How do you make oven pizza dinners a bit more exciting?

[moremeatballs]

We are super busy at the minute. DP working very long shifts, I’m working and studying alongside so quite often it gets to 7pm and we’re bunging an oven pizza in the oven.

They’ve been a lifesaver recently and I’m not complaining (huge pizza lover ) but I was wondering what you all serve alongside pizza to make it a bit more of a meal rather than just a few slices of pizza on your plate if you see what I mean? Same goes for other oven favourites we’ve been having lately - kievs, fish cakes etc.

Looking forward to some inspiration TIA!

I usually do a big bowl of fresh salad (buy bags of ready prepared if you're stuck for time to chop 👍🏻) as I quite like some greenery on the side

Also do some corn on the cob so I feel like I'm getting some more veg.

Hone made garlic bread (if you want more carbs)
On a not so busy day; melt some real butter on a low heat. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic and add it to the butter.
Stir well and simmer for a couple of minutes

Decant in to something like a (clean) gu pot and allow to cool.
Fit a pringles lid to gu pot and keep garlic butter in fridge until needed.
When you want it... slice some nice fresh bread. Toast it. Re-heat garlic butter and drizzle over toast.

A Greek salad is nice with pizza
Or a peppery salad
Sweet potato wedges or fries

i make hot new potato salad with new potatoes with their skins on chopped red onion mayo made when the potatoes are still hot sounds weird but tastes yummy and a mixed green salad to go with ours

For kievs etc, a good pile of frozen mixed veg, some tinned sweetcorn, hash browns, onion rings

Wine

Salad or coleslaw

Garlic bread is a bit carb overload for me.

My low effort salad is a bag of leaves, cherry tomatoes and cucumber, which is the only bit you have to cut up. This also goes nicely with fishcakes or chicken kiev.

Or with the fishcakes or kievs, I might have a microwave rice pouch. Waitrose do a nice pilau one.

Another lazy meal I like is cheats fish tacos. Oven cooked fish fingers with either mini wraps or normal ones cut in quarters. Add lettuce, cucumber and mayonnaise.

Or any sort of prepared breaded chicken with salad (see above) and microwave rice and salad. Add chilli sauce and yogurt or sour cream if you want.

The next thing I'm looking to get is curries from a local street food place who've moved from vans at festivals and weddings to delivering frozen meals to heat at home. If you don't have this sort of thing available, Cook shops are all over the place if you want something that's different to pizza, but still a nice low effort meal, that doesn't take much to heat up.

Or there's also things like omelettes. Quicker than pizza, but you will have to stand there for 5-10 mins to do some chopping if you want veg in it.

Forgot those frozen rice and veg bags. I like the mediterranean one with peppers, courgette and aubergine in.

If you’re eating it a lot you really need to add some veggies to balance things it a bit.

Salad is usual for us. Lots of ways you can ring the changes. I like a tomato salad with olive oil, basil and a sprinkle of salt. I often do a really quick slaw of chopped red or white cabbage and grated carrots mixed with some yogurt and olive oil. Beetroot, avocado, celery, cucumber olives - basically whatever we have in the fridge. The 10 mins the pizza is cooking is plenty of time to make a quick and tasty salad.

Oven pizza always tastes better with a bit of something extra on it - I sprinkle dried oregano or mixed herbs on, or extra veggies (sweetcorn, olives, fresh tomato, peppers, all go well on pizza).

dressed green salad on the side.

I like a spicy slaw. Chunky enough cut red cabbage, carrot, apple, small bit of red onion. Mix mayo, 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar, cayenne pepper & Dijon mustard. Takes 10 mins as pizza cooks. Goes with everything - pizza, lasagne, bbq, ribs....

Also salsa and peas.

I don't bother. Why try to make it something it's not?

Chips or garlic bread on the side. Some steamed veg if it's not already a veggie pizza.

Salad with pizza is the kind of thing that gets served and goes uneaten in restaurants.

Big salad, bowl of olives, coleslaw, maybe a few skinny fries.

Salad,coleslaw,potato wedges and garlic bread.

Home made coleslaw - amazing and can be chopped while pizza is in the oven

With pizza I don't do anything, maybe some garlic bread or doughballs. It's an easy night for me, a night off from doing all.the.stuff.

But for other 'easy' meals like Kievs etc, I've always got fresh (and frozen as a back-up) veg in the fridge/freezer, maybe some oven chips or a jacket potato, or home made wedges etc.

I prefer homemade pizza. I get exactly my favourite toppings then. It is a bit embarrassing but we love pizza so much we bought DH a pizza oven for his birthday last year. Once you have knocked up and proved dough it takes 5 mins in pizza oven. I always serve a green salad with pizza so eat a little less pizza. Oven wedges with melted mozarella on with fish cakes and baked beans/mushy peas/salad.

Spicy potato wedges

Salad, dips, garlic bread. Otherwise it all looks a bit sad, just pizza.

If I want an easy side for Kiev’s etc I’ll often do sweet potato jackets. Zero effort but does need a while in the oven. With Pizza and fish cakes I don’t tend to bother with a carb side, the carb is in the main. So I usually just open a bag of leaves and jazz them up with some spring onions, celery, sliced gherkins and grapes.
Some times I’ll do a coleslaw but I’m not a fan of regular creamy dressings so make my own with either fat free yoghurt or lime juice and white wine vinegar. I often cheat and buy the bags of ready shredded veg for this.
In summer it’s always a plate of sliced tomatoes with cracked black pepper, rock salt and balsamic.
We had Mexican bean burgers but not in buns the other night and I made a Mexican corn and pepper salad, a tomato salsa, guacamole and made some tortilla chips. That was lovely but took a bit longer. Although the actual corn salad was really quick and you could just buy the other bits.

I'd some coleslaw, and cook some carrot batons, brocoli and sweetcorn to go with it... I tell myself it's a bit healthier then, maybe a handful of wedges or chips

salad, coleslaw, maybe garlic bread

baby new potatoes with some herbs and a little oil/butter + salad.

With the chicken Kiev and fishcakes, minted mushy peas. Add a knob of butter and some mint sauce to cooked peas and blend with a hand blender.

We always do a salad with a nice dressing. Usually it’s just leaves, cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes and olives.