Let’s just get this out of the way right now: This pizza isn’t for everyone- I get that. I tried to tell my friend Lauren about it, and she said it sounded like something from Man vs. Food which is never a compliment coming from a vegan

But hey, if you like BBQ sauce and you like (sweet) tater tots, maybe this pizza is right up your alley. And even if it isn’t, let me at least take this opportunity to encourage you to get out there, fire up that grill, and put some crazy shit on your pizza. You never know- it may be your new favorite!

I will admit that this pizza is out there. I started with some BBQ seitan, so it only made sense to just replace the tomato sauce with BBQ sauce. And I had some tots in the freezer, leftover from my Cowboy Casserole- so why not? I threw the jalapenos in there to cut some of the sweetness, and it worked. This ended up being a pretty spicy pizza, which was just what I wanted.

Best part? All cooked outside. Well, I had the seitan in the freezer- if you don’t have any on hand and don’t want to heat up your kitchen by making your own, you can buy some.  You may be wondering if I had to bake the tater tots at all before adding them to the pizza, and the answer to that is NO! I threw them into a dry frying pan and shook them around over the gas burner on our grill for about 8 minutes until they were heated through and starting to crisp up. Not as crispy as when you bake them, but the purpose of this exercise was to not turn on the oven at all, so you have to allow for some cheats.

In other news, the Colorado wildfires continue to rage, with a new one outside of Boulder.  If you know a rain dance, please do it ASAP.

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Grilled BBQ Tater Tot Pizza (Makes 2 large personal-sized pizzas)

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf seitan, thinly sliced (I used homemade)
• 1.5 cups BBQ sauce (for marinade and for pizza sauce)
• 1 pre-made loaf of vegan pizza dough
• 10-12 frozen sweet potato tots
• Olive oil
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• Daiya mozzarella for topping
• Non-stick spray

Directions:

1. Marinade the sliced seitan in BBQ sauce for about an hour at room temperature.
2. Cut dough in half and let sit at room temperature for 20 or so minutes.
3. Place tots in dry pan over medium heat, being sure to shake or stir them around every couple of minutes so they don’t burn. Leave on until heated all the way through, about 8 minutes.
4. Work your dough into roundish shapes using a rolling pin. Drizzle one side with olive oil, and place the dough oil-side-down on a grill over medium heat. Check frequently, but leave it on there until the dough begins to cook and you have nice grill marks- it took about 5 minutes on our grill (but that could change based on your grill!).
5. Remove the dough, and place it on a plate cooked side UP. Spoon 1/4 to 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce onto each pizza spreading evenly, then top with seitan, tater tots, jalapenos and then the Daiya.
6. Give the grill a quick spray then place the pizza back on and close the grill, turning the heat down to low. Leave it on there until the cheese melts, 5-6 minutes.

Enjoy!