The Ingredient Gordon Ramsay Adds To Pizza Sauce For An English Breakfast Vibe

A full English breakfast delights with its many components all melded together on one plate. Traditionally, the dish comprises the dependable pairing of eggs, cured meats, toast, tomatoes, mushrooms, hashbrowns, and beans. Sure, it's unfair to say any single element carries the team, but the lightly sweet flavor of baked beans undoubtedly adds lots of saucy character to the plate.

In fact, their liquid flavoring is so effective that it can even shine on pizza — a creative addition Gordon Ramsay showcases on his YouTube channel. The chef crafts what starts as a typical marinara sauce, then folds in a dose of baked beans, making sure to mix in more legume than liquid from the can. He doesn't go light on the addition — by the time the sauce is done, Ramsay notes around a third should be beans. Further flavored with additions like vodka, tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce, the pizza sauce's palate evokes a Bloody Mary.

Such a baked bean pizza sauce concept may seem unusual, but the British chef isn't the first to experiment with the format. Simply spooned onto dough and topped with cheese, such a combo makes for a satiating vegetarian meal. In fact, Heinz even released their own packaged frozen rendition of the dish in the U.K. back in 2022. Optionally melded with canned pineapple — an unexpected food that transforms baked beans — and you'll have a pie that makes pizza purists grimace but will leave many other diners delighted.

No need to stop at baked beans: Throw on other English breakfast components to craft a full-fledged fry-up pie. Several British breakfast ingredients already pop up in pizza-making tradition: Mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, potatoes, and even eggs (a more recent topping trend). Combine an assortment of these with the baked beans, and you'll certainly inspire an English breakfast vibe come dining time.

However, to really solidify the breakfast pizza idea, commit to employing several thoroughly British ingredients. Ramsay's rendition — which principally relies on components from Wales — involves Welsh sausage, black pudding, pancetta, mushrooms, and an egg, all finalized with shaved local Black Bomber cheese. So select from flavorful English proteins in such a manner, mixing and matching classics like back bacon, sage-flavored Lincolnshire sausages, grain and spiced Hog's pudding, or even kippers — small smoked fish — alongside the eggs and veggies. 

And for even more breakfast inspiration, source from elsewhere in the British Isles. An Irish spin could involve some slices of Irish white or black pudding, while a Scottish riff might utilize pieces of the iconic spiced Lorne sausage, tattie scone, or even haggis. The U.K.'s all-out breakfast tradition lends so many delicious possibilities, and many of them will fit right atop dough, all held together with the baked bean pizza sauce.