This vegetarian pesto pizza recipe is vibrant and made with the best homemade pesto! This pesto, tomato sauce, and pizza dough recipe freeze so well too! Make ahead and eat a delicious Italian-inspired pizza anytime you want.
FAQ
What goes well with pesto pizza?
This pesto pizza recipe goes well with almost everything! Here you can find some ingredients that you can add to your pizza:
- Mushrooms
- Courgette
- Pineapple
- Onion
- Arugula
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Sweat peas
- Smoked salmon
- Tuna
- Shrimps
- Chicken
What cheese is best with pesto?
For the pesto recipe, the cheese that works best is parmesan cheese.
To add to the top of the pizza dough, the cheese that is always the best is mozzarella!
How to make this recipe
Starting with the pizza dough, add the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Mix the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in another bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, make a hole in the center of the flour. Gradually pour the water while mixing with your hands. When forming a ball, dust a countertop with flour and knead until you have a smooth dough.
Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Then, after 30 minutes, knead the dough around a little bit and let it rest for more 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size. After that, your pizza dough is ready to be used.
While the pizza dough is resting, make the pesto and tomato sauce. To make the pesto, add all the pesto ingredients into a food processor blend and set aside.
To make the tomato sauce, heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat, and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion, garlic, and bay leaf and saute for 5 minutes or until soft. Next, add the tomatoes and let them cook for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Then, add the sugar, salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, tomato paste, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Finally, remove the bay leaf and blend with a hand blender.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust with flour. Working on a surface that has been dusted with flour, roll out the pizza dough into your desired shape and transfer it to the prepared baking tray.
Spread a bit of the tomato sauce on top of the dough, and then top with the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, and dried oregano. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil.
Tips for making this recipe
- Add other ingredients: Feel free to add other ingredients to your pizza if you want.
- Yeast replacement: If you can’t find fresh yeast, no worries, you can use active dry yeast! Instead of using 15g (0.53 oz) of fresh yeast, replace it with 5g (0.18 oz) of dry yeast.
- Freeze remaining tomato sauce: You can add this tomato sauce recipe to about 10 pizzas. Make small portions, for example, in ice cube trays, and freeze. This way, you will have homemade tomato sauce anytime you want!
- Use strong white flour: Make sure that you use strong white flour to make your pizza dough. Strong white flour is the best to add extra chew into the pizza crust.
Other Italian inspired recipes
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Pesto Pizza
- Prep Time: 1:30h
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 2 pizzas 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This pesto pizza recipe is vibrant and super delicious! It is made with the best homemade basil pesto and tomato sauce. Batch cook this pizza dough recipe, freeze, and eat homemade pizza anytime you want!
Ingredients
Tomato sauce Ingredients
- 1 onion,chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cans peeled tomatoes (240 g)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
Pesto Ingredients
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (50 g)
- 1.40 oz cashews (40 g)
- 3.17 oz fresh basil (90 g)
- 1 garlic clove
- 5.30 oz olive oil (150 g)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
Pizza Dough Ingredients
- 15.87 oz strong white flour (450 g)
- 1 tsp salt
- 290 ml water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 15g fresh yeast (0.53 oz) or 5g dry yeast (0.18 oz)
Pizza Ingredients
- 2 pizza dough balls
- 3 tbsp tomato sauce
- 4 tbsp homemade pesto
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 buffalo mozzarella
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- fresh basil leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Starting with the pizza dough, add the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.
- Mix the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar in another bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, make a hole in the center of the flour. Gradually pour the water while mixing with your hands.
- When forming a ball, dust a countertop with flour and knead until you have a smooth dough.
- Place the ball of dough in a large flour-dusted bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Then, after 30 minutes, knead the dough around a little bit and let it rest for more 30 minutes until the dough has doubled in size. After that, is ready to be used.
- While the pizza dough is resting, make the pesto and tomato sauce. Add all the pesto ingredients into a food processor blend and set aside.
- To make the tomato sauce, heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat, and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion, garlic, and bay leaf and saute for 5 minutes or until soft.
- Next, add the tomatoes and let them cook for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Then, add the sugar, salt, pepper, dried oregano, dried basil, tomato paste, and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.
- Finally, remove the bay leaf and blend with a hand blender.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper and dust with flour.
- Working on a surface that has been dusted with flour, roll out the pizza dough into your desired shape and transfer it to the prepared baking tray.
- Spread a bit of the tomato sauce on top of the dough, and then top with the cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto, and dried oregano.
- Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh basil.
Notes
Add other ingredients: Feel free to add other ingredients to your pizza if you would like.
Yeast replacement: If you can’t find fresh yeast, no worries, you can use active dry yeast! Instead of using 15g (0.53 oz) of fresh yeast, replace it with 5g (0.18 oz) of dry yeast.
Freeze remaining tomato sauce: You can add this tomato sauce recipe to about 10 pizzas. Make small portions, for example, in ice cube trays, and freeze. This way, you will have homemade tomato sauce anytime you want!
Use strong white flour: Make sure that you use strong white flour to make your pizza dough. Strong white flour is the best to add extra chew into the pizza crust.
Keywords: pesto pizza recipe, homemade pesto pizza, vegetarian pesto pizza
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