Get the Italian Beef Pizza Recipe
Italian beef is a Chicago street corner staple. Dipped, wet or dry — whichever you prefer, this iconic sandwich is a delicious inspiration that translates well to pizza. The giardiniera brings a heat (or you can opt for mild) and an abundance of flavor to the sandwich. The tangy profile of the giardiniera, coupled with the shaved Italian beef, really steals the show here. While once difficult to get outside of the Windy City, you shouldn’t have any trouble locating it from your distributor. Or you can make your own! It’s not hard to pull off.
Giardiniera Brings the Flavor (and Heat)
If you’re the do-it-yourself type, consider making your own giardiniera in house. Here’s an easy recipe — as well as an article on giardiniera so you can familiarize yourself with this “pickled vegetable relish†that’s so much more than a mere condiment.
Even though we may be talking pizza here, let’s remember this all started with the famous Chicago sandwich. We’ve sat in on enough of Pasquale di Diana’s (read our conversation with him) food demonstrations at Pizza Expo to know he’s a premier resource for understanding the original Italian beef sandwich. In fact, he serves more than his fair share of them at his pizza company, Bacci Pizzeria in Chicago. Read our Pizza Today On the Road article on Bacci.
So, what exactly is the deal with Italian been sandwiches? We’ll let di Diana tell you — he did an in-depth article for us on this very subject!
 How a Sandwich Becomes a Pizza
Some of the world’s greatest sandwiches easily transform into amazing pizzas. We have seen numerous examples of this over the years with the Reuben (https://pizzatoday.com/recipes/pizzas/new-york-style-reuben-pizza/) and the Cubano. Heck, even Papa John’s has sold millions of cheeseburger pizzas. The chain brings the pizza onto its menu periodically as a limited time offering, but there’s no reason you can’t menu a killer Cheeseburger Pizza anytime you want.
Point is, turning a sandwich into a pizza comes naturally. And there’s no better collision of the pizza and sandwich world’s than with the fabled Italian beef. If you think your customers would love the idea of an Italian Beef Pizza, get going with this recipe:
- ¼ pound Italian beef, shaved to medium thickness
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup beef stock
- ¼ cup sweet yellow onion, sliced into thin rings
- ½ cup prepared giardiniera
- ¼ cup sliced mixed mushrooms
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon chopped garlic
- Shredded provolone
- ¼ cup shredded or torn basil
- In a skillet, melt butter and cook onion until slightly translucent.
- Add garlic and basil, then giardiniera.
- Cook slowly until the giardiniera softens.
- Add mushrooms, oregano, stock and beef.
- Cooking on medium heat slowly, mix until the flavors meld. Allow to cool slightly.
- Toss dough.
- Add beef mixture and top with provolone. Bake at 450 F until dough is browned.
- Once removed from the oven, add fresh basil leaves.
- Cut and serve.
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