How about pizza tonight? It’s laborious to beat traditional pesto pizza. This straightforward vegetarian pizza recipe is a assured crowd pleaser. It affords an irresistible mixture of recent, brilliant flavors from the basil pesto and tomatoes, loads of tacky mozzarella, and a effervescent crust with a satisfying chew.
This simple pesto pizza recipe comes collectively rapidly with the assistance of your meals processor. You possibly can whip collectively the dough and pesto in about quarter-hour—simply wipe down the processor in between the 2 parts. When you’re in search of a brilliant easy weeknight meal that’s higher than take-out, use store-bought dough and pesto as a substitute!
Pesto Pizza Components & Topping Choices
Right here’s what you’ll have to make this pizza:
Pizza dough
As regular, I began with my favourite Entire Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe, which is a breeze to make. I like to recommend utilizing white complete wheat flour, which is now referred to as Golden Entire Wheat by King Arthur, so the entire wheat taste doesn’t distract from the intense pesto. The recipe works with all-purpose flour, too.
Change it up: Use your favourite pizza dough recipe that yields round one pound of dough. Retailer-bought pizza dough works, too—simply comply with the package deal’s directions on letting it rise at room temperature, if crucial.
Pesto
This recipe consists of directions for making basil pesto from scratch. It requires recent basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.
Change it up: You possibly can substitute one other nut for the pine nuts, together with almonds, walnuts, pecans or pepitas. You may also use arugula as a substitute of basil, which is mostly extra inexpensive and straightforward to search out year-round.
Mozzarella cheese
Mozzarella is ideal on pesto pizza. I beloved the outcomes with mini recent mozzarella balls, referred to as ciliegene, that are simply the suitable measurement to dot your pizzas. You may also use bigger mozzarella balls, torn into one-inch items. The trick to creating nice pizzas with recent, water-packed mozzarella balls is to frivolously pat the cheese dry earlier than topping your pizza to keep away from extra moisture.
Change it up: You may also use grated part-skim mozzarella for scrumptious outcomes. I barely most popular the recent mozzarella’s texture and beloved seeing the pesto’s inexperienced shade shine via.
Toppings
Tomatoes are the traditional selection. I like to recommend cherry tomatoes, which aren’t too watery and customarily extra flavorful year-round. They bake up finest on pizzas after they’re quartered lengthwise, which helps distribute them evenly throughout the pizzas and offers them ample floor space to assist roast away any extra juice.
Change it up: You possibly can omit the tomatoes altogether, or substitute different thinly sliced veggies like bell pepper, marinated artichoke, olives, mushrooms, or zucchini or yellow squash (lower like this). Nicely-drained, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes would provide additional taste.
Watch Tips on how to Make Pesto Pizza
What to Serve with Pesto Pizza
When you’re constructing your meal round pesto pizza as your fundamental course, it’s laborious to go incorrect. Pesto pizza enhances many different recent, herbed dishes. Listed below are my prime ideas organized by class.
Extra Recipes That includes Pesto
Pesto is one in every of my favourite sauces! Listed below are a couple of extra prime recipes with pesto on Cookie and Kate:
Please let me know the way your pesto pizza seems within the feedback. I really like listening to from you.
Pesto Pizza
This traditional pesto pizza recipe options basil pesto, mozzarella and tomato! It’s simple to make from scratch. Retailer-bought parts work effectively, too. Recipe yields two medium pizzas.
Dough and toppings
Pesto (or substitute 1 cup store-bought)
- Preheat the oven to 500°F with a rack within the higher third of the oven. (Or, should you’re utilizing a pizza stone, make sure that it’s within the oven on the suitable rack. Seek the advice of the producer’s instructions.) Put together the pizza dough as directed, rolling the dough as thinly as attainable, however don’t brush the perimeters with oil (you don’t want it for this recipe, given the pesto’s oil content material). Wipe the meals processor bowl clear and return it to the machine.
- To make the pesto: Within the meals processor, mix the basil (reserve a small handful of the prettiest smaller leaves for garnish), nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. With the machine working, drizzle within the olive oil. Proceed processing till the combination is effectively blended, pausing to scrape down the edges as crucial.Â
- To prime the pizzas: Unfold every pizza with half of the pesto, leaving about 1 inch of empty dough across the edges. When you’re utilizing recent mozzarella, drain it effectively and frivolously pat it dry on a clear tea towel or paper towels (should you’re utilizing bigger mozzarella balls, tear them into 1-inch items). Evenly distribute half of the mozzarella and sliced tomatoes over every pizza.
- Switch one pizza (parchment paper and all) onto a baking sheet and into the oven. Bake till the crust is golden and the cheese on prime is effervescent, 8 to 12 minutes (or as few as 5 minutes if utilizing a pizza stone).
- Repeat with the remaining pizza. Prime every pizza with the reserved basil leaves and a lightweight sprinkle of Parmesan and pink pepper flakes, if desired. Slice and serve.
Notes
Recipe tailored from my Basil Pesto and Arugula-Almond Pesto Pizza.
Change it up: Substitute arugula for the basil. You possibly can omit the recent tomatoes or use different tender veggies, like sliced bell pepper, or you can add sliced Kalamata olives or sun-dried tomatoes.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Comply with the substitutions supplied with the pizza dough recipe. Omit the mozzarella and Parmesan on this recipe. Substitute a beneficiant drizzle of Vegan Bitter Cream for the mozzarella and sprinkle Simple Vegan Parmesan Cheese on the pizza earlier than serving.
Diet
The knowledge proven is an estimate offered by a web based diet calculator. It shouldn’t be thought-about an alternative choice to knowledgeable nutritionist’s recommendation. See our full diet disclosure right here.
