Cincy Chili Pizza

When I first met my husband he talked about two things: pizza and Cincinnati style chili. Luckily for him I was able to see past his food obsessions. I quickly realized that in order for our relationship to prosper I would have to learn to share his love of all things Cincinnati chili. So the next time I flew home to visit my family in Seattle we stopped at the Goldstar chili in the Cincinnati airport. Since that time I have eaten Goldstar, Skyline, Dixie (from the can) and some mom and pop place on the way to Cincinnati. As hard as I tried to resist loving Cincinnati style chili I have grown to appreciate it almost as much as my husband. Since that time, our family has expanded to include our two boys and they have followed on the chili tradition, my oldest son's first finger food was a Skyline chili cheese fry, and he fell in love. Given that my whole family loves Cincinnati chili as much as they do I have learned to experiment with recipes. I have made Cincinnati style chili from scratch on the stove, crockpot, with lamb, beef, and (my favorite) Cincy Chili Pizza. My husband and I first started making this recipe a couple of years back and it is delicious! Here's the recipe:

• One can of Cincinnati Chili
• Shredded mild cheddar cheese to taste 
• French fried onions to taste
• Pizza crust (I linked to the recipe I normally use)

I have never tried putting rinsed canned kidney beans on this pizza, but I'm sure that it would also be delicious. To prepare the pizza follow the following steps:

Open the jar of chili. Drain off all the fat from the top of the can. Most of the time this is approximately 1/4 of the cans contents. Spread out your pizza dough into a rectangle on a 11 X 13 inch baking sheet. Make sure to roll the dough out so it touches all corners. Alternately this recipe will also work with a round pizza shape if you prefer. Spread the entire contents of the Cincinnati chili onto the dough. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. I normally bake my pizza on a baking sheet placed on a pre-heated pizza stone, but it you don't own one it works fine without. Let bake at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Open the oven and spread the French fried onions over the entire top of the pizza. Place the pizza back into the oven for approximately 5 minutes or until the top of the onions is nicely browned and the crust is completely done. That's it!

This pizza is always a huge hit in my house and I make it frequently. While I make my crust from scratch it would also work with store bought pizza mix. When I first started making this pizza I used the pouch pizza mix from Kroger and it worked well. You really should try this pizza, it's delicious!