Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
This Turkish inspired Iskender kebab pita pizza has three times the flavor with spicy tomato sauce, spiced doner kebab meat and a drizzle of savory doner kebab sauce.
For being a simple pizza, with just a few toppings, this is amazingly good.
There’s just something about homemade doner kebab meat (made easily in an Instant Pot) served with spicy hot pepper and tomato Iskender pizza sauce.
Top it off with mozzarella and doner kebab sauce and this is one you won’t be able to resist.
We make a lot of pita pizzas and this is definitely one of the best.
It’s usually hard to choose among them, but this one just has that perfect ratio of flavor to simplicity.
You can really taste the spiced doner kebab meat and how flavorful it is when combined with spicy pepper and tomato pizza sauce, melted cheese and that oh so good drizzle of kebab sauce.
Content in this Post
- Ingredient in Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
- What is Iskender Kebab?
- How To Make Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
- STEP 1: Prep Baking Sheet
- STEP 2: Add Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza Sauce
- STEP 3: Sprinkle Cheese
- STEP 4: Arrange Doner Kebab Meat
- STEP 5: Bake & Drizzle Kebab Sauce
- What To Serve With Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
- Storage Tips For Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
- More Homemade Doner Kebab Recipes
- More Pita Pizzas
- You’ll Also Love
Ingredient in Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
- Pita — regular or whole wheat Lebanese style pita bread or flatbread of choice.
- Kebab — from homemade Instant Pot doner kebab recipe. Alternatively, you can use any doner kebab meat, such as from a restaurant or precooked store bought slices.
- Mozzarella — shredded mozzarella cheese is our preference in this pizza although other types of shredded cheese can be used.
- Spicy Tomato Sauce — a spicy blend of hot peppers and tomatoes in a flavorful pizza sauce. We use our Doner Kebab Red Sauce (Röd Kebabsås) a hot pepper and tomato sauce that we puree to a pizza sauce consistency. As a hack, you can use regular pizza sauce if you don’t have spicy, just add some of your favorite hot sauce (1 tsp or to taste) or sprinkle dried hot pepper flakes over the pizza sauce.
- Kebab Sauce — doner kebab white sauce, from homemade doner kebab sauce recipe, is perfect to drizzle on top of this pizza after baking. This is optional, but it’s well worth it to make this easy five minute recipe (you can prepare while the pizzas are in the oven) to further elevate this pizza!
What is Iskender Kebab?
Iskender kebab is a traditional Turkish dish that got its name from its inventor, Iskender Efendi, who was a chef in Bursa. The dish goes back over a hundred years and is still served at restaurants. Traditionally, Iskender kebab consists of thinly cut lamb kebab strips on a plate with warm tomato sauce and a special butter and yogurt mix made from sheep’s milk.
We have taken inspiration from this dish to make a truly flavorful and satisfying pita pizza. The tomato sauce has chili peppers and garlic added to it for additional heat. The pizza is topped with our homemade kebab sauce but feel free to use the traditional butter yogurt mix and let us know how it tastes in the comments below.
How To Make Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
Turkish inspired Iskender kebab pita pizzas are really easy to make when you have the ingredients at hand. This recipe requires three premade toppings for the pizza.
The first thing you’ll need is spicy pizza sauce. We use our homemade doner kebab red sauce recipe and puree it to a pizza sauce consistency.
You can use regular pizza sauce if that’s what you have, or if you prefer to keep it mild. But, if you like it spicy, add a little of your favorite hot sauce to it, a teaspoon or so, to taste. Alternatively, you can add some dried hot pepper flakes to the pizza.
The second important ingredient is doner kebab meat. If you have some precooked doner kebab meat from a store or restaurant you can use it here.
Also excellent is our easy homemade Instant Pot doner kebab recipe that we’ve used in this recipe. One of the benefits of homemade is that it is without the grease typical of packaged kebab meat. Plus, it’s so easy to make that we make our own kebab all of the time now.
Lastly, it’s optional, but is absolutely worth making, is a quick and easy batch of doner kebab sauce, to drizzle over top of the pizza after it comes out of the oven.
It’s so easy to make, you can prepare it while the pizzas are in the oven. The kebab sauce only takes five minutes to prepare.
Once you have these three key ingredients, you’ll be ready to assemble your pizzas.
STEP 1: Prep Baking Sheet
Preheat oven to 425℉. Prepare an oven safe baking sheet by placing parchment paper on top. You can cut or fold the parchment if necessary to fit properly on the tray.
