Tomato Pesto Pizza
This Tomato Pesto Pizza is a flavor-packed twist on a classic, layered with vibrant homemade pesto, fresh tomatoes, and melty cheese on a perfectly crispy crust. It’s a simple yet impressive meal that comes together quickly and is guaranteed to become a new family favorite!
Basil Pesto Pizza
I’ve been making homemade pizza forever. We grew up making it as kids, and it was our Saturday night meal to go with “Donnie and Marie”. Yeah, I’m old.
The difference between then and now is 1) we didn’t make homemade crust back in the day, 2) we loaded the pizza with raw ground beef (ewwww) so the pizza was greasy after it cooked, 3) we knew nothing about the fantastic sauce that is PESTO, 4) we used about 5 pounds of cheese that we sliced (shredded cheese wasn’t a thing), and 5) we were young and could eat unlimited slices without worrying about our waistlines.
Oh, the memories!
Why We Love This Pesto Pizza:
- SIMPLE – This pizza uses simple ingredients easily found in your local grocery store. Making your own homemade pizza dough is pretty quick and it’s totally worth the extra steps.
- FAVORITE SAUCE – Pesto sauce is one of our favorite sauces and is fantastic on pizza.
- A DELICIOUS COMBO – We love the combo of quick pizza dough, homemade pesto, Roma tomatoes, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Friday nights just got tastier!
Pizza Ingredients:
- Quick Pizza Dough – This pizza dough rises pretty quickly. I often stick the dough in the refrigerator (covered with plastic wrap) until I’m ready to form the crusts. While we love our homemade pizza dough recipe, store-bought dough works in a pinch.
- Bold Pesto Flavor – We have a large pot of fresh basil in the summertime, and I make a double batch of homemade basil pesto sauce about every other week. Let’s just say…we have loads of thick pesto sauce in the freezer right now.
- Roma Tomatoes – Use thin slices of fresh tomatoes on this heavenly pizza.
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese – I normally use shredded Tillamook cheese or shred my own. We’ve also used fresh mozzarella too.
- Optional Ingredients: Try using cherry tomatoes, fresh spinach, red onion, fresh arugula, and/or leftover chicken.
You can make this outside on your grill using a pizza stone or inside in a cast iron skillet or any pan you choose.
Be sure to try out all of our best pizza toppings!
How to make the best Pesto Pizza:
Step 1
Make homemade pizza dough.
- Activate the yeast. Using a large standing mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. Take a spatula, and stir it around a couple of times. Then let it sit for about 15 minutes so that the yeast activates. You should see a bubbly mixture when it’s ready. Then add the extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt, and stir again.
- Add flour to desired consistency. Start by adding about three cups of bread flour to the mixer. Let the mixer run, and occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Gradually add more flour until you get a nice dough consistency. It should be slightly sticky, but easy to handle.
- Let the dough rise. Grease a large bowl with canola or olive oil. Remove the dough from the mixer, and form it into a ball. Then place it in the bowl, and cover it with a clean dishtowel. Place the bowl in a warm place in your kitchen and let rise until approximately doubled in size. The rise may be different each time and will vary depending on where you live.
- Use dough for pizza crusts. Once the bread rises, it’s time to form the dough into desired shapes. This recipe should make about three medium-sized pizzas.
Step 2
Make Homemade Basil Pesto Sauce.
- Clean the basil. If you are picking fresh basil, make sure you rinse it under cold water and then pat dry with a clean towel (or paper towel).
- Toast the nuts. Toast the pine nuts on the stove top, until fragrant and slightly brown. Remove to cool slightly.
- Shred parmesan cheese. Use a box grater to freshly shred some parmesan cheese.
- Combine. Combine the fresh basil leaves, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and garlic cloves in a food processor.
- Process. Pulse for several seconds until the ingredients are ground up. Then remove the plunger on top, and drizzle the olive oil through the feed tube until the sauce is nice and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Store. Store pesto sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days.
Step 3
Assemble pizza.
- Spray the skillet with baking spray. If grilling, add some cornmeal to a sheet of parchment paper.
- Press the dough out. Use your hands to press the pizza dough out to all sides of the cast iron skillet (or pizza stone).
- Spoon the pesto sauce over the pizza dough, smoothing to all sides of the dough.
- Add tomato slices and shredded mozzarella cheese.
Step 4
Grill or bake pesto pizza.
- To grill, prepare an outdoor grill for pizza. We use our Big Green Egg to make our pizza when the weather is nice. Preheat grill to at least 500 degrees. Grill on pizza stones until crispy.
- To bake, preheat oven to 475-500 degrees. Place skillet in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the pizza is golden brown on the bottom and top.
Step 5
Slice and serve. Slice the pizza into triangles and serve with extra shredded parmesan cheese.
Store leftover pizza in an airtight container in refrigerator for 3-4 days.
What to Serve with Pesto Pizza:
- We love to start with a cold cocktail – like Hawaiian Mai Tais, Cherry Margaritas, or Lemon Mojitos. Want to skip the alcohol? Try our Raspberry Mocktails or Strawberry Mojito Mocktails.
- Salads pair well with pizza. Try our Spinach and Goat Cheese Salad, Grinder Salad, or Arugula Caprese Salad.
While our quick dough is our favorite pizza dough recipe, you could make our whole wheat pizza dough recipe or even make French bread pizza too.
Recipe FAQs:
I think almost any type of cheese goes well with pesto sauce, like mozzarella, goat cheese, white cheddar, parmesan cheese, gruyere, or white cheddar.
Yes, pesto pizza is made in Italy, but slightly different. It’s traditionally topped with mozzarella di bufala and pesto Genovese sauce.
Yes, you can easily find a good quality pesto sauce in your local store.
Kitchen Tools Used: (affiliate links)
xoxo ~Sue
Tomato Pesto Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 medium homemade pizza dough – from my site
- 1/3 cup homemade pesto sauce – from my site
- 2 medium roma tomatoes – sliced thin
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Make quick pizza dough. For the dough, use 1/3 recipe of my homemade pizza dough for one pizza.1 medium homemade pizza dough
- Make basil pesto sauce. In a food processor, combine the pesto ingredients – fresh basil, toasted pine nuts, shredded parmesan cheese, garlic, and salt & pepper. Pulse and then drizzle olive oil until smooth.1/3 cup homemade pesto sauce
- Assemble pizza. If grilling, roll out the dough on a pan topped with parchment paper (and some corn meal). If baking, press out the dough inside a cast iron skillet. Then add pesto sauce, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese.2 medium roma tomatoes, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
- Prep. Preheat oven to 475-500 degrees F or light grill to 500 degrees.
- Grill or bake until done. If grilling, it will be done in around 10 minutes. If baking, pizza will be done in around 15 minutes. Cook until done to your liking.
- Slice and serve. Slice the pizza into triangles and serve with extra shredded parmesan cheese.
Notes
- See our homemade pizza dough and homemade basil pesto sauce for this delicious savory pizza!
- Store leftover pizza in an airtight container in refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Be sure to try out all of our best pizza toppings!
I’d love to try this
Question: what size cast iron skillet is best?
I normally use either a 10-inch or 12-inch skillet.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! This was AMAZING!!! I used your pizza dough & pesto recipes and the entire family loved it! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Cathy! I’m so glad ya’ll enjoyed it so much! 🙂
I am excited as I am having this awesome recipe tonight. The Pesto takes it to another level!
Agreed!