After a failed attempt at creating a pepperoni taco shell left me with an abundance of leftover pepperoni I decided to put it to good use by making a pizza crust out of it instead.
Have you ever baked pepperoni slices in your oven to create chips out of them? If you haven’t you should definitely give it a try. Seriously, put some pepperoni on a baking sheet and throw in your oven for ten minutes at 425° and you’ll be left with a bunch of crispy pepperoni chips that are perfect for dipping. Anyway, that’s where this idea originated from.
My hope with the pepperoni taco shell was that I could place a circle of overlapping pepperoni pieces between two sheets of aluminum foil — which would theoretically help keep everything together — and then fold it into a taco shape and bake it in my oven. The idea was that when it was done baking and I unwrapped the aluminum foil that the pepperoni taco shell would stay intact. What really happened however was that it just fell apart.
Although the pepperoni taco shell — which would have been completely awesome — didn’t work out, I did notice that the pepperoni that weren’t bent into a taco shell type shape stuck together fairly well after baking, so I went back and created a second circle of overlapping pepperoni slices and this time just left it as a circle when I placed it in my oven for eight minutes. I then took it out and topped it with pizza sauce, shredded cheese, Italian sausage and green peppers and put it back in the oven for another ten minutes.
Even with a decent amount of pepperoni overlap in the crust, the pizza was still pretty flimsy when I picked it up to eat it, but the idea is definitely there, and I’m sure that with a couple more tries I could get it to work even better. Either way, if you somehow end up with a bunch of extra pepperoni that you have no idea what to do with — or maybe you’re just searching for an alternative to a traditional pizza crust — this Pepperoni Crust Pizza might be just what you’re looking for!
Jym
February 17, 2014 at 10:57 am (11 years ago)dude… bacon weave under a pepperoni lap.
Nick
February 17, 2014 at 10:58 am (11 years ago)That would be delicious! I’ve used a bacon weave as a pizza crust before and it was pretty spectacular.
Bob
February 18, 2014 at 12:43 pm (11 years ago)How about slicing the pepperoni lengthwise and weaving it?
Nick
February 18, 2014 at 1:18 pm (11 years ago)That’s actually a really great idea!
Bruce
February 19, 2014 at 10:47 am (11 years ago)Parmesan crisps up nice in a Teflon pan.
Mike
February 19, 2014 at 4:23 pm (11 years ago)For the failed taco shell, did you try to layer it between two pieces of parchment paper and bake it?
Nick
February 20, 2014 at 7:28 am (11 years ago)Nope, I just tried layering it between two pieces of aluminum foil, but maybe I should try parchment paper.
Mike
February 21, 2014 at 10:21 pm (11 years ago)try using transglutaminase (meat glue)
michael
March 5, 2014 at 6:29 am (11 years ago)Dude- where can you get transglutaminase?
David
March 6, 2014 at 3:04 pm (11 years ago)to get the taco shell you need to leave an opening at the top and bottom of the aluminum foil to drain the steam and the grease coming out of the pepperoni
Nick
March 6, 2014 at 3:04 pm (11 years ago)Good idea David!