How about pizza tonight? It’s hard to beat classic pesto pizza. This simple vegetarian pizza recipe is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. It offers an irresistible combination of fresh, bright flavors from the basil pesto and tomatoes, plenty of cheesy mozzarella, and a bubbling crust with a satisfying chew.
This easy pesto pizza recipe comes together quickly with the help of your food processor. You can whip together the dough and pesto in about 15 minutes—just wipe down the processor in between the two components. If you’re looking for a super simple weeknight meal that’s better than take-out, use store-bought dough and pesto instead!
Pesto Pizza Ingredients & Topping Options
Here’s what you’ll need to make this pizza:
Pizza dough
As usual, I started with my favorite Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe, which is a breeze to make. I recommend using white whole wheat flour, which is now called Golden Whole Wheat by King Arthur, so the whole wheat flavor doesn’t distract from the bright pesto. The recipe works with all-purpose flour, too.
Change it up: Use your favorite pizza dough recipe that yields around one pound of dough. Store-bought pizza dough works, too—just follow the package’s instructions on letting it rise at room temperature, if necessary.
Pesto
This recipe includes instructions for making basil pesto from scratch. It calls for fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.
Change it up: You can substitute another nut for the pine nuts, including almonds, walnuts, pecans or pepitas. You can also use arugula instead of basil, which is generally more affordable and easy to find year-round.
Mozzarella cheese
Mozzarella is perfect on pesto pizza. I loved the results with mini fresh mozzarella balls, called ciliegene, which are just the right size to dot your pizzas. You can also use larger mozzarella balls, torn into one-inch pieces. The trick to making great pizzas with fresh, water-packed mozzarella balls is to lightly pat the cheese dry before topping your pizza to avoid excess moisture.
Change it up: You can also use grated part-skim mozzarella for delicious results. I slightly preferred the fresh mozzarella’s texture and loved seeing the pesto’s green color shine through.
Toppings
Tomatoes are the classic choice. I recommend cherry tomatoes, which are not too watery and generally more flavorful year-round. They bake up best on pizzas when they’re quartered lengthwise, which helps distribute them evenly across the pizzas and gives them ample surface area to help roast away any excess juice.
Change it up: You can omit the tomatoes altogether, or substitute other thinly sliced veggies like bell pepper, marinated artichoke, olives, mushrooms, or zucchini or yellow squash (cut like this). Well-drained, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes would offer extra flavor.
Watch How to Make Pesto Pizza
What to Serve with Pesto Pizza
If you’re building your meal around pesto pizza as your main course, it’s hard to go wrong. Pesto pizza complements many other fresh, herbed dishes. Here are my top suggestions organized by category.
More Recipes Featuring Pesto
Pesto is one of my favorite sauces! Here are a few more top recipes with pesto on Cookie and Kate:
Please let me know how your pesto pizza turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you.
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Pesto Pizza
This classic pesto pizza recipe features basil pesto, mozzarella and tomato! It’s easy to make from scratch. Store-bought components work well, 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 in the upper third of the oven. (Or, if you’re using a pizza stone, make sure it’s in the oven on the appropriate rack. Consult the manufacturer’s directions.) Prepare the pizza dough as directed, rolling the dough as thinly as possible, but don’t brush the edges with oil (you don’t need it for this recipe, given the pesto’s oil content). Wipe the food processor bowl clean and return it to the machine.
- To make the pesto: In the food processor, combine the basil (reserve a small handful of the prettiest smaller leaves for garnish), nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil. Continue processing until the mixture is well blended, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary.
- To top the pizzas: Spread each pizza with half of the pesto, leaving about 1 inch of empty dough around the edges. If you’re using fresh mozzarella, drain it well and lightly pat it dry on a clean tea towel or paper towels (if you’re using larger mozzarella balls, tear them into 1-inch pieces). Evenly distribute half of the mozzarella and sliced tomatoes over each pizza.
- Transfer one pizza (parchment paper and all) onto a baking sheet and into the oven. Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese on top is bubbling, 8 to 12 minutes (or as few as 5 minutes if using a pizza stone).
- Repeat with the remaining pizza. Top each pizza with the reserved basil leaves and a light sprinkle of Parmesan and red pepper flakes, if desired. Slice and serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my Basil Pesto and Arugula-Almond Pesto Pizza.
Change it up: Substitute arugula for the basil. You can omit the fresh tomatoes or use other tender veggies, like sliced bell pepper, or you could add sliced Kalamata olives or sun-dried tomatoes.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Follow the substitutions provided with the pizza dough recipe. Omit the mozzarella and Parmesan in this recipe. Substitute a generous drizzle of Vegan Sour Cream for the mozzarella and sprinkle Easy Vegan Parmesan Cheese on the pizza before serving.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
