Breakfast Pizza: How to Make It, Plus the School and Casey's Versions
Eggs, sausage and cheese on a sausage-gravy or cheese-sauce base. How to make breakfast pizza with soft eggs, plus copycat school and Casey's versions.
Breakfast pizza is pizza topped with breakfast foods, usually eggs, sausage or bacon, and cheese, over a sausage gravy or cheese sauce base instead of tomato. Par-bake the crust and only half-cook the eggs first, so they finish soft in the oven instead of turning rubbery.
What is breakfast pizza?
It covers a few different pies. The most common American version is the gas-station and school-cafeteria style: a thin crust, a creamy base, scrambled eggs, crumbled sausage and melted cheese, often cut into squares. The Italian-influenced version keeps a tomato or olive oil base and cracks whole eggs onto the pizza to bake until the whites set, like a pizza Bismarck. Brunch-restaurant versions add hollandaise, smoked salmon or greens. They all rely on the same technique.
Breakfast pizza sauces compared
| Base | Style | Pairs with | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sausage gravy | Midwest / country | Sausage, scrambled egg, cheddar | Make it thicker than for biscuits so it doesn't run |
| Cheese sauce | Gas-station, school style | Sausage, bacon, ham, egg | The easiest crowd-pleaser; American cheese melts smoothest |
| Tomato sauce | Italian | Cracked whole eggs, prosciutto, basil | Crack eggs on part-way through the bake |
| Olive oil and garlic | Light / brunch | Egg, spinach, feta, smoked salmon | Brush thinly; the eggs supply the moisture |
| Hollandaise | Brunch | Canadian bacon, egg (eggs Benedict pizza) | Add after baking; it splits in a hot oven |
How to make breakfast pizza (recipe)
This makes one half-sheet pan (about 13 × 18 inches), 12 squares, enough for 4 to 6 people. It's the school and gas-station style, with sausage gravy or cheese sauce.
Ingredients:
- 500g pizza dough, at room temperature (see our pizza dough recipes)
- 225g (8 oz) breakfast sausage
- 6 large eggs, plus 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup (240ml) sausage gravy or cheese sauce, cooled until thick
- 150g shredded cheddar and 100g shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- 4 slices cooked bacon, chopped (optional)
- Chives or scallion, salt and pepper to finish
Method:
- Heat the oven to 450°F. If you have a pizza steel or stone, put the sheet pan on it for a crisper base.
- Brown the sausage in a skillet, breaking it into small crumbles, and drain it on paper towel. Sausage should reach 160°F. Cook it through here, because the pizza bake is short.
- Soft-scramble the eggs. Whisk them with the milk and cook in butter over low heat until just barely set and still glossy, then take them off the heat. They finish in the oven. Fully cooked eggs go rubbery.
- Par-bake the crust. Oil the pan, press the dough out to the edges, prick it all over with a fork and bake 6 to 8 minutes until set and just starting to color.
- Build the pizza. Spread the gravy or cheese sauce thinly over the par-baked crust. Add half the cheese, then the eggs, sausage and bacon, then the rest of the cheese.
- Bake 8 to 12 minutes until the cheese is melted and the edges are golden. Egg dishes should reach 160°F, which is USDA's safe minimum internal temperature for eggs. Check the center with a thermometer.
- Rest 3 minutes, scatter chives on top, and cut into squares.
The low-moisture mozzarella keeps the center from going watery. Our guide to the best cheese for pizza explains why fresh mozzarella floods, and the problem is worse with eggs.
Cracked-egg breakfast pizza
For the Italian style, stretch a 12-inch round, add a thin tomato or olive oil base, mozzarella and prosciutto or cooked sausage, and bake it for about two-thirds of the usual time. Then pull it out, make three or four shallow wells in the toppings, crack an egg into each and return it to the oven for 4 to 6 minutes until the whites set. For fully cooked yolks, bake until they're firm. Runny yolks are a matter of taste and aren't cooked to the USDA temperature.
School breakfast pizza: how to make the copycat
"School breakfast pizza" is one of the most searched versions, mostly by adults trying to recreate the rectangular cafeteria slice. Schools in the USDA School Breakfast Program have to meet federal meal-pattern rules, and the pre-made breakfast pizza became a cafeteria staple. Recipes vary by supplier and district, but the familiar version is easy to copy: a thin, cracker-crisp sheet crust, a cheese sauce base, crumbled sausage, scrambled egg and a heavy layer of cheddar, baked and cut into rectangles. Use the recipe above with cheese sauce, press the dough very thin, and skip the bacon.
Casey's breakfast pizza: the copycat approach
Casey's, the Midwest convenience-store chain, has sold breakfast pizza since 2001, according to its 2022 announcement marking the pizza's 21st birthday. The chain offers several topping combinations of sausage, bacon, eggs and cheese. To make something close at home, use the sheet-pan recipe with either base, a thicker crust than the school version, and plenty of cheese. pizza.guide is not affiliated with Casey's, and this is an approximation, not their recipe.
Breakfast pizza variations
- Supreme breakfast: add sautéed peppers and onions, borrowing the balance from our supreme pizza. Cook the vegetables first so they don't weep into the eggs.
- Spicy: toss the sausage in a spoonful of the Buffalo sauce from our buffalo chicken pizza recipe.
- Fast versions: English muffins, bagels or crescent-roll dough make single-serving breakfast pizzas in about 15 minutes. Our easy pizza snacks guide covers those bases.
- Vegetarian: swap the meat for spinach, mushrooms and feta on an olive oil base.
Make-ahead and leftovers
You can brown the sausage, make the gravy and par-bake the crust the night before and keep them chilled. Scramble the eggs and assemble in the morning. Leftover breakfast pizza follows the same rules as any pizza with meat and egg: refrigerate it within two hours and use it within three to four days. See our guide to how long pizza keeps. To reheat pizza with eggs on it, use a covered skillet over medium-low heat, which warms the eggs without turning them rubbery.
Frequently asked questions
What is breakfast pizza?
Breakfast pizza is pizza topped with breakfast foods, usually eggs, sausage or bacon, and cheese, over a sausage gravy, cheese sauce, tomato or olive oil base instead of standard pizza sauce.
What sauce goes on breakfast pizza?
Sausage gravy and cheese sauce are the most common in the US. Italian-style versions use tomato sauce or olive oil with cracked whole eggs, and brunch versions add hollandaise after baking.
Do you cook the eggs before putting them on breakfast pizza?
For scrambled-egg breakfast pizza, soft-scramble them until just barely set, then let them finish in the oven. For cracked-egg pizza, crack raw eggs onto the pizza for the last 4 to 6 minutes of baking.
How do you keep breakfast pizza eggs from getting rubbery?
Under-cook the scrambled eggs before they go on the pizza, par-bake the crust so the final bake is short, and pull the pizza when the eggs reach 160°F in the center.
What was on school breakfast pizza?
Recipes varied by supplier and district, but the familiar version is a thin rectangular crust with a cheese sauce base, crumbled sausage, scrambled egg and cheddar.
Can you make breakfast pizza ahead of time?
Yes. Brown the sausage, make the gravy and par-bake the crust the night before and refrigerate them. Scramble the eggs and assemble in the morning for the best texture.