Gluten Free Breakfast Pizza
This simple 15 minute gluten free breakfast pizza boasts a super crispy potato crust, salty, melted cheeses and runny eggs. Breakfast has never been faster or more delicious! I’ve got a few simple tips for you that will make this pizza your breakfast go to!
I have decided to be an adult.
You see..I always had this idea that when I was an “adult”I would wake up before the whole house, bake and cook up oodles of goodies and send everyone off to school and work while I stood happily washing dishes and putting in the last load of laundry into the washer before I went on my merry way to the office.
Yea….that could not be farther from the truth.
Typically on a weekday I set my alarm for about 90 minutes before I have to head out. The munchkin will usually call for me about 30 minutes prior to that with her juvenile request of more juice or to sit with her. Now, an adult mother would go and wake up at that point, take the munchkin downstairs and cook her breakfast. Me? I give her the bottle with one eye open and mosey back to bed. I do not roll out until I have hit the snooze button about 21 times.
After running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off each morning, begging the munchkin to take off the darn Elsa dress and put on her shoes, I had enough. Staying up till 1am to finish up writing my blog posts each day and waking up being a discombobulated hot mess was not working out for me.
So mommy decided to make a change. And to be more organized, well rested and more caffeinated.
As we speak it is 7am and I am proudly in my kitchen. Proudly I am awake, sipping my double almond milk cappuccino and putting all my best thoughts on paper while the house is quietly sleeping and the cat sweetly nudges my arm to get her some breakfast.
Any minute now the munchkin will start screaming for me from upstairs…but for now it’s just me, my kitty and my thoughts. And it’s actually a really beautiful thing.
Last Sunday I woke up early not because I made myself but because the munchkin came up to my bed at 7:30am and told me that we were done sleeping. And that it was time to wake up. I could not figure out how her early mornings had become my issue but I figured it was way easier to oblige to her demands than negotiate.
I have found that toddlers are like terrorists: they don’t negotiate.
She dragged me downstairs and nicely demanded that I give her dough. I always have a container of Pillsbury dough in case I need an emergency dessert (enter my Nutella and Cheesecake Monkey Bread) or to hand to the munchkin to keep her busy while mommy does some real cooking. But lately this has not been working. Clearly the munchkin has gotten my cooking gene. Because she finds everything I do in the kitchen fascinating. And that too is a beautiful thing. I have imagined it many a time, both of us standing next to each other, giggling with remnants of flour on our noses, having essentially a picture perfect time.
But alas it is never like this. Most of the time she is grabbing at my knives and standing over hot pans. And I am screaming “No don’t touch that! Watch out there is hot oil in there! Charlie, my knives are not used to brush the kitty.”
However, this particular Sunday morning I had a brilliant idea. While lounging on the couch with her, I scrolled through Facebook and saw one of those videos. You know the ones that show how efficient and easy it is to make something delicious. Well this video had a fabulous idea. Just extremely poor execution. A gluten free potato crust pizza. Better, it does not get 🙂 ( I am Yoda in the mornings apparently)
It was simple enough, adorned with plenty of cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs. I decided that the munchkin and I could do better. 🙂 Oh and best of all…this is a one pan meal… Less for me to wash=happiness.
And so I had the munchkin CAREFULLY help me slice the potato thinly on the mandolin. The best part is there is absolutely no peeling necessary. #winning.
I was so amazed how well she laid them out into the oiled pan. I ended up placing one sliced potato in a cast iron pan and she put the slices into another. I fixed her slices placement a tad but I think she did well 🙂
This is her pan 🙂
One of the keys to the flavor and browning of this gorgeous gluten free breakfast pizza is the cheese. I used a really good Parmesan to grate on top. This does a few things:
- It allows for a terrific caramelization on the top of the pizza when it goes into the broiler. Because this is a 15 minute meal I take all the shortcuts I can get.
- It acts as a glue for the potatoes. Since there is no real way to “seal” these potatoes, the cheese will act like a glue and bind everything together nicely so that it comes out in one piece.
- FLAVOR! This is probably the most important reason for the cheese. I used a really good Parmesan. It was aged for about 3 years and had a superb nutty and salty flavor. Parmesan is a hard cheese and hard cheeses tend to have less fat! . (yay skinny cheese!) You don’t need much for a boku flavor pay off.
This was my cast iron pan 🙂
We put this over a medium high heat, her standing on the chair right next to me the whole time, keeping her distance in case there are any splatters and reporting what the effects were the whole time 🙂
Now here is where I did things differently from the video I saw. They closed the lid at this point?!? What?! So what happens when you close the lid? You create steam. Which is the enemy of anything crisping up. So I did try this actually and noticed my potatoes remaining beautifully soggy. No bueno 🙁 Keep the lid off.
After about 5 minutes we added in some shredded mozzarella, a bit more Parmesan, the eggs and salt and pepper. I would have loved to add some red pepper flakes as well at this point…but because the munchkin was eating it, I steered clear. At this point you can add in any other veggies or meats as well. Prosciutto, pancetta or pepperoni would crisp up really beautifully in there. Veggies such as onions, garlic, shallots, etc would do great. Specifically caramelized onions 🙂 Just steer clear of any watery vegetables such as tomatoes. Those will give off too much water and again, moisture is brutal enemy of crispy edges.
