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Spicy Sausage Pizza With Fresno And Hot Cherry Peppers

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We’re cranking up the heat for this spicy pizza with hot Italian sausage, Fresno and cherry peppers, and chili oil all built up on a base of our homemade spicy pizza sauce with calabrian chilis. This fiery pizza comes together in just 30 minutes for a fun, easy, and delicious heat-packed weeknight dinner.

A hot slice of spicy sausage and cherry pepper pizza.

Over the past couple months we’ve started to notice that more and more of our dinners are spicy. Don’t get me wrong, we love spicy food, but we’ve hit a new level recently with how often we’re eating a spicy recipe. 

And I think this pizza captures that perfectly. We’ve piled spice on top of spice on top of spice. And wow, it makes for one heck of a pizza.

If you love spicy food too, check out our Nashville hot chicken sandwich!

What To Expect

  • Great for: A fun and fiery pizza date night at home or an easy weeknight dinner when you’re wishing it was the weekend.
  • Ready in: 30 minutes
  • Serves: 2 to 3 people (we generally eat it all in one sitting, sometimes we have a slice left over).
  • Flavor profile: Spicy, spicy, spicy! But the savory sausage, and bright, acidic peppers give the flavor profile a great lift to balance it out.
  • How to make it: Stretch the dough, top with sauce, cheese, peppers, and sausage, bake, top with chili oil, slice, and serve.

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Why We Love This Recipe

Making pizza is always one of our favorite date nights at home, especially when we make it all from scratch. It’s one of our favorite activities to do together and always leads to good memories. And the spice level of this recipe always takes that up a notch as we get to watch one another struggle through the heat of the meal!

– Alex

Key Ingredients

  • Spicy pizza sauce – This pizza is best with our 10 minute spicy pizza sauce made with calabrian chilis. We love making our pizza sauces from scratch so we can fine-tune them to our tastes and know they’re made with minimally processed ingredients. But you can also use your favorite store-bought brand (we recommend Rao’s for a minimally processed option). 
  • Three cheese blend – A blend of mozzarella, Monterey jack, and sharp cheddar cheese gives this pizza a tasty depth of flavor and a fiery marbled look. The bright yellow cheddar really makes this pizza pop! Shred a block of cheese yourself for the best taste and texture!
  • Hot Italian ground sausage – You can typically find this at the grocery store. Look for a “hot” or “spicy” version of Italian sausage. If you use regular Italian sausage, you won’t get the same spicy flavor in this pizza – but if it’s all you have, experiment with spicing it up on your own! Crushed red pepper flakes and chili oil are great ingredients for getting a ton of kick.
  • Hot peppers – We use both Fresno peppers and jarred slices of hot cherry peppers for the perfect blend of fresh and pickled textures and flavors. If you can’t find Fresno peppers, look for any small, red chili peppers you feel courageous enough to gamble on.
  • Chili oil – A light drizzle of chili oil after cooking turns the heat up a notch on this spicy pizza. It’s the secret ingredient that truly takes this pie to the next level!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Serving Suggestions

How To Make Spicy Sausage Pizza With Hot Cherry Peppers

Shredded mozzarella, Monterey jack, and cheddar in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 1: Combine and mix the mozzarella, Monterey jack, and cheddar cheeses.

A fresh ball of pizza dough stretched into a large circle on a round pizza pan.

Step 2: Stretch the pizza dough on a lightly floured or oiled pizza pan.

Pizza dough on a round pan topped with a thick layer of spicy red pizza sauce.

Step 3: Spread half a cup of the spicy pizza sauce onto the dough. Leave about a quarter to a half inch around the edges for the crust.

Pizza dough on a round pan topped with spicy red sauce and a blend of freshly shredded cheeses.

Step 4: Then evenly cover the pizza with the cheese blend.

An uncooked pizza topped with spicy red sauce, mixed cheeses, and slices of hot cherry peppers and fresno peppers.

Step 5: Top with both cherry pepper and fresno pepper slices. Distribute the two kinds of pepper evenly for the best experience.

An uncooked pizza topped with spicy red sauce, shredded cheese, hot pepper slices, and ground Italian spicy sausage.

Step 6: Then top the pizza with the cooked, spicy sausage and a pinch of salt.

A freshly baked spicy sausage and pepper pizza on a round pizza pan.

Step 7: Bake according to your dough’s directions. If your dough doesn’t have directions, we recommend to bake at 500 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes, but keep an eye on it. Once the crust is browned and the cheese is melted and bubbly, drizzle with chili oil and top with chives. Slice and serve.

