We have pizza at least once a week in our household. We either make simple cheese pizzas or pick up a brick oven pizza from the local pizzeria. Either way, the pizza is a pretty perfect dish. Dress it up, dress it down, eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between. And this week, we are featuring pizzas everyday!
When I first started blogging several years ago, my first foray into Korean-inspired dishes was a recipe for kimchi pizza. I cringe a bit when I look back, but hey, we all gotta start somewhere, right? I’ve been wanting to revisit this recipe to simplify it, but also make the flavors bolder. The kochujang (red pepper paste) sauce in this recipe is spicy, tangy, and addictive…it really makes the pizza!
Kimchi Pizza Redux #PizzaWeek
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup kochujang Korean spicy red pepper paste
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 pound of your favorite pizza dough brought to room temperature
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped cabbage kimchi drained
- 8 to12 ounces pork belly thinly sliced
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2-3 stalks of scallions thinly sliced on a diagonal
Instructions
- Put the oven rack in the upper middle position, put a pizza stone on it and preheat to 500 degrees F.
- To make the sauce, mix the kochujang, garlic, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. The consistency should not be too thick, but thin enough to spread easily on the crust.
- On a well floured surface, roll the dough out until it is less than 1/4″ thick. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel, lightly flour the sheet, and lay the dough on top. Use a spoon to spread the sauce on the dough. Top with chopped kimchi, sliced pork belly, and mozzarella cheese.
- Carefully transfer the pizza to the preheated pizza stone and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with scallions, slice and enjoy!
This recipe is part of 2014 #PizzaWeek, a week-long blogging event celebrating cheese, carbs, and cheese on top of carbs. Check out these other pizzas featured for #PizzaWeek!
Monday
Raspberry Brie Dessert Pizza from Completely Delicious
Kale and Artichoke Pizza with Garlic Ricotta from The Corner Kitchen
Shrimp and Grits Naan Pizza from Climbing Grier Mountian
Caramelized Onion and Fennel Pizza from Girl Versus Dough
Spinach Artichoke Pizza from The Vintage Mixer
And check out Nosh On It for the big Pizza Week introduction
Tuesday
Breakfast Pizza from Very Culinary
Carne Asada Pizza from Mountain Mama Cooks
Gluten Free Quinoa Pizza with Meyer Lemon, Goat Cheese and Basil from Café Johnsonia
Wednesday
Roasted Veggie Pizza from Dine & Dish
Greek-za Mediterranean Pizza from The Kitchen Prep
Mini Cauliflower Pizza from The Fitchen
Thursday
Follow along with the hashtag #PizzaWeek on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, be sure to check out our Pinterest board for all kinds of pizza inspiration, and Nosh On It’s site for updates.
Your pizza looks and sounds amazing! I love spicy so I know I would love this!
Thanks Shanna!
kimchi and pork belly? I LOVE this.
It was sooooo good! And it’s so easy to make!!
Wow, this sounds just amazing! I l’m so glad to have found your blog too 🙂
Thanks!
Gorgeous!!!! I love the flavors with this pizza! Also, I just sent you an email through your site about Sunday Supper, and my need to change the title on my recipe. Let me know if you don’t get the email.
Thanks Susan! And yes, I got your email! 🙂
This sounds fantastic – I’d have never thought of using gochujang for a pizza base! Might have to abuse the kitchen of one of my friends who has an oven…
I thought about adding gochujang to tomato sauce, but wanted to see how it was on its own. It was so good (obvs)! I hope you try it! 🙂
This is pretty good. The rice vinegar in the sauce base makes it taste a little strange. Every bite with pork in it is far superior to the porkless bites, so if you use this recipe, be sure to get the pork in every bite.
Instead of draining the kimchi and using the sauce you provided, I am going to make a paste with kimchi juices and mashed black beans. To keep the heat level up, I will use daejibulgogi instead of pork belly. I think if I move the flavors around like this and soften the sauce’s bite, it will be the best pizza on the planet.
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Love this idea. Made the crust following the instructions of a gluten free mix.
Used bacon as well and par-cooked it first.
For me the kochujang overpowered the pizza so, as another reviewer said, next time I would put some kimchi in a blender and perhaps replace half the kochujang with that, probably add a little bacon grease as well. Would have to see if the vinegar still necessary.
Also used half daikon radish kimchi and half cabbage, which was a good call since the daikon remained more crunchy and vinegary. I love kimchi, thanks for validating my desire to put it on pizza! haha