If we’re talking strictly nostalgia, however, school cafeteria pizza still holds a very special place in my heart. Also known as sheet pan pizza, this decades-old style has remained a staple in schools across the country, offering an efficient, affordable and practical way to feed hundreds of students a day rather than stretching and baking individual round pies.
In an attempt to recreate some of my fondest childhood pizza memories, I turned to the Quantity Recipes for School Food Service book, a USDA guide created to help schools prepare reliable large-scale meals for students. Inside, I found a recipe for Pizza with Ground Beef Topping, and I immediately knew I was on to something great. With fond memories from my own school cafeteria days freshly unlocked and an approachable recipe in hand, all that was left to do was bring it to life.
Here's what happened when I made retro school cafeteria pizza at home. Read on to see how easy it was, how to make it even better and if it still lives up to the hype.
Ingredients for Retro School Cafeteria Pizza
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
To get started, you’ll need one pound of pizza dough, either store-bought or homemade, along with 1 pound of ground beef, 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 yellow onion, 6 ounces of tomato paste, garlic powder, black pepper, dried basil, dried oregano, dried marjoram and dried thyme.
If you want to simplify things even further, which I’m always a sucker for, swap the individual dried herbs for Italian seasoning to get a similar flavor profile with fewer ingredients.
How to Make Retro School Cafeteria Pizza
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
From there, stir in half a diced yellow onion, 6 ounces of tomato paste, ¾ teaspoon of black pepper, 1 ½ tablespoons of Italian seasoning and 1 ⅓ cups of water, then bring the mixture to a simmer for 15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 475°F.
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
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Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
Finally, toss the sheet pan in the oven, bake for 15 to 18 minutes, and wait for the crust to become lightly browned and the cheese bubbly. When ready, remove the pan from the oven and let the pizza cool for five minutes before slicing and serving.
What I Thought of Retro School Cafeteria Pizza
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
Prep time and assembly are really the only challenges this recipe presents, but both processes are more than easy to master and experiment with. And while I am partial to a good pepperoni pizza, this cheesy ground beef alternative instantly brought back nostalgic school cafeteria memories, hitting the mark exactly as I thought it would.
Tips for Making Retro School Cafeteria Pizza
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
While the dough and cheese on their own are certainly delicious, the beef mixture is what gives this pizza its wealth of flavors. Once the meat is browned, don’t just add the tomato paste, water, and seasonings and call it a day. The 15 minutes of simmer time is crucial to unlocking deeper flavors because it lets the tomato paste, herbs and seasonings fully blend into the beef.
2. Be patient with the dough.
3. Get creative with the toppings.
Now for the fun part. This is about as basic as a pizza recipe gets, which also makes it a fun starting point for experimentation. Give it a Tex-Mex twist with a blend of cheeses rather than just mozzarella, and add toppings like jalapeños, diced peppers, onions or even a drizzle of hot sauce for an extra kick.
With a new pizza recipe in your Rolodex and plenty of ideas for making it your own, you’re now ready to bring a little nostalgia to your next meal or scale things up and create your own 100-serving school cafeteria pizza masterpiece.
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