Expert Tips

  • Pizza dough – If you’re making pizza dough from scratch, plan ahead. Depending on the recipe, you’ll need a day or two for it to rise before baking. Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast is our favorite cookbook for pizza dough. We always make the same day straight pizza dough a day or two ahead of time when we’re planning on making a thin-crust pizza like this one.
  • Shred your own cheese – Freshly shredded cheese melts so much better, so grab a cheese grater and shred it yourself from the block. The pre-shredded cheese you buy in bags at the store typically has a powdery coating on it to keep the shreds from sticking together, which means it doesn’t melt quite as nicely.
  • Don’t skimp on the heat – When slicing the hot peppers, leave the core and seeds intact for the most heat! This is where all the capsaicin (what makes it spicy) lives.
  • Make ahead tips – You can make the spicy sauce and cook the Italian sausage ahead of time if you’d like, and store them in the fridge for up to 3 days before making this pizza. Note that you won’t use all of the sauce, so you’ll have some extra to store away anyways. We recommend freezing it in half-cup portions using a Souper Cubes tray so it’s ready for the next time you want a spicy pizza!
  • Storing and reheating – Leftover spicy pizza can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes, or until warm.
A freshly baked pizza topped with spicy red sauce, cheese, hot cherry pepper slices, fresno pepper slices, and ground Italian sausage.

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Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

A freshly baked pizza topped with spicy red sauce, cheese, hot cherry pepper slices, fresno pepper slices, and ground Italian sausage.

Spicy Sausage Pizza With Fresno And Hot Cherry Peppers

Nicole & Alex Langdon
We’re cranking up the heat for this spicy pizza with hot Italian sausage, Fresno and cherry peppers, and chili oil all built up on a base of our homemade spicy pizza sauce. This fiery pizza comes together in just 30 minutes for a fun, easy, and delicious heat-packed weeknight dinner.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 6 slices
Calories 409 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 pound pizza dough ball see notes
  • ½ cup spicy pizza sauce
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • ½ cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
  • ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 medium Fresno pepper sliced into thin discs
  • 12 slices jarred hot cherry peppers
  • ⅓ pound hot Italian ground sausage cooked
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon chili oil for drizzling
  • Chives minced (optional garnish)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F and and lightly flour a 14-inch pizza pan.
  • Lightly dust your hands with flour and carefully stretch the pizza dough into a 14-inch circle. Pick up the dough and work around the edges, gently pulling and letting gravity help you, then lay the stretched dough flat onto the pan.
  • Top the dough with the spicy pizza sauce, leaving a quarter-inch of space around the edges for the crust. Sprinkle the blended cheeses evenly over the pizza, then top with sliced Fresno peppers and hot cherry peppers. Finally, top with hot Italian ground sausage and a pinch of salt.
  • Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until crust is crispy and cheese is bubbly and golden-brown.
  • Let the pizza cool for about 1 to 2 minutes, then top with a drizzle of chili oil and a sprinkle of chives. Slice and serve immediately.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!

Video

Notes

Pizza dough: We love making our own pizza dough at home following our favorite recipe from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. But you can easily use your own recipe or use store-bought dough. This recipe will work with any dough ball that is about a pound. Pizza should always be baked following the directions for the dough. If your dough doesn’t have directions, bake at 500F for 10 to 12 minutes, but keep an eye on it. The crust should be browned and the cheese should be fully melted and bubbly. 
Pizza sauce: We included a full recipe here for our spicy pizza sauce since it uses one 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes. It’s more than enough sauce for one pizza (it will make about 3-1/2 cups total), but you can easily freeze the rest for easy pizza nights. We love using our half-cup Souper Cubes tray for this!
Cheese: We recommend buying blocks of cheese and shredding it fresh for this recipe. Freshly shredded cheese melts the best and makes the best pizza!
Fresno peppers: Slice the fresno peppers into very thin discs, but leave all the seeds in. They’ll be spicy but they give this pizza delicious flavor!
 

Nutrition

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 409kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 19gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 1016mgPotassium: 157mgFiber: 2gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 423IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 241mgIron: 3mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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Nicole and Alex, founders of The Candid Cooks, are sharing their cooking journey to help inspire and empower home chefs across the globe. Cooking doesn't have to be hard - they're here to show you that all it takes is some experimenting, the right tools, and a little bit of confidence.

5 from 2 votes

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2 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    My spice tolerance has just gotten higher and higher, so this pizza is a fun dinner when I’m craving spicy comfort food but want something super easy and shareable! The Calabrian chili flavor in the sauce comes through nicely and pairs well with the hot peppers and chili oil.

    Reply

  2. 5 stars
    When we first came up with this recipe we had so many extra cherry peppers from a local pick-your-own and didn’t know what exactly to do with them. I love the heat and flavor of cherry peppers, and we were on a pizza kick, so the pairing seemed pretty obvious. But I really enjoy how this pizza is a play on a classic sausage and pepper pizza. Growing up, it was one of my close friends favorite pizzas (but not mine) so I ended up eating it far more than I would’ve liked. Now however I actually really enjoy the pairing, but the spiciness of it makes it so much better.

    Reply