This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.

This caramelized onion and Brussels sprout pizza is a delicious idea for a winter pizza topping! Make it a heart shaped pizza for someone you love.

Heart-Shaped Caramelized Onion and Brussels Sprout Pizza | A Couple Cooks

Whatever your feelings about Valentine’s Day, can we just rally around a day to celebrate love? Here in the dead of winter with some serious goings on in the American political climate, we’re desperately in need of a love holiday. Not just romantic love, but straight up love-your-neighbor love. The kind that doesn’t care about skin color or ethnicity or orientation. The kind of love that doesn’t say anger-provoking words and instead is thoughtful and respectful. The kind of love that celebrates differences and lives in trust, not fear. The kind of love that is kind. Please say that kind of love still out there? We’re desperately in need of a love holiday.

This Valentine’s Day, could it be less about the red roses and cheesy cards and more about the kind of love that extends grace to our neighbors? That welcomes people into homes and shares meals around a table? The kind of love that brings reconciliation despite long-held grudges?

How to make Brussels sprout pizza

We originally created this caramelized onion and Brussels sprout pizza as an idea for a fun Valentine’s Day dinner for two, accompanied by a lovely winter salad maybe. Caramelizing the onions takes a bit of time (about 1 hour), but it’s absolutely worth the time for the silky, savory flavor. You can caramelize the onions while the pizza dough rests. And for this Brussels sprout pizza, the Brussels sprouts don’t even need cooking! (So different from our Best Brussels Sprouts Recipe!) They’re simply thinly sliced and sprinkled over the pizza, which brings a savory crunch.

How to make a heart shaped pizza

For this Brussels sprout pizza, you absolutely don’t have to make it in a heart shape. However, there’s nothing more fun than making shapes out of your food, right?

Making heart shaped pizza is a little tricky because a heart shape is harder to get into the oven than a circle. To make the heart shape, simply cut a small divot into the top of the circle, then form the bottom of the dough into a point so that it forms a heart shape. Then carefully place the dough on a pizza peel spread with flour or cornmeal.

Since the heart-shaped pizza is a bit more fragile than other shapes, we recommend using a conveyor pizza peel to slide it into the oven if you can. This helps to ensure the heart shape can get evenly onto the pizza stone. If you don’t have a conveyor pizza peel, cross your fingers and slide the pizza quickly!

Make it a meal

Serve with a kale salad or any of our best green salads for a hearty meal.

Listen

Listen to our love-themed Valentine’s podcast.

Looking for more homemade pizza recipes?

Outside this heart shaped Brussels sprouts pizza, here are a few of our favorite homemade pizza recipes on A Couple Cooks:

Caramelized Onion and Brussels Sprout Heart-Shaped Pizzas

Save Recipe

Print Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 2 reviews

This caramelized onion and Brussels sprout pizza is a delicious idea for a winter pizza topping! Make it a heart shaped pizza for someone you love.

Author: a Couple Cooks
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 1 pizza (8 slices) 1x
Category: Main Dish
Method: Baked
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale

1 ball Best Pizza Dough (or Food Processor Dough or Thin Crust Dough)
3 large Vidalia onions (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for the pizza
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus additional for the pizza
2 to 3 Brussels sprouts
½ cup Easy Pizza Sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Pecorino cheese, to garnish
Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
Make the caramelized onions: Peel, halve, and slice the onions as thinly as possible. In a very large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, which can mound in the skillet if necessary. Saute, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes until soft and translucent. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and reduce the heat to medium-low, finding a temperature that is not so hot that the onions burn but not so low that they do not continue to cook. Cook slowly, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes or so, until very reduced and dark brown, about 40 minutes. The onions will turn from translucent white to golden to brown to a rich, caramely dark brown color, and the volume will have reduced by at least 4 times.
Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
Make the Easy Pizza Sauce. Thinly slice the Brussels sprouts.
When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is well worth the investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see this video for instructions. Then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel. Cut a small divot into the top of the circle, then form the bottom of the dough into a point so that it forms a heart shape. (Note: Since the heart-shaped pizza is a bit more fragile than other shapes, it’s easiest to use a conveyor-type pizza peel to slide it into the oven if you can. If not, cross your fingers and slide quickly!)
Spread the sauce in a thin layer across the dough. Top with mozzarella cheese and shavings of Pecorino cheese (use a vegetable peeler). Add dollops of caramelized onions, then sprinkle all over with Brussels sprouts and a few pinches kosher salt.
Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone on the pizza peel, then bake until the cheese is melted, about 7 minutes.

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

About Us

Cookbook