To me, pizza dough is a blank canvas. You can add some red sauce, veggies and vegan cheese and call it a day- and it’ll be a darn good pizza! Or you can go the extra mile and get really creative because there’s literally no limit to what you can put on a pizza! There are dessert pizzas with frosting, Mexican pizzas smothered in enchilada sauce and green chile… and now there’s this: A “Cheesy Mac n’ Rib” pizza covered in macaroni and cheese. Yes, you read that right: Macaroni and cheese on a pizza.

This pizza was inspired by American’s Top 10 Sandwiches Veganized. It’s a great series and if you love sandwiches as much as I do, you should check it out. The one that really caught my eye was the Cheesy Mac n’ Rib, an ooey-gooey combination of mac n’ cheese, caramelized onions and BBQ seitan.

I made this as a “mini” pizza, using about 1/4 of a package of store bought pizza dough, and that was more than enough for me for one meal. If you’re feeding a larger group you could easily quadruple the recipe. Just make sure you provide plenty of napkins, because this is definitely a “use both hands” kind of pizza!

Grilled “Cheesy Mac n’ Rib” Pizza

Makes 1 individual-sized pizza

Ingredients:

• 1/4 packaged pizza dough, let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
• Olive oil
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1/3 cup seitan, sliced
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/8 cup caramelized onions
• 1/3 cup vegan macaroni and cheese (I used Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese), at room temperature or warmed up.
• Salt & pepper

Preparation:

Mix the seitan and BBQ sauce and let sit in at room temperature for 30 minutes. Heat your grill to medium.

Cut the package of dough into quarters and roll out with a pin to get it as thin as you’d like.  Drizzle one side with olive oil and place the dough oil-side-down on the grill. Keep an eye on it, making sure the dough begins to cook and you get grill marks- but don’t let it burn. 5 minutes should be good. Remove the dough and place it on a plate with the cooked side up.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons of BBQ sauce onto the dough (use the same sauce you were marinating in), then top that with the marinated seitan. Spread the caramelized onions over the seitan and top with the macaroni and cheese.

Give the grill a squirt of non-stick spray and place the pizza back on. Close the grill and turn the heat down to low. Leave it on there until everything is warm and the cheese is warm and gooey, 7-8 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and enjoy!