Biscuit Crust Breakfast Pizza

This breakfast pizza with a biscuit crust starts with two cans of refrigerated biscuits pressed into a half sheet pan, then gets sausage gravy, soft scrambled eggs, crumbled sausage and sharp cheddar on top.

The gravy is made in the sausage skillet from the drippings, so it tastes like sausage instead of flour and milk, and the eggs come off the heat while still wet so they finish in the oven instead of turning rubbery.

A biscuit crust is soft and bready rather than crisp, more like a sheet of biscuit with toppings than a pizzeria crust, and the par-bake is what keeps it from going soggy under the gravy.

It feeds six as twelve squares and takes about 45 minutes start to finish.

Why You’ll Love It

• Two cans of biscuits, no dough to make
• Gravy, sausage and eggs all come out of one skillet
• Twelve squares from one half sheet pan
• Toppings can be cooked the night before
• Holds together as a square you can eat with your hands
• Reheats in a 350°F (175°C) oven in 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the Crust

2 cans (16.3 ounces each, 8 biscuits per can) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, Grands size

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, for your fingers

Cooking spray or 1 teaspoon oil for the pan

For the Sausage Gravy

1 pound bulk pork breakfast sausage

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, if the sausage runs lean

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch of cayenne (optional)

For the Eggs and Topping

6 large eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar (an 8-ounce block)

2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and spray an 18×13-inch half sheet pan with cooking spray.

2. Open both cans, lay the 16 biscuits on the pan in four rows of four, dust your fingers with the flour, and press each biscuit outward until it meets its neighbors, then pinch and smooth every seam until you have one even sheet of dough reaching the pan edges. Seams that are only lightly pressed pull apart in the oven and let gravy leak through to the pan, so press until you cannot see where one biscuit ends.

3. Prick the dough all over with a fork at 1-inch intervals, then bake for 8 minutes, until it is puffed and the edges are just turning gold but the top is still pale.

4. Pull the pan out, press any large bubbles flat with the back of a spatula, and turn the oven down to 400°F (200°C).

5. While the crust par-bakes, cook the sausage in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high for 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it into small crumbles, until no pink remains and the bottom of the pan has browned bits.

6. Scoop the sausage onto a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind, and check the pan: you want about 3 tablespoons of fat, so add the butter if there is less.

7. Lower the heat to medium, sprinkle the flour into the fat and stir with a flat whisk for 1 minute until it smells toasty and turns light tan.

8. Pour in the 2 cups milk about 1/2 cup at a time, whisking out lumps between additions, then add the pepper, salt and cayenne and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, whisking often, until the gravy is thick enough that a line drawn through it with the whisk holds for a second. This gravy needs to be thicker than the kind you ladle over biscuits, because a loose gravy soaks into the crust instead of sitting on it.

9. Scrape the gravy into a bowl, wipe the skillet or grab a 10-inch nonstick skillet, and melt the 1 tablespoon butter over medium-low.

10. Whisk the eggs with the 2 tablespoons milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt, pour them in, and stir slowly with a spatula for about 2 minutes, pulling them off the heat while they are still glossy and a little wet on top. The eggs cook again for 12 minutes in the oven, so fully set eggs at this stage end up dry and bouncy.

11. Spread the gravy over the par-baked crust to within 1/2 inch of the edges, scatter the sausage over it, spoon the eggs over the sausage in loose clumps, and cover everything with the cheddar.

12. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and browned in spots and the crust edges are deep golden.

13. Let it sit for 5 minutes so the gravy firms up, then cut into 12 squares with a pizza cutter and top with green onions.

Helpful Tips & Substitutions

Use the full-size Grands biscuits, not the small ones, because sixteen small biscuits do not have enough dough to reach the edges of a half sheet pan without tearing thin.

For a thicker, more biscuit-like crust, use a 15×10-inch jelly roll pan instead and add 2 minutes to the par-bake.

Shred the cheddar from a block on a box grater, since bagged shredded cheese is dusted with starch and melts into a dull, grainy layer.

Lean turkey sausage works for the topping but leaves almost no fat in the pan, so plan on the full 2 tablespoons of butter for the gravy and expect a milder flavor.

If you only have hot breakfast sausage, skip the cayenne, and if you only have mild, the cayenne is what keeps the gravy from tasting flat.

A 2-cup carton of store-bought sausage gravy or a packet of country gravy mix can replace the homemade gravy, and the result is fine but noticeably blander, since both lean on salt instead of sausage drippings.

Bacon can stand in for the sausage: cook 8 slices, crumble them, and make the gravy in the bacon fat the same way.

Diced bell pepper or a handful of baby spinach can go on with the sausage, but cook the pepper with the sausage first, because raw pepper stays crunchy in a 12-minute bake.

Serving Ideas

Serve the squares with hot sauce or a spoon of salsa on the side, since the gravy and cheese together are rich and a sharp topping cuts through.

A bowl of cut fruit or orange slices is the usual thing next to it, and nobody needs more bread on the plate.

For a brunch spread, a pan of gooey pull-apart cinnamon monkey bread with canned biscuits covers the sweet side and uses the same kind of biscuits.

If you are feeding more than six, one of the savory breakfast casseroles for a crowd alongside this pan doubles the output without a second skillet of toppings.

The simple sheet pan breakfast recipes roundup has more ideas that use the same 18×13 pan if this becomes a weekend habit.

Cold squares the next morning eat like a sausage biscuit, so they travel well in a lunch box or a car.

Make-Ahead & Storage

The sausage, gravy and eggs can all be cooked the night before and refrigerated in separate containers, then the gravy needs 2 minutes in the microwave with a splash of milk to loosen before spreading.

Do not press the biscuits into the pan ahead of time, because refrigerated dough that sits pressed and exposed dries out and bakes up tough.

Leftover squares keep 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in the pan.

Reheat them on a sheet pan in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 minutes, which brings the crust back, since the microwave heats a square in 60 seconds but leaves the bottom soft.

Freezing is possible but not ideal: the gravy and crust freeze fine for 2 months, wrapped individually, but the scrambled eggs turn watery and spongy when thawed.

If you want a freezer version, leave the eggs off, freeze the baked squares, and reheat them in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes with a fried egg on top.

The gravy sets as the pan rests, so the 5-minute wait before cutting is the difference between clean squares and toppings sliding off the first slice.