Cranberry Barbecue Turkey Pizza

Thanksgiving week. The biggest cooking week of the year, and I approach it the way I approach a long haul: with a plan, a timeline, and the understanding that something will go wrong and I will adapt. I started prepping on Monday. The turkey was in the fridge thawing since Saturday. The cranberry sauce was made Tuesday. The pie dough was in the freezer. The rolls would be made Thursday morning. The sweet potatoes, the green bean casserole, the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, the gravy: all of it mapped out on a notepad stuck to the fridge with a timeline that would make a project manager jealous.

Thanksgiving is at our house. It has been at our house since we moved in, because our house is the biggest and because I am the one who cooks and because Gayle does not host anymore, she attends, and there is a difference. Gayle will bring the pumpkin pie because Gayle pumpkin pie is sacred and not to be replicated or replaced. Dave will carve the turkey because Dave has one job on Thanksgiving and he performs it with a seriousness that suggests he believes the quality of the carving will determine the quality of the year.

Wednesday night I was in the kitchen until midnight: making the stuffing base, cubing the bread, prepping the green bean casserole, dicing the sweet potatoes, making the cranberry sauce. Amber stayed up with me and helped. She peeled potatoes without being asked, ten pounds of them, standing at the counter with a peeler and a bowl and the quiet focus that defines her. I did not tell her she did not have to help. I did not tell her to go to bed. I let her stand next to me and peel potatoes, because sometimes helping in the kitchen is not about the food. It is about being close to someone without having to say why.

Thursday. The turkey went in at seven a.m. The house was full by noon: Gayle, Dave, all four kids, and Larry, who drove in from a short haul and arrived smelling like diesel. We ate at two, around a table that was too small, with folding chairs and mismatched plates, and the food was good and the company was better and Gayle said grace and mentioned Darla, just her name, quiet and clear, and we all bowed our heads and the name hung in the air above the turkey and the stuffing and the cranberry sauce, and then we ate. We ate because that is what we do. We eat because the table is still here, and we are still here, and the food is warm, and giving thanks is not just a word. It is a meal.

After a Thanksgiving like that one — the kind where someone says a name during grace and the whole table goes quiet and full at the same time — I never want the food to just end. The leftovers sitting in the fridge Friday morning felt like an extension of something I wasn’t ready to let go of, and turning that turkey and cranberry sauce into this pizza felt exactly right: familiar ingredients, a little unexpected, just warm enough to feel like a second gathering. Amber helped me with this one too, and I let her.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 pre-baked pizza crust (12-inch) or refrigerated pizza dough, par-baked
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
2 cups cooked turkey, shredded or thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded smoked gouda or provolone
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped (for topping)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 425°F. If using refrigerated dough, stretch it onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and par-bake for 5–7 minutes until just set.
Make the sauce. In a small bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce and cranberry sauce until combined. Taste and adjust the ratio to your liking — more cranberry for brightness, more barbecue for smokiness.
Spread the sauce. Spoon the cranberry barbecue sauce evenly over the crust, leaving about a 1/2-inch border around the edge.
Layer the toppings. Distribute the shredded turkey evenly over the sauce. Scatter the sliced red onion on top, then cover with the shredded mozzarella and gouda.
Bake. Transfer to the oven and bake for 12–15 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and beginning to brown at the edges.
Finish and slice. Remove from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, slice into 8 pieces, and serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cranberry Barbecue Turkey Pizza — Using the Leftovers to Carry the Feast a Little Longer