Ingredients:

14” rustic pizza crust
3 oz. pizza sauce
3 oz. mild salsa
1.5 oz. bacon bits
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
0.5 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
6 oz. chorizo sausage chunks
1 oz. banana peppers, sliced
1 oz. black olives, sliced
2 tbsp. tomatoes, diced
1 tsp. green onions

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 475°F. Combine pizza sauce and mild salsa, then spread sauce evenly over the pizza crust. Add bacon bits, chorizo sausage chunks, sliced banana peppers, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and sliced black olives over the pizza in that order. Bake pizza for 5 minutes. Add diced tomatoes and green onions to cooked pizza before slicing.

The Sausage Sensation

From bratwurst and chorizo to mortadella, kielbasa and the humble but versatile frankfurter, sausage is popular in every corner of the globe. It has become an increasingly popular pizza topping, with some pizzerias making their own sausage and, in some cases, even raising their own hogs. Nonpork alternatives—such as beef, turkey, chicken and lamb—offer a wide range of flavor profiles, while some adventurous souls literally go hunting for their sausage meats, stalking deer, elk, rabbits and squirrels. Here’s a look at unique sausage-based pies from pizzerias across the country:

Located in Sun Valley, Idaho, South Valley Pizzeria fires up the palate with the Basque, a combination of chorizo sausage, diced green chiles, onions, garlic and Asiago cheese.

Nancy Silverton from Pizzeria Mozza (pizzeriamozza.com) points to the upscale Los Angeles restaurant’s sausage pizza as her favorite. It’s made with fennel sausage, mozzarella cubes and scallions, but the magic ingredient is ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream spread over the surface of the dough before baking.

You say pig meat isn’t good enough for you? Apollonia’s Pizzeria (apolloniaspizzeria.com), also in Los Angeles, offers more exotic options with its Dirty Agent specialty pie. It comes with a choice of rattlesnake sausage, duck and bacon sausage or alligator sausage, along with onions and tomatoes. Customers can also build their own pies with all three meats.

We’re guessing you’ll never see Santa Claus dining at Uncle Joe’s Pizzeria (unclejoespizzeria.com). The Anchorage, Alaska, restaurant offers several pies made with reindeer sausage, such as the Street Dog, a lightly sauced pie that also features rope sausage, caramelized onions, mozzarella and a generous swirl of Thousand Island dressing.