STEP 2: Add Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza Sauce
Spread an even layer of spicy pizza sauce or regular pizza sauce over the surface of each pita.
STEP 3: Sprinkle Cheese
Next, you’ll evenly distribute the shredded mozzarella cheese among both pizzas.
STEP 4: Arrange Doner Kebab Meat
Arrange your homemade Instant Pot doner kebab meat, or precooked restaurant or store bought kebab meat on both pizzas.
STEP 5: Bake & Drizzle Kebab Sauce
Transfer the baking sheet with the pizzas to the preheated oven. Bake for 6 minutes or until the pizzas are heated through and the cheese is melted. If you haven’t already done so, while the pizzas are baking is a perfect time to make the doner kebab sauce.
Remove the pizzas from the oven and drizzle with the doner kebab sauce, in a circular pattern. Transfer to individual plates and serve with Swedish pizza salad or doner kebab salad.
What To Serve With Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
You can’t go wrong with a salad like Swedish pizza salad or kebab salad (kebabsallad) with mixed greens, sliced vegetables and hot peppers. Serve the kebab salad with doner kebab red sauce and kebab white sauce.
If you’d like you can serve along with homemade Iskender kebab plate with roasted tomatoes and green peppers, and a thick yogurt cheese. You can use store bought Turkish labneh for convenience.
If you’d like a savory appetizer, kebab sauce marinated air fryer chicken wings are easy to make and are perfect to dip in to all of the kebab sauces, especially kebab shop garlic sauce.
Storage Tips For Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
Store Iskender kebab pita pizza in the fridge for up to three days. Keep in mind that the pita pizza leftovers are best enjoyed while freshest, within a day or two.
More Homemade Doner Kebab Recipes
- Instant Pot Doner Kebab (Kebabkött)
- Doner Kebab Plate (Kebabtallrik)
- Doner Kebab Roll (Kebabrulle)
- Doner Kebab Sandwich Mix (Kebabröra) in a baguette
- Doner Kebab Pita Pizza (Kebabpizza) with Pizza Salad (Pizzasallad)
- Doner Kebab Sauce (Kebabsås)
- Doner Kebab Spice Blend (Kebabkrydda)
- Crustless Quiche Doner Kebab
- Iskender Kebab Plate (shown below)
More Pita Pizzas
There are so many options for different pita pizzas that you can serve with Swedish style pizza salad.
- Doner Kebab and Kebab Chicken with Kebab Sauce
- Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken)
- Leftover Turkey Tikka Masala (or leftover chicken)
- Chicken Souvlaki
- Gyros and Feta
- Red Lobster Style Crab Pita Pizza
- Crab Melt and Tuna Melt
- Mackerel in Tomato Sauce and Sardine in Tomato Sauce
- Clam White Sauce and Red Sauce Clam
- Margherita and Fresh Mozzarella Artichoke
- Date Arugula Goat Cheese
- Pork Tenderloin Bearnaise Sauce
You’ll Also Love
Homemade Instant Pot doner kebab meat is arranged on an easy Turkish inspired Iskender Kebab Plate, with roasted tomatoes and green peppers and store bought labneh for convenience.
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Iskender Kebab Pita Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 Pita
- ½ cup Spicy Tomato Sauce
- 1.5 cups Mozzarella Cheese
- 8 slices Doner Kebab Meat
- ½ cup White Doner Kebab Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Line a baking sheet (oven safe) with parchment paper. Place two pitas on top.
- Cover the pitas with an even layer of spicy tomato sauce. Alternatively, use regular pizza sauce mixed with 1 tsp or so of your favorite hot sauce, or add a sprinkle of dried hot pepper flakes over top of pizza sauce.
- Evenly distribute the shredded mozzarella cheese over the pizzas.
- Arrange doner kebab meat on the pizzas. Place the baking sheet with the pitas into the preheated oven. Bake for 7 minutes or until the pizzas are heated through and the cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and drizzle with some doner kebab sauce in a circular pattern. Transfer to individual plates and serve with Swedish pizza salad or kebab salad.
Nutrition
Note
The above nutritional values are estimates and should only be used as a guide. If you are following a specific diet or have dietary restrictions, please use your preferred nutritional calculator. If you have a food allergy please ensure that none of the listed ingredients are part of your restrictions. As well, always use a food thermometer to ensure safe cooking temperature of the food items.
