Ultimate Pizza al Pastor with Pineapple, Salsa & Pickled Red Onions

Bringing Latin flavor to pizza night! Char-grilled al Pastor meat on a wood-fired pizza topped with roasted salsa, pineapple, cotija, and pickled red onions.

Yes, you read that right – I put pineapple on a pizza on purpose and it was AMAZING! Now if you ask me to eat it on any other type of pizza – no, not going to happen. However, this al Pastor pork is so amazing with all of its Latin-inspired flavors that the pineapple just makes this pizza that much more!

Ingredients List

The star of this dish is the Calle Sabor Diced Pork for Al Pastor. Seriously it’s so good. No need to add any additional spices or seasonings either. It’s perfect for a quick dinner for the family or for meal prep.

For the two of us, this package can last us for about 3 meals easily.

• Calle Sabor Diced Pork for Al Pastor meat – I’ve seen in most of my local stores and Sam’s Club
• Prepared Pizza Dough
• Pickled Veggies – recipe in the post. *If using them, you need to make this at least 1 hour prior to making the pizza
• Cotija cheese
• Fresh Pineapple
• Cilantro
• Roasted Salsa

But First, Grill Up The al Pastor Meat!

Since I knew I was making this pizza in the pizza oven, I fired up my Cedar Creek Santa Maria Asadera grill and just cooked this on the flat top. You can also do this on a griddle or in a skillet.

1. Get the grill plancha hot and drizzle with neutral oil.
2. Add the meat. Immediately it’ll start to sizzle. Work with your spatula to start moving the meat around ensuring that it’s cooked/seared on all sides.
3. Cook until the internal temp is 145F.
4. Transfer to a container and set aside while you stretch out the pizza dough.

Stretch The Pizza Dough

I’ve done numerous videos over on my Instagram Channel on how to stretch pizza dough.

1. Lightly dust your counter and pizza peel with Bench Flour.
2. Shape the dough leaving the rim or cornicione untouched. You will start from the middle of the dough and push towards the edge, pressing down and around. By doing this you’re pushing the air to the crust but still, keeping it in the pizza dough. *If you get a hole, don’t panic. Simply squeeze the hold together and close it up.
3. Don’t stretch your dough super thin either. It will be thin and light will shine through (called the windowpane effect) but the dough is still strong. Once you have your 10-12″ shape, place it on a pizza peel coated with your bench flour.  If need be, you can adjust the shape.

Chef’s Tip – Bench Flour

Bench flour is 80% 00 pizza flour or bread flour and 20% semolina flour mixed together. If you use straight flour, your dough will have a harder time sliding off of the pizza peel and you’ll get more of a burnt flour taste on the crust.

Top The Pizza

With this pizza, I went with my Triple Pepper Roasted Salsa instead of pizza sauce.

1. Once the dough is stretched, add the salsa and with the back of a spoon gently spread it out.
2. Next, add the thinly sliced pineapple, and the cooked al Pastor meat and sprinkle with Cotija cheese.
3. Give the pizza a light jerk/shake to make sure it’s not sticking to the peel. If it does, just gently lift up the side that’s stuck and sprinkle a little more bench flour under it. It should slide off easily.

Bake The al Pastor Pizza

This pizza can be made in a wood-fired pizza oven, on the grill, or in a home oven. It’s honestly your call as to which cooking method you prefer

Wood-Fired Cooking Method

1. Preheat the pizza oven to 850F.
2. Bake for ~90 seconds, turning the pizza as needed

Big Green Egg Cooking Method

1. Preheat the Big Green Egg to 550F set up with the convEGGtor (Indirect cooking) and a pizza stone placed on a grate, even-level with the top of the base of the egg
2. When the stone is at the correct temperature, add the pizza to the egg, close the lid, and bake for 10-12 minutes.
3. See this video for an example of how to make a pizza on the egg.

Home Oven Cooking Method

1. Place at least 1 pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. You should also have a 2nd pizza stone on the upper third rack to create a hot box pizza effect. This isn’t required but it’s recommended.
2. Preheat the oven to 500-550F (500 for electric and 550F for gas). Allow this to heat up and stay at this temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Add the pizza to the bottom pizza stone and bake for ~8 minutes, turning once.
4. Move the pizza to the upper stone (if using) and bake for 1-2 minutes if a charred leoparding look on the crust is desired.

Pickled Red Onions and Carrots

When the pizza is done, transfer it to a pizza tray, cooling rack, or serving board. Top with the pickled veggies.

The addition of pickled red onions is what ties this whole dish together. The addition of carrots is well, a happy accident.

I say that as I only had about a 1/2-3/4 of a red onion left and I really needed more. Thankfully I always have a bag of carrot matchsticks in my fridge so I just substituted the carrots for the rest of the onions.

You can buy a jar of this or make your own. For this, I used red onion, thinly sliced, matchstick carrots, about 3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of water, a teaspoon of sea salt, and about 3-4 Tablespoons of honey (you can add less if you like it sourer).

1. Add all of the veggies to a mason jar.
2. Heat all of the ingredients except the veggies in a small saucepan. Mix and heat just until the mixture starts to simmer but not boil.
3. Pour the pickling liquid over top, screw on the lid, and shake a few times so all of the veggies are coated.

Now I let this marinate for at least an hour before using it. The key is to make sure to check on it so that all of the veggies are submerged.

A Few Finishing Touches

1. Add the pickled onions and carrots to the pizza, top with chopped cilantro and it’s time to dig in!

Y’all this pizza had my mouth watering! And I put pineapple on it… on purpose!

The pineapple paired so perfectly with the Latin flavors of the al Pastor pork and the pickled veggies. It just makes sense to add it.

This al Pastor Pizza Is A Thing Of Beauty!

When I took a step back to take the pictures I literally was in awe by just how beautiful the pizza was. The colors were so vibrant and the smell was simply intoxicating!

And Now We Eat!

Once I took all of the pictures and videos of this work of art, it was time to eat. That crust was so crusty/crunchy that the sound it made as my pizza cutter went through it was like magic to my ears!

That first bite…oh my gosh y’all!!! PURE HEAVEN! It was an express on the train to flavor town as Guy Fieri would say! It was bright, fresh, sweet, acidic, and just perfect.

Even though I’m still 100% against pineapple on traditional pizza, do not skip it on this pizza!

Pizza Additions

I don’t know guys, I’m not sure what else I’d add as this pizza is pretty perfect as-is. But I’d say these options would pair really nicely:

• Avocado
• Radishes
• Crispy Tortilla Shells
• Crema
• A squeeze of fresh lime
• Chopped Tomatoes

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