This Easy Breakfast Stromboli combines crispy pizza dough, scrambled eggs, sausage and cheese in a recipe that’s sure to add some excitement to the monotony of breakfast. And it only takes four ingredients to get this stromboli on the table.

It’s great all by itself but can be dipped into sausage gravy, salsa, or even pizza or marinara sauce to give it more flavor.

Admittedly, the breakfast routine can get a little boring. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love some breakfast food, but there’s just not a whole lot of variety in our repertoire.

So when I was trying to come up with something different last Saturday morning, I found a tube of canned thin-crust pizza dough in the fridge. I use it for my various strombolis (regular, chicken bacon ranch and Reuben), but got to thinking about creating a breakfast variation.

Feeling inspired, I cooked and drained about 1 pound of breakfast sausage, soft-scrambled some eggs, pulled some cheese out of the fridge and set out to create this Breakfast Stromboli.

The only real challenge with this recipe is dealing with the pizza dough. There is a visual tutorial of how I use parchment paper to make rolling it up a little easier over on my original Easy Stromboli recipe, if you’d like a little help.

The recipe is pretty forgiving, though. Regardless of how it looks, if you get all the ingredients in there, it’s going to be delicious.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown, and serve warm. (Stacey Little / Southern Bite)

What’s the difference between a calzone and a stromboli?

I often get questions on my stromboli recipes about the difference between a calzone and a stromboli. The folks over at Bon Appetit really break it down best. For the most part, it comes down to the way it’s sealed. A calzone is folded over with the edges crimped together and a stromboli is rolled up. A calzone is like a taco. A stromboli is like a burrito.

There are a few other differences in terms of toppings and sauces, but they aren’t major. The other thing they mention is that the calzone is genuinely Italian, originating in Naples, while the stromboli is more Italian-American. Its roots are traced to Philadelphia.

A few things to make note of:

Make sure the sausage is drained well to prevent a greasy, soggy stromboli. I used pork sausage and it does render out some fat. You can also use turkey sausage.

When scrambling the eggs, you want them to be slightly undercooked as they’ll continue cooking some in the oven.

Many times, stromboli is served with some kind of sauce on the side. And while this is actually pretty delicious all by itself, I tried a few different sauces as I was testing the recipe further.

Sausage gravy, like this one, is a great accompaniment, but being that there is sausage in the stromboli itself, it might be a little too much sausage – if that’s possible.

I also tried it with pizza sauce and found the acid in the tomatoes to be a nice flavor contrast.

But, by far, my favorite topping was salsa. It lightened the dish a little with the acid from the tomatoes and added some great flavor with the other veggies in there. It might not be traditional, but it sure is delicious. Y’all enjoy.

This dish can be eaten alone or with sausage gravy, salsa, pizza or marinara dipping sauce. (Stacey Little / Southern Bite)

Easy Breakfast Stromboli

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Total time: 45 minutes

Serves: 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 1 (11-ounce) can thin-crust refrigerated pizza dough
• 1 pound pork breakfast sausage – cooked, crumbled and well-drained (you can use turkey sausage, as well)
• 8 large eggs, soft scrambled
• 2 cups shredded colby jack cheese (cheddar works, too)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Open the can of pizza dough and stretch it thin and even on the parchment.
3. Spread the soft-scrambled eggs over the dough, leaving about a 3-inch border around the edges with no egg.
4. Sprinkle the cooked and drained sausage over the egg.
5. Sprinkle the cheese over the sausage and egg, reserving a few tablespoons for the top of the stromboli.
6. Starting on one side, carefully roll up the dough like a jelly roll, using the parchment to help roll it over.
7. Slide the stromboli to the middle of the parchment so that the seam is on the bottom. Stretch and tuck the ends under the stromboli. Cut several diagonal slits into the crust.
8. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
9. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Serve warm by itself or with sausage gravy, salsa or marinara sauce for dipping.

Notes

Scrambled Eggs Recipe: southernbite.com/perfect-scrambled-eggs.

Sausage Gravy Recipe: alabamanewscenter/sausage-gravy.

This recipe originally appeared on SouthernBite.com. For more great recipes, visit the website or check out ”The Southern Bite Cookbook.”