Eight ingredients and thirty-five minutes, most of it the oven getting hot.
Barbecue sauce takes the place of tomato here, and it appears twice — under the cheese and drizzled over at the end.
Why This Recipe Works
- A stone or steel at 500 degrees puffs the crust before the toppings weigh it down.
- Draining the pineapple keeps its juice out of the melted cheese.
- Barbecue sauce under the cheese seasons the base rather than sitting on top.
- Fully cooked ham only needs heating through in a short bake.
- Coriander added after baking stays green rather than scorching.
Ingredient Notes
- Diced cooked ham
- Five ounces. Ham is the meat here, not bacon or barbecue chicken.
- Pineapple chunks, well drained
- One cup. Well drained is the operative phrase — pineapple juice on a pizza base is what makes the middle soggy.
- Barbecue sauce, used twice
- Half a cup on the base and two tablespoons drizzled after baking. It replaces tomato sauce entirely.
- Red onion and coriander
- A quarter of a small onion and a quarter cup of coriander. Both are visible components the title never names.
How to Make It
Oven to 500°F with a stone or steel
Heat oven with a pizza stone or steel to 500°F.
Stretched and spread with barbecue sauce
Stretch the dough into a round and spread with barbecue sauce.
Mozzarella, pineapple, ham, red onion
Top with mozzarella, pineapple, cooked ham, and red onion.
Baked to a puffed crust and browned cheese
Bake until the crust is puffed and golden and the cheese is browned in spots.
A second drizzle, then coriander
Drizzle lightly with barbecue sauce and finish with coriander.
Hawaiian-style, and no virality claim
Describe the dish as Hawaiian-style pizza; make no virality or regional-authenticity claim.
The Order On, and Why It Is Ham
The red-brown meat on this pizza is HAM, and that matters: it is what makes this a Hawaiian BBQ pizza, and it sits in the middle of the order below.
A 500F stone or steel, heated FIRST
1 lb of pizza dough is going onto it, and the surface has to be fully saturated with heat before that happens. A stone that has only just reached temperature has no thermal mass to give, and the base steams rather than puffing. This is the longest part of a thirty-five-minute recipe and none of it is active.
Barbecue sauce on the base - replacing tomato entirely
1/2 cup spread on the stretched round. There is no tomato sauce anywhere in this pizza. Putting the barbecue UNDER the cheese means it seasons the base and concentrates as it bakes, rather than sitting on top as a condiment - which is a different thing from the drizzle that comes later.
2 cups mozzarella, then the toppings on it
Cheese before the wet things, which is the standard defence: a layer of mozzarella between the sauce and the pineapple slows juice reaching the dough.
Pineapple - 1 cup, WELL DRAINED
The qualifier is the instruction. Pineapple carries a great deal of juice and at 500F it releases all of it; undrained, that liquid pools on the cheese and the centre of the pizza never crisps. Pat it dry if it is very wet.
5 oz of diced cooked HAM - the meat that defines it
FULLY COOKED, so the bake only heats it through. For safety, use fully cooked ham and bake until PIPING HOT THROUGHOUT. Ham rather than bacon or barbecue chicken is what defines this pizza, and it is not substitutable here.
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
Sliced thin so it softens in a short bake rather than staying raw and sharp. One of two components the title never names.
Baked until the crust is PUFFED AND GOLDEN and the cheese is BROWNED IN SPOTS, then 2 tbsp more barbecue sauce DRIZZLED LIGHTLY and 1/4 cup of fresh CORIANDER scattered over. Both go on AFTER the oven: a drizzle applied before would simply bake into the rest, and coriander at 500F blackens. And step 6 fixes the language - Hawaiian-STYLE pizza, with no virality claim and no regional-authenticity claim.
Success Tips
- Let the stone or steel heat fully at 500 degrees before the pizza goes on.
- Drain the pineapple properly, and pat it dry if it is very wet.
- Add the coriander after the bake — it blackens at 500 degrees.
Serving Ideas
Eight slices from a round pizza with a puffed golden crust, melted mozzarella browned in spots over pineapple, ham and red onion, drizzled with barbecue sauce and scattered with fresh coriander.
Frequently Asked Questions
What meat goes on this?
Diced cooked ham. That is what this pizza uses.
Why does the pineapple need draining?
Its juice runs into the cheese and the base as it bakes. Well-drained chunks keep the middle of the pizza from going soft.
Is there tomato sauce on it?
No. Barbecue sauce takes its place — half a cup on the base and a light drizzle after baking.
