# Shakshuka Pizza with Za'atar Meatballs Brings Middle Eastern Breakfast to the Dinner Table
A new recipe hybrid from Taste of Home merges two beloved cuisines into a single dish. Shakshuka pizza combines the North African and Middle Eastern breakfast staple with Italian pizza fundamentals, topped with lamb meatballs seasoned with za'atar spice blend.
The recipe constructs its foundation on homemade pizza dough, then layers shakshuka sauce, the tomato-based condiment central to the traditional dish. Mozzarella and feta cheeses blanket the sauce before cracked eggs nestle into the surface, baking until the whites set and yolks remain runny. Za'atar meatballs, made from lamb and dusted with the herbaceous spice mix of sumac, sesame, and dried thyme, crown the finished pie.
This mashup reflects broader pizza culture evolution. Contemporary pizzerias increasingly abandon Neapolitan orthodoxy, treating the format as a canvas for global flavors. Turkish lahmacun, Indian tandoori variations, and Korean gochujang versions have proven that pizza dough adapts readily to other culinary traditions.
Shakshuka itself has experienced North American mainstream growth over the past decade. Once confined to Middle Eastern restaurants and home kitchens, versions now appear on brunch menus nationwide. The dish's simplicity, adaptability, and visual appeal drive this expansion. Za'atar, the sesame-seed-and-sumac blend originating from the Levant, has similarly infiltrated American cooking through spice retailers and specialty grocers.
The shakshuka pizza format solves a practical problem. Traditional shakshuka serves breakfast or light lunch. Combining it with pizza adds substance and stretches the dish across meal times