This homemade Neapolitan-style pizza is topped with pesto, fresh tomatoes, and mozzarella is full of awesome flavor and tastes just like something you’d find in a great restaurant.
In This Post
So let’s get down to it and talk about what I like about this Perfect Pizza.
What’s in This Pesto Pizza
This pizza keeps the toppings super simple because we’re using a homemade pesto. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- 1 batch of Neapolitan pizza dough
- Garlic
- Fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese
- Pine nuts
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Cherry tomatoes
- Fontina or Provolone cheese
- Fresh mozzarella
- Red pepper flakes
How to Make This Pesto Pizza
Let it rise. Prepare the Neapolitan pizza dough and let rise overnight in the refrigerator.
Get your oven as hot as possible. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven before preheating. Preheat your oven to 500°F.
Make pizza crusts.
Prepare the pesto. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add the chopped garlic and olive oil mixture. Stir for 15 seconds and remove from heat. Add the basil leaves, Parmesan, pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic oil to a food processor. Pulse until the basil has broken down and the ingredients are mixed. The mixture should be bright green and have a pebbly texture. It should be thin enough to spread but not runny. Add kosher salt to taste and add more olive oil if the sauce is too thick. Transfer the sauce to a container or bowl.
Prepare the pizza rounds.
Dust a baker’s peel with flour and carefully transfer one pizza round to the peel. Lightly spread the pesto sauce on the pizza dough leaving a 1-inch border, then sprinkle with shredded cheese and 3 slices of fresh mozzarella. Top with slices of tomatoes and extra shredded parmesan if desired. Line up the edge of the baker’s peel with the far edge of the stone, tilt the peel, and jerk the pizza onto the hot pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the dough is crisp and brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the pizza on the peel to a cutting board, cut into slices, and serve immediately. Top with more pesto, fresh basil leaves, and crushed red pepper flakes if desired.
I prefer a thin-crust pizza so I tried the dough that master baker Peter Reinhart calls the Neapolitan dough—or American style. This pizza isn’t your spur-of-the-moment, make-at-home pizza crust recipe. But if you plan ahead and allow for a few hours or overnight time in the fridge for the gluten to develop, this crust is great.
I usually use Italian-style 00 flour for my pizza dough, but this time I followed Reinhart’s directions to use bread flour. What’s the diff? Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose, and helps with gluten development. Which results in a delectably chewy pizza crust.
Use the paddle attachment on the stand mixer instead of the bread hook. The paddle brings the dough together quickly.
With Reinhart’s method, there’s no need for a lot of kneading. Instead, he shows how to stretch and fold your way to the ultimate soft and supple pizza dough in 5-minute blasts. My husband re-watched this part of the video to get the right effect.
The key to a great pizza dough is long, slow, cold fermentation. Some time in the refrigerator before baking does the trick.
Making a round pizza takes patience, and time. Let the dough rest as you shape it. The dough will want to spring back into its smaller shape if the gluten is too tight. Take your time and a round pizza will be in your future.
You may think more sauce makes a better pizza, but really it just makes a soggy mess. I like Reinhart’s philosophy of simply “kiss the dough with the sauce.”
What to Serve with This Pesto Pizza
- Greek Salad with Avocado
- THE BEST Caprese Salad
- Caesar Salad with Garlic Croutons
- Arugula Salad with Shaved Parmesan
- THE BEST Kale Salad with Parmesan and Pine Nuts
- Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing and Roasted Chickpeas
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Pesto Pizza with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella
PrintIngredients
- 1 batch Neapolitan pizza dough , (recipe here)
- 8 cloves garlic , coarsely chopped and tossed in 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves , washed and stemmed and tightly packed
- ¾ cup parmesan cheese , grated
- 1 cup pine nuts , lightly toasted
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt
- ½ pound small or cherry tomatoes
- 2 cups fontina or provolone cheese , grated
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella , sliced
- red pepper flakes
- basil leaves for serving
Instructions
- Preheat a pizza stone in the oven set to 500°F. Make pizza crusts according to the video directions on Craftsy.
- Prepare the pesto. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add the chopped garlic and olive oil mixture. Stir for 15 seconds and remove from heat. You want to seat the garlic, not brown it.
