White Sauce Pizza Recipe
This White Sauce Pizza Recipe is a creamy, indulgent twist on pizza night, loaded with your favorite toppings like sausage, bacon, peppers, and onions on a perfectly crispy homemade crust. Skip the red sauce and give this delicious white sauce recipe a try instead!
Béchamel Sauce Pizza
Béchamel Sauce is traditionally a white roux plus milk and is considered one of the “mother sauces” in French cooking. A white sauce is typically flavored with cheese, like in homemade mac and cheese or in THIS white sauce. It’s also seasoned with spices of some kind.
This recipe is enough for one medium pizza so you may want to double or triple it if you’re planning to use the white sauce for multiple pizzas. You could use different toppings for each if you want to get creative!
This sauce literally melts in your mouth. It’s so simple to make and delicious with any toppings you choose. We particularly love grilling our pizza as it gives a smoky flavor to each bite.
Why This Recipe Works:
- Simple white sauce – just a handful of pantry staples come together into a rich, creamy base that beats any jarred sauce
- Homemade crust – makes all the difference in texture and flavor
- No red sauce needed – a delicious change of pace that feels a little fancy without being complicated
- Totally customizable – the creamy white sauce is a perfect base for any toppings you have on hand, so feel free to make it your own!
Looking for more delicious sauces? Try our Homemade Basil Pesto Sauce or Pizza Sauce From Scratch next!
Ingredients needed for White Sauce Pizza:
For the sauce:
- Butter – I use unsalted butter.
- Flour – Equal amounts of all-purpose flour and butter.
- Milk – Use 2% milk or whole milk, for best results.
- Parmesan Cheese – Freshly shredded parmesan cheese adds the perfect flavor to this white sauce.
- S&P – Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
For the other pizza ingredients:
- Pizza dough – Use one of my homemade pizza dough recipes OR use store-bought. I also recommend finding a good local pizza place to purchase some dough.
- Toppings – We love using different toppings depending on what we have on hand – sausage, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, onion, etc.
Other Pizza Recipes
Looking for other delicious pizza recipes? I’ve got some ideas for you below!
Be sure to try out all of our best pizza toppings!
How to make White Sauce Pizza:
1. Prepare dough.
- Follow my simple recipe for Homemade Pizza Dough. This dough is pretty quick, and you can mix it up about an hour before you start the pizza assembly. It really does make the BEST pizza!
- If you want to make it ahead of time, you can mix the dough, let it rise, stick it in the fridge (covered), and remove it 30 minutes before assembly.
- Use a baking mat and a rolling pin, with plenty of flour, and roll out the dough in a shape that works for you. If using a cast iron skillet, you’ll want it to fit just right.
- I’ve also tried my hand at spinning the dough around with my hands, but haven’t perfected that YET. 😀
2. Make white sauce.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for a minute to let the flour fully absorb into the butter.
- Then add the milk and turn up heat slightly to bring it to a simmer. Let it thicken.
- Add the parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper – and stir until melted. Remove from heat.
3. Prepare toppings.
- Prepare the toppings you’re choosing to add to the white sauce pizza. We like crumbled sausage, crispy bacon, sliced bell pepper, jalapeños (of course), and red onion. But any toppings will work!
- Shred some cheese or buy a good packaged version. I prefer Tillamook!
4. Assemble pizza.
For all of my pizza recipes, you can choose to bake them 1) in cast iron skillets in the oven or on a grill, 2) on baking sheets in the oven, or 3) on pizza stones in either the oven, grill, or smoker. We tend to rotate how we cook them based on the weather outside and how many people we are feeding.
- Arrange dough. To start, roll out the dough. For this occasion (pictured), we cooked the pizza outdoors on our Big Green Egg.
- Add toppings. Spread a generous amount of prepared white sauce on the dough. Then add the toppings and shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Finish. Add some freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired. You may also want to drizzle some olive oil over the top.
5. Bake.
- Grill (or bake) – Cook pizza at a high temp. We use 475-500 degrees in our oven or at least 500 degrees on our grill/smoker.
- The pizza is done when the crust is nice and browned on the bottom.
What to serve with pizza:
What should we serve with pizza? I’ve got ideas!
- Let’s start out with some craft beer or red wine, shall we? OR you could whip up some Blueberry Mojitos or some Swirl Margaritas for something fun!
- A simple green salad is all you really need with this hearty pizza. But you could also pair it with my Best Italian Chopped Salad which is a great salad to have in the refrigerator all week long.
- Dessert anyone? I’ve been sharing lots of ice cream recipes lately. Go find your favorite one in our collection of KitchenAid Ice Cream Recipes!
Recipe FAQs:
Yes. Store-bought dough works just fine if you’re short on time. That said, homemade dough takes this pizza to a whole new level – once you try it, you won’t want to go back!
Yes, you can make it up to 2 days ahead and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to use it, reheat it gently in the microwave or stovetop.
The beauty of white sauce is that it pairs well with just about anything! Some favorites include sausage, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, onions, spinach, and fresh garlic. Get creative and use whatever you have on hand!
Yes – gruyère, fontina, or even cream cheese are all delicious substitutes or additions. Just make sure to use a good melting cheese for the best results.
Yes, you can make the dough several hours in advance and store it in the refrigerator. About an hour before using, remove it and let it come to room temperature before rolling out.
Kitchen Tools Used: (affiliate links)
xoxo ~Sue
White Sauce Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pizza crust – I used my homemade pizza dough
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese – shredded
- your choice of toppings
For the white sauce:
- 1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup 2% milk
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese – freshly shredded
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste
Instructions
- Follow my simple recipe for Homemade Pizza Dough. This dough is pretty quick, and you can mix it up about an hour before you start the pizza assembly. It really does make the BEST pizza! (You can also purchase dough for this recipe.)1 pizza crust
- Make white sauce. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for a minute to let the flour fully absorb into the butter. Then add the milk and turn up heat slightly to bring it to a simmer. Let it thicken. Add the parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper – and stir until melted. Remove from heat.1 ½ Tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 ½ Tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup 2% milk, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Prepare toppings. Here is where you can get creative. We like to use whatever we have on hand. Try sausage, bacon, mushrooms, peppers, onions, etc.your choice of toppings
- Assemble pizza. Arrange the dough on stone or pan. You can roll it out thin or keep it thicker. Add the white sauce and smooth to all sides of the dough. Then add prepared toppings and mozzarella cheese. You can also add some extra parmesan cheese to the top.1 cup mozzarella cheese
- Bake or grill pizza at a high temperature. We use at least 475-500 degrees in the oven or at least 500 degrees on the grill. Pizza is done when the bottom of the pizza is nice and golden brown.
Simple, quick and delicious! Could not be any easier. I added one minced garlic clove after milk step and love it that way too!
So great to hear this SNL!
An amazing recipe and so excited I finally tried white sauce. For some reason, I was hesitant and unsure, but now it is clearly in the rotation! Love it!
Yay!
I love a white sauce pizza and although I don’t have a mixer I still wanted to try this. I used store bought pizza crust but the rest was as the recipe says and sooooo delicious. The mushroom and bacon together are the ultimate pizza toppings. Will make over and over.
So great to hear!! 🙂