There's nothing better in the summer than fresh, homemade pizza with lots of veggies! This pesto pizza has a light, tangy sourdough pizza crust and creamy homemade pesto, then it's loaded with fresh vegetables and arugula!
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Ingredient Notes
This pesto pizza is super simple and only requires a few simple ingredients! You can also change up the veggies to whatever you prefer!
- Sourdough Pizza Crust - You can use whatever pizza crust you prefer....but if you're a sourdough lover, I highly recommend my homemade sourdough pizza crust!! It's super and easy and so good!
- Homemade Creamy Pesto - My creamy pesto sauce is super easy to make and comes together in just 5 minutes!! But you can also swap it out for spinach pesto or your favorite store-bought pesto.
- Mozzarella Cheese - I love using fresh mozzarella but shredded will work too.
- Ricotta Cheese - Place ¼ cup of ricotta on a piece of cheese cloth and wring out any excess water. This helps ensure that the pizza crust won't get soggy.
- Zucchini - Use a mandolin to thinly slice the zucchini so that you get paper thin strips that will crisp up properly in the oven!
- Broccolini - I like using broccolini as opposed to regular broccoli because the florets are smaller and crisp up better. But either will work!
- Shallot - You can use thinly sliced shallot, red onion, or yellow onion.
- Arugula - I love topping pizza with arugula for a fresh, peppery bite!
How to Make Homemade Pizza
Prepare my homemade sourdough pizza crust dough the night before you want to make your pesto pizza.
Preheat your oven and pizza stone to 500°F for at least 15 minutes.
Place one of your dough balls on a piece of parchment paper and gently press into a large circle with lightly oiled fingers. Start from the middle and press out to the sides. It should feel like you're pressing all the air to the edges of the dough. The dough will be very elastic at first but will relax as your keep pressing it. The dough will rise about double in the oven, so press it out to about half your desired thickness.
Lightly brush the dough with olive oil (especially the edges), then add the creamy basil pesto and your desired toppings.
Slide the pizza onto the preheated baking stone and then switch the oven from bake to broil.
Broil the pizza for 2 minutes (this helps the crust get nice and crispy) and then switch back to bake and bake the pesto pizza for another 4-5 minutes.
Switch the oven back to broil for another 2-4 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
Top with fresh arugula and enjoy!!
Recipe FAQ's
1. Use a super hot oven and preheated pizza stone! Preheat both your oven and pizza stone to 550°F. Switch between bake and broil to help get rid of excess liquid from the cheese.
2. Don't use too much sauce! Sauce that contains a lot of liquid can cause your pizza to be soggy. Just spread a thin amount over the crust.
3. Don't use too much cheese!! Make sure you drain excess water from the cheese and don't use too much or else the liquid won't be able to evaporate.
No, but you should!! Preheating a pizza stone before baking is the best way to get super crispy pizza crust!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
More Recipes You Might Like!
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Recipe Card
Homemade Pesto Pizza with Fresh Veggies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 sourdough pizza crust
- ¼ cup creamy basil pesto
- ¼ cup ricotta cheese, drain excess water
- 4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
- ½ zucchini , thinly sliced
- 1 small shallot, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup broccolini , chopped
- ½ cup fresh arugula
Instructions
- Prepare my homemade sourdough pizza crust dough the night before you want to make your pesto pizza.
- Preheat your oven and pizza stone to 500°F for at least 15 minutes.
- Place one of your dough balls on a piece of parchment paper and gently press into a large circle with lightly oiled fingers. Start from the middle and press out to the sides. It should feel like you're pressing all the air to the edges of the dough. The dough will be very elastic at first but will relax as your keep pressing it. The dough will rise about double in the oven, so press it out to about half your desired thickness.
- Lightly brush the dough with olive oil (especially the edges), then add the creamy basil pesto, cheese, zucchini, shallot, and broccolini.
- Slide the pizza onto the preheated baking stone and then switch the oven from bake to broil.
- Broil the pizza for 2 minutes (this helps the crust get nice and crispy) and then switch back to bake and bake the pesto pizza for another 4-5 minutes.
- Switch the oven back to broil for another 2-4 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.
- Remove from the oven, top with fresh arugula, and enjoy!!
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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