- Place the basil leaves, parmesan, pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic oil mixture into a food processor. Pulse until the basil has broken down and the ingredients are mixed. The mixture should be bright green and have a pebbly texture. It should be thin enough to spread but not runny. Add kosher salt to taste and add more olive oil if the sauce is too thick. Transfer the sauce to a container or bowl.
- Prepare the pizza rounds according to the directions in this free online class from Craftsy. Dust a baker's peel with flour and carefully transfer one pizza round to the peel.
- Lightly spread the pesto sauce on the pizza dough leaving a 1-inch border, then sprinkle with shredded cheese and 3 slices of fresh mozzarella. Top with slices of tomatoes and extra shredded parmesan if desired.
- Line up the edge of the baker’s peel with the far edge of the stone, tilt the peel and jerk the pizza onto the hot pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the dough is crisp and brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the pizza on the peel to a cutting board, cut into slices, and serve immediately. Top with more pesto, fresh basil leaves, and crushed red pepper flakes if desired.
More Homemade Pizza Recipes to Try
- French Bread Pizza
- Mediterranean Pizza
- Truffled Mushroom Pizza
- Charred Corn and Rosemary Grilled Pizza
- Sheet Pan BBQ Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza
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The Right Crust
Thanks for the in-depth write up and recipe. I love pesto on my pizza too!
Athlete
Love those happy faces in the above picture! I haven’t made my own pizza dough in years (trader joes pizza dough has made me lazy). But gotta get back into it!
Rufina Liew
Thank you..l love Pizza..thank you for the recipe..and thanks for sharing.
Aditi
Looks so good..’Must give it a try asap’ situation happening!!
LAYERSOFHAPPINESS.COM
We love pizza and we love pesto so this looks fabulous! I like to use bread flour for my pizza too! Can’t wait to try this recipe – thanks for sharing.
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I made this pizza tonight for dinner and it was delicious!! I love how fresh it tasted with the pesto. I left out the fontina/provolone cheese and it was still amazing. I’m definitely going to make this again!
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Wow! He says kiss the dough, I say make out with the pie.
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Melanie @ Carmel Moments
You make one gorgeous looking pizza. Love this fresh twist!
Happy Monday!
Paula Wong
I have a favorite pesto recipe from Cook’s Illustrated but this looked delicious so I decided to give it a try with some of the 3 QUARTS of basil I picked in the garden today. My husband declared it EXTRA delicious and worth the extra money to make (after all, a cup of pine nuts and olive oil?!). So we used it for all the basil (adding a bit more basil to each batch to help use it up :)) and we have 17 jars now in our freezer for when baby comes in November. :)
I love it! I thought it was a great pesto recipe too. The sweating of the garlic makes such a difference!
Chelsea @ A Duck's Oven
I’ve never heard of these classes before! Considering how incredible this pizza looks, I’ll definitely have to check them out! If you can believe it, my fiance isn’t really a pesto fan… Horrible, I know. I think I could use this pizza to change his mind, though :) Yum!
Brianna
This pizza sounds delicious. I never would have thought to use pesto. I’m not a fan of red sauce, but always use it on pizza. It sounds like it may be time to do a little experimentation.
Patti
The pizza looks delicious with your garden tomatoes, pesto and of course all the melting gooey cheese. Loved the photo of your chef helpers. What a fun family project.
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Pizza perfection, love all these summer flavors!
Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures
Yum! Those classes sound cool!
Liz @ FloatingKitchen
Love those happy faces in the above picture! I haven’t made my own pizza dough in years (trader joes pizza dough has made me lazy). But gotta get back into it!
Chels
Oh my word- I need this in my life! It just looks incredible fresh with the perfect crusty crust. Swooning!
Geraldine | Green Valley Kitchen
That is one beautiful photo of a pizza. I’m signing up for the free class and pinning for future reference. Thanks!
Maralyn Woods
This looks wonderful. I’m eager to try it as soon as I get some bread flour. I’ve been using AP flour for all my breads but want to give this a try. When I followed the link for Neopolitan pizza dough it looked like I would have to sign up in order to get it. Did I just not find the right spot to click on?
Yes, you need to sign up, but it’s free and no commitment.
Roxi Beck
This looks INCREDIBLE! Can’t wait to try it :)
Kathy @ Olives & Garlic
Beautiful home made pizza.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
This definitely looks like perfect pizza at home!! So yummy!