I love pizza. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I would probably choose pizza. Or bacon cheeseburgers. Tough decision, huh? This pizza is incredibly easy and because there is kale on it, it could even be considered healthy! The dough is quick and easy and before you know it dinner is ready.

Let’s start with the pizza dough. I made it in my mixer, so it came together very quickly and with very little mess. But you can mix it up by hand and knead it too.

^^^It must be Super Bowl time!! My dad asked me to take a picture of the haul- a banker’s box literally overflowing with handpicked, homegrown avocados. Mhmmmm! I see some delicious guacamole in my future! Thanks dad!

Bacon & Kale Pizza

Makes one 12″-14″ pizza, so recipe could easily be doubled

Ingredients: 
4 slices extra-thick bacon
2 cups chopped kale
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1/3 cup BBQ sauce (or more or less depending on how saucy you like your pizza)
1/4 cup Sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup red onion, sliced
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

For the pizza dough:
1/2 cup warm water (think “hot-tub” temp – not luke-warm, but not scalding)
1-1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
1 Tablespoon honey
1-1/2 cups flour + more for kneading
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 

For the pizza dough: Combine water, yeast, and honey in a large glass bowl then stir to combine. Let sit for 10 minutes in a warm place, until foamy. Add flour, salt, and extra virgin olive oil and mix with dough hook until ball forms.

Spray a large glass bowl (or keep the dough in your KitchenAid mixer bowl, if that’s what you used to mix) with nonstick spray then add dough and cover with a towel (don’t let towel touch dough.) Place bowl in a warm spot, I put mine into the oven that I preheated to about 200*, and then turned off. Let the dough rise until doubled in size about an 1 hour. You can cover and refrigerate the dough at this point for 1-2 days. Let come to room temperature for 30 minutes before continuing on to next step, of you are using dough from refrigerator.

When dough has 20 minutes left to rise, line a baking sheet with foil then place a cooling rack on top and spray with nonstick spray. Lay bacon slices on top of cooling rack then place into a cold oven. Set oven to 400 degrees. Bacon will cook as oven heats up. Continue to cook at 400 degrees until crispy, mine took an additional 10 minutes after the oven was preheated. Cool slightly then chop.

Lightly massage kale with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper in a bowl, then set aside. It might seem like a lot of kale at first, but it wilts down a lot. Massaging the kale is definitely a necessary step!

Spray a pizza pan or baking sheet very well with nonstick spray then spread risen dough into a 12″ circle, or into an even layer on a baking sheet. Spread BBQ sauce on top then sprinkle on massaged kale, sun dried tomatoes, chopped bacon, and cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until crust and cheese are golden brown. Slice then serve.

Original recipe from Iowa Girl Eats. We changed it up quite a bit to suit our tastes.

Cindy