Barbecue Brisket Pizza

Aug 01, 2023 • Tom Jackson

Experience the perfect fusion of smoky barbecue and pizza with our tantalizing Barbecue Brisket Pizza! Follow our expert pitmaster as we caramelize onions, create a tangy BBQ cream cheese sauce, and assemble the pizza masterpiece with tender brisket slices and a blend of cheeses. The Yoder Smokers YS1500 Pellet Grill and Wood Fired Oven ensure a crispy crust. Don't miss this delightful recipe, perfect for pizza and barbecue enthusiasts. Subscribe now for more delicious recipes and savor the flavor!

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE

The perfect second life for leftover brisket. This turns already-smoked brisket into something that tastes like a completely different meal, not reheated leftovers.
Onions caramelized with real smoke. Cooking the onions right in the wood-fired oven with beef rub gives them a depth plain stovetop caramelizing can't match.
Cream cheese swaps in for tomato sauce. A tangy, whisked base of cream cheese and two different sauces replaces the usual red sauce entirely — this doesn't taste like a "BBQ chicken pizza" clone.
Four cheeses, two layers. Mozzarella goes under the brisket, cheddar goes over, and feta finishes it cold — that layering is what keeps every bite cheesy without turning greasy.

Barbecue Brisket Pizza

Tom Jackson

Rated 4.0 stars by 6 users

Cuisine

American

Servings

8

Cook Time

10 minutes

Calories

908

This Barbecue Brisket Pizza recipe will make any night, Pizza Night. A creamy BBQ Sauce base covers soft, hand rolled pizza dough and then topped with 4 kinds of cheese, caramelized onions and of course, brisket. With the YS1500s Wood Fired Oven, you can have this sweet and savory barbecue masterpiece any time you have leftover brisket (what's that?).

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Ingredients

4 cups yellow onions, sliced thin
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp avocado oil
2 tsp Plowboy’s BBQ Bovine Bold Beef Rub
1 each pizza dough recipe (yields 2 pizzas, Follow How to Make Pizza Dough)
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce
2 tbsp Chile Slinger Fatali Mustard Sauce
8 slices leftover brisket, cut into pieces
4 oz sharp white cheddar
8 oz low moisture mozzarella
Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce, for drizzling over the top
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

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Directions

Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS1500 Pellet Grill to 400ºF with the Yoder Smokers Wood Fired Oven installed on the left side of the grill with the damper door pulled all the way open.
Place your thin sliced onions in a Lodge 12” Cast Iron Skillet with the butter, avocado oil and Plowboy’s BBQ Bovine Bold Beef Rub. Place inside the wood fired oven. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are browned and softened. Remove from the oven.
Turn the grill temperature up to 450ºF.
To make the bbq cream cheese sauce, combine the room temperature cream cheese with the Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce and Chile Slinger Fatali Mustard Sauce. Whisk until smooth.
To build the pizza, stretch one dough ball out thin. Place on a floured pizza peel. Spread half of your bbq cream cheese mix over the dough. Top with half of your mozzarella. Place pieces of sliced brisket around the pizza. Top with half of your sharp white cheddar, then the caramelized onions.
Launch the pizza into the wood fired oven. Close the grill door. Let cook for two minutes. Open the door and spin the pizza a quarter turn. Continue making quarter turns every 45-60 seconds until evenly browned on the sides of the crust, as well as underneath. The cheese should be browned on top. Remove from the oven with your pizza peel.
Repeat this process with the second dough ball.
Finish the pizza with crumbled feta and more Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce.

Recipe Note

Recipe FAQ

Can I use a different leftover meat?
Yes — pulled pork or shredded smoked chicken both work well in place of brisket, since the sauce and cheese layers aren't specific to any one protein.

Why cream cheese instead of a traditional pizza sauce?
Cream cheese whisked with two barbecue-style sauces gives a tangy, rich base that pairs better with smoked meat than a standard tomato sauce would.

Why caramelize the onions in the wood-fired oven instead of on the stovetop?
Cooking them right in the oven with beef rub picks up smoke flavor along with the caramelization — a stovetop version would caramelize the onions but skip that smoky depth entirely.

Do I need a wood-fired oven attachment to make this?
A very hot home oven (500°F+) with a pizza stone or steel gets you close, though you'll lose some of the char and speed the wood-fired oven provides.

Can I make the onions and sauce ahead of time?
Yes — both hold well in the fridge for a couple of days, which makes assembly and baking much faster when you're ready to build the pizzas.

How indoor-friendly is this recipe?
3 out of 5 — works indoors with adjustments, but the grill is recommended. The onions, sauce, and assembly are all standard kitchen tasks; it's the fast, high-heat wood-fired bake that's hardest to fully replicate indoors.

Recipe Highlights

Onions caramelized with smoke, not just heat: Direction Step 2 cooks the sliced onions with butter, avocado oil, and beef rub directly in the wood-fired oven — that smoke exposure is what separates these from a plain stovetop caramelized onion.
A cream cheese base instead of tomato sauce: Step 4 whisks cream cheese with Firebug Mild Grillin' Sauce and Chile Slinger Fatali Mustard Sauce into a smooth, tangy base — a swap that changes the whole character of the pizza away from a standard red-sauce pie.
Cheese layered above and below the brisket: Step 5 places mozzarella under the brisket and cheddar over it before the onions go on top — sandwiching the meat in cheese on both sides keeps it from drying out under the oven's heat.
Quarter-turned for even char: Step 6 rotates the pizza a quarter turn every 45–60 seconds after the initial two minutes, which is what keeps one side of the crust from burning while the rest stays pale.