Turkey Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

Turkey Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Muffins – Several years ago I gave these pizza muffins

a try, but the family wasn’t all that impressed. I really liked how easy they were to make though, so I thought we should give them another go. All it took was a change of a few key ingredients to totally wow the guys. The husband even said he’d like to eat these every week! Surprisingly, these almost tasted like our favorite Pizza King pizza.

turkey-sausage-pepperoni-pizza-muffins-culinary-craftiness

It was a happy accident I made them a bit lower in calories and fat vs. using regular sausage and pepperoni. I happened to have Jennie-O turkey breakfast sausage in the freezer and I had just bought turkey pepperoni. Thomas English muffins were on sale BOGO, which seemed rather fortuitous. I picked up 2 jars of pizza sauce thinking I would need both, but 1 was the perfect amount for a double batch. Thomas now has 100-calorie English muffins so if you’re looking to save a few more calories in your diet, they taste great!

Turkey Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Muffins

1 pkg. Thomas English Muffins, Original plain
1 roll Jennie-O Breakfast Lover’s Turkey Sausage (orange package)
1 medium-sized sweet onion, diced
36 slices Publix Sliced Turkey Pepperoni
1/2 (14 oz.) jar Publix pizza sauce
12 slices Sargento low moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese

Optional toppings:

sliced black olives
finely diced green bell pepper
finely diced canned mushrooms

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Brown the sausage and onion together in a skillet over medium-high heat. Break up into fine crumbles. Drain off as much liquid/grease as possible. Mix in 1/2 jar of pizza sauce.

Using a serrated bread knife, cut the muffins in half as evenly as possible. Lightly toast all the halves in a toaster then place on a baking sheet. Top each with a scant ice cream scoop of sausage/pizza sauce mixture and spread out with the back of the scoop.

Place 3 pepperoni on top of each and 1 slice of mozzarella cheese over all.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown on top, but not burn.

Serve with a salad or chips.

Next time, I’ll add diced mushrooms and maybe a little finely diced green bell pepper. This recipe makes 12 halves. All pictures show a double batch. One serving is 2 halves. To get the same taste we experienced with these, use the same exact ingredients where possible. If you don’t have Publix stores in your area, try your favorite store’s branded products as substitutes.