’s flatbread pizza, I add some diced ham or salami to my recipe. Thinly sliced meats tend to become crisp after baking.

Make it Spicy

Adding crushed red pepper or switching from mild to spicy Italian sausage will definitely make your pizza even more tasty. Drizzle it with hot honey for even better flavor.

Add Vegetables

Sometimes, I like adding some veggies to my meat-lover’s flatbread pizza to make it healthier. Red onion slices, mushrooms, ms and green peppers go great with this recipe.

Storage Instructions

This pizza is better served hot with melty cheese.

If theare is any leftovers, cothemr it tightly with plastic wrap or foil and store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

When reheating it, I usually use my skillet or air-fryer in order to restore that crispy crust that the pizza had before.

It is possible to freeze your flatbread pizza slices for up to 2 months.

Simply wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store them in a freezer.

Reheat frozen flatbread pizza directly from the freezer until hot and crispy.

In general, I think this pizza is better enjoyed right after baking with your favorite soda.

Meat-lovers flatbread pizza has turned into my all-time favorite pizza recipe. I use pre-made flatbread in order to have dinner on the table quickly, but I add all the meatiness that a person can imagine.

I hope this recipe will turn into one of your favorites as well.