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Full GAPS Italian sausage-style beef pizza sauce with tomato-coated beef crumbles and softened onion in a ceramic bowl.

Italian Sausage-Style Beef Pizza Sauce for Full GAPS

A thick ground-beef and tomato pizza sauce with fennel, thyme, paprika, onion and no commercial sausage.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 1 skillet batch
Course: Dinner Component, Sauce
Cuisine: GAPS, Italian-Inspired
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons lard, bacon fat, or butter If using bacon fat, save it from bacon made without sugar or additives.
  • 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
  • 1 pound plain ground beef not pre-seasoned
  • 1 teaspoon pure black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed crushed
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground thyme pure and additive-free
  • 1/4 teaspoon paprika pure and additive-free
  • 1 cup plain tomato purée tomatoes only, with salt if needed; no other additives

Equipment

  • 1 Cutting board and chef's knife for finely chopping the onion
  • 1 Measuring spoons and liquid measuring cup
  • 1 Mortar and pestle or sturdy spoon for crushing fennel seed
  • 1 Le Creuset Signature 10.25-inch Artichaut skillet or an equally sturdy skillet
  • 1 Stainless-steel spatula for breaking up the ground beef
  • 1 Shallow ceramic serving bowl for the finished sauce

Method
 

  1. Measure and prepare the ingredients. Finely chop half a medium onion and crush the fennel seed. Keep the one cup plain tomato purée out of the skillet until the beef is completely browned.
  2. Heat the two tablespoons fat in a sturdy skillet over medium heat until fluid. Add the chopped onion and sauté for about 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until glossy and translucent at the edges but not deeply brown.
    Chopped onion turning glossy and translucent in an Artichaut skillet for Full GAPS beef pizza sauce.
  3. Add the one pound plain ground beef. Break it into small uneven crumbles with a spatula and cook until no pink remains. Stir the soft onion through the browned meat.
    Browned ground beef and softened onion before adding tomato to Full GAPS pizza sauce.
  4. Stir in one teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon sea salt, half a teaspoon crushed fennel seed, one eighth teaspoon ground thyme and one quarter teaspoon paprika. Distribute the seasonings through the browned beef.
  5. Pour in one cup plain tomato purée. Stir until the red sauce clings to the beef crumbles and there is no watery ring around the skillet. Warm briefly while stirring if the purée needs to thicken. Taste and adjust only for the salt already in the tomato product. Spoon over a separately prepared Full GAPS pizza crust.

Notes

Full GAPS: This cooked tomato-and-beef sauce is for Full GAPS, not the Introduction Diet. Use pure individual spices and plain tomato purée with no additions beyond salt.
Fat choice: Lard keeps the sauce dairy-free. For bacon fat, save the fat from bacon made without sugar or additives. Butter also works when it is an established food for you.
Watch the pan: The onion should look glossy and translucent at the edges. Brown the beef until no pink remains, then add the tomato. The sauce is ready when it coats the small beef crumbles without a watery ring.
Serve: Spoon the cooked sauce over a separately prepared Full GAPS pizza crust. Add your usual established toppings to the pizza.

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