Big, bold flavors with minimum ingredients! There’s nothing boring about this homemade pizza. And if you’re into flavorful and crisp crust, go with my easy pizza dough recipe!
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this pizza recipe:
- You choose the crust – If you’re into crisp chewy crust, you’ve got to make this with our go-to homemade pizza dough! Also, this cauliflower keto pizza crust is a great alternative. In a pinch, even flatbread or naan bread would work!
- Only 3 toppings – You don’t need ton of ingredients to make a flavorful pizza.
- Mega flavors – Seriously, pesto sauce adds ton of flavor, and it’s out of this world when paired with cherry tomatoes. Try it!
Ingredient Notes:
- Pizza crust – As mentioned above, you can make my homemade pizza dough, or buy from the store. Or you can even use a flatbread, if you want to!
- Cherry tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes are delicious year-round, which makes this pizza perfect for any time of the year!
- Mozzarella cheese – I always, always recommend grating a block of cheese yourself. Without any anti-clumping agents, freshly grated cheese melts far better than pre-shredded stuff!
- Pesto – Pesto is the star of the show. The quality of pesto will make or break this pizza, so choose your favorite brand or make it yourself. (My homemade pesto is everything!)
How to make this recipe:
Before you begin shaping and assembling the pizza, heat your oven to the highest setting. Mine goes up to 525°F, but you could bake your pizza at as low as 475°F.
Tip
If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven before turning on the oven.
1. Prepare pizza Dough
- Make the pizza dough the night before.
- Bring it to room temperature, about 2 hours on the counter, prior to making the pizza.
- Stretch and shape the pizza crusts.
Tip
Cold pizza dough doesn’t stretch well. If your dough keeps shrinking, let it rest for half hour or so and try again.
2. Top and bake
- Smear pesto all over the crust, then arrange sliced cherry tomatoes and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes at 525°F.
Tip
Sprinkle some extra cheese on hot pizza as soon as you remove it from the oven for extra cheesy goodness!
How to reheat leftover pizza:
Now, I’m pretty sure you won’t have any leftover. But in case you do, here’s how to reheat leftover pizza.
- Skip microwave and reheat your leftover pizza in the oven. Preheat your oven to 375°F with an empty baking sheet. Then place leftover pizza on the heated baking sheet and bake for a few minutes, or until heated through.
- Now, I totally get it, oven takes forever to preheat! So that’s why air-fryer is my go-to for reheating leftovers, including pizza! Simply place the leftover pizza in the basket and air-fry for a few minutes at 375°F. Keep a close eye on it, it doesn’t take long!
Cheesy Roasted Tomato Pizza
Big, bold flavors with minimum ingredients! There's nothing boring about this homemade pizza. And if you're into flavorful and crisp crust, go with my easy pizza dough recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough divided Note 1
- ¼ cup pesto sauce
- 1 ½ cups (250 g) cherry tomatoes halved
- 8 oz (250g) mozzarella cheese grated Note 2
- Ground black pepper optional
Instructions
- Bring the pizza dough to room temperature, about 2 hours on the counter.
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and heat the oven to 525°F (270°C), or the highest setting for your oven.
- Stretch out one pizza dough ball into 10-inch circles on a lightly floured counter. (Watch my video on how to stretch pizza dough.)
- Lightly dust the pizza peel with flour and place the stretched pizza crust on it. (TIP: If you don't have a pizza stone (and peel), then bake your pizza on a baking sheet.)
- Smear half of the pesto sauce all over the crust, leaving the border. Then top with half of the sliced tomatoes and cheese, reserving a small amount of cheese for later. Grind some black pepper on top, if desired.
- Bake the pizza for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Repeat with the 2nd pizza.
- As soon as you remove the pizza from the oven, sprinkle the reserved cheese on top and let the pizza rest for couple minutes, before cutting and serving.
Tips & Notes
This recipe makes two 10-inch pizzas.
Note 1: You can use store-bought pizza dough, but my homemade pizza dough recipe is by far the best! My pizza dough recipe yields 1.5lbs dough. You can freeze 1 ball of pizza for later, or make 3 pizza by increasing topping ingredients.
Note 2: I prefer and recommend grating a block of mozzarella cheese as it melts better than pre-shredded cheese.
Storing Tip: Refrigerate leftovers in airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or air-fryer for the best results!
Nutrition
Serving: 0.5pizza, Calories: 519kcal, Carbohydrates: 59g, Protein: 23g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 46mg, Sodium: 1326mg, Potassium: 165mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 969IU, Vitamin C: 13mg, Calcium: 317mg, Iron: 4mg
Did you make this?Share a comment or a review below!
This recipe was originally published on September 17th, 2015.
Oh my! This looks so amazing! Pinned and tweeted. We love partying with you and we appreciate you stopping by! Please take a minute to stop by next week, so we can pin and tweet your new creation. The party starts on Monday at 7 pm! Have a great Saturday! Lou Lou Girls
Thank you so much!!
Hi! Thank you for the delicious recipes! The pizza looks wonderful. I’m taking part in a blog tour and will be putting a link to your blog on mine. There’s no need to do anything, I just want to make some new friends! Thanks.
Joan
That’s awesome, Joan. Thank you so much!!