GENTLY with a spatula lift up the edges of the potatoes. If you see they are starting to brown nicely then into the broiler it goes. If not give them JUST a few more minutes on the stove.
And then into the broiler it goes. If you do not have a broiler, stick it into a super hot oven. Around 500 degrees F would be great.
I like my eggs perfectly pink…which is basically over easy with out having to flip it. This will take about 5-6 minutes depending on how powerful your oven is.
And then you emerge with this gorgeousness.
Munchkin’s egg broke on her. She had a mild mental breakdown on the floor due to her OCD insane addiction to “sun” eggs, i.e. unbroken yolks. She calmed down as soon as I told her there was another egg and that I needed a taste tester. God bless her foodie ways.
Ahhh look at the gorgeousness!!!!
But the best part? Check out the bottom…Can you even BELIEVE that took 15 minutes?!? You have no idea how great the crunch factor is here!!!
I adore baby arugula and think it goes perfectly with Parmesan, so I threw on just a handful of leaves. And then I added the game changer: a squeeze of lemon. One of my fave combos is baby arugula+Parmesan+lemon juice…So I figured it would be great on this pizza…and it was. That squeeze of lemon completely transformed the flavor profile. Totally brightening the flavors.
And with no arugula for the munchkin and just some fresh parsley to green it up.
At this point you can either serve your gluten free breakfast pizza as is or transfer it CAREFULLY to a cutting board. The choice is yours 🙂
As I stepped away to grab some extra greens during my photo shoot, munchkin stepped in and stole a slice…
Hubs rolled on down right around this part. And he was happy that I had this delicious potato crunchy pizza thingee (his title..not mine) to much on.
“Really good babe…really good.” He said while crunching and munching.
Maybe there is a bright side to this whole morning thing 🙂
Have a good day everyone!
Tools used in this post:
- My microlplaner that I use for shredding the Parmesan
- My larger microplane that I used for shredding the Mozzarella.
- My mandolin to slice the potatoes. I have had this device for years! It is cheap, sharp and most important dishwasher friendly.
- My Lodge Cast Iron pan. Inexpensive and fabulous quality.
Gluten Free Breakfast Pizza
- Total Time: 16 minutes
- Yield: 2 ppl 1x
Description
This simple 15 minute gluten free breakfast pizza boasts a super crispy potato crust, salty, melted cheeses and runny eggs. Breakfast has never been easier!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 whole potato (washed and scrubbed)
- 1/2 cup of good shredded Parmesan cheese (more if you like)
- 1/2 a cup shredded mozzarella
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 cup baby arugula
- half a lemon cut into wedges
- extra Parmesan used for garnish
- chopped parsley for garnish
- salt and pepper to garnish
- optional red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Using a mandolin, or a super sharp knife slice the potatoes thinly. (Look at the picture for how thin mine were) A mandolin definitely makes life a great deal easier. Trust me.
- Pour the oil into the pan and start placing into the pan in a circular pattern making sure to overlap each slice and kind of moving the oil around with the potatoes as you put them in to ensure that the oil is in there evenly.
- Sprinkle with half of the Parmesan, season with salt and pepper.
- Put over medium heat and allow to cook for about 5-6 minutes, untouched.
- After about 5 minutes add in the shredded mozzarella, the remaining Parmesan, the eggs and remember to season the eggs with salt and pepper. I would have loved to add some red pepper flakes as well at this point…but because the munchkin was eating it, I steered clear. At this point you can add in any other veggies or meats as well. Prosciutto, pancetta or pepperoni would crisp up really beautifully in there. Veggies such as onions, garlic, shallots, etc would do great. Specifically caramelized onions <img draggable=”false” data-mce-resize=”false” data-mce-placeholder=”1″ data-wp-emoji=”1″ class=”emoji” alt=”🙂” src=”https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2/svg/1f642.svg”> Just steer clear of any watery vegetables such as tomatoes. Those will give off too much water and again, moisture is brutal enemy of crispy edges.
- GENTLY with a spatula lift up the edges of the potatoes. If you see they are starting to brown nicely then into the broiler it goes. If not give them JUST a few more minutes on the stove.
- And then into the broiler it goes. If you do not have a broiler, stick it into a super hot oven. Around 500 degrees F would be great.
- I like my eggs perfectly pink…which is basically over easy with out having to flip it. This will take about 5-6 minutes depending on how powerful your oven is.
- Remove from the oven. Sprinkle the arugula on and a squeeze of one of the lemon wedges.
- Serve in the pan or slide onto the cutting board.
Notes
1. DO NOT use already shredded cheese. ESPECIALLY Parmesan. The flavor is not nearly as good in the pre shredded. Use your handy dandy microplane to shredd some right on top. Same goes for the mozzarella. The shredded kind has extra ingredients in there to prevent it from clumping up. Even better feel free to use fresh mozzarella slices.
2. I actually liked the way the potatoes caramelized in the cast iron pan much better. It caramelized faster and more evenly. If you have the option to use cast iron. Do.
3. Nutritional information should only be used as a guide.
- Prep Time: 1 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: Italian
Pin For Later
Wonderful breakfast or dinner idea for the 2 of us…
Thank you…. :O)
Awwww thanks Ross!!!! I do hope you try them!
Brilliant breakfast idea!