This delicious pesto pizza has simple, fresh ingredients and it’s easy to make! It has a pesto base rather than traditional sauce, so if you love basil and garlic, you’ll love it.

I used to be really picky about my pizza. I wanted basic cheese or pepperoni and if I really wanted to branch out, I’d opt for Hawaiian. Then…I moved to Italy for a semester in college and all of my reservations on food went out the window. And an extra 20 pounds came home with me. So did my willingness to try new and different food.

Something as easy as switching up the base of a pizza can make it taste so different. I hope you’ll give this a try.

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How to Make Pesto Pizza

First let’s start with the pesto!

Ingredients for Pesto Sauce

Two handfuls of fresh basil (This garden in a can idea is pretty cool.)

One or two cloves of garlic

About 1/4C of pine nuts

About 1C shredded parmesan cheese

Some Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You’ll notice that I say “about” and “some” in the ingredient list above. That’s because I don’t really think you can mess pesto up too much.

If you don’t like a lot of garlic flavor, stick to one clove. (In fact, it’s easier to add more later if you want some rather than taking it out once you’re blending.) If you love cheese, go over one cup.

Personally, I use a heaping 1/4C of pine nuts. In this recipe, I’m pretty sure I used “too much” basil, but you wouldn’t be able to tell.

As for the EVOO, you’ll need a bit of it, but you don’t want it to wind up too oily, so I suggest you pour about 5 or 6 tablespoons in to start with and then add as you go until it’s a nice consistency. Again, it’s easier to add than take away.

Directions for Pesto Sauce

Step 1: Take the ingredients above (with just some of the olive oil) and place them in a food processor or blender.

Step 2: Blend and add olive oil as desired. Alter ingredients to taste.

You have now made pesto sauce!

You can make large batches and store them in the freezer. (That’s something I suggested in this post on marinara sauce, too.)

You won’t need all of this pesto for the pizza, so save some for another pizza or try it on a turkey sandwich!

You may also like this variation of a walnut kale pesto on these walnut kale pesto portabello mushroom burgers!

Ingredients for Pesto Pizza

Store-bought or homemade pizza dough (I used store-bought)

Pesto (see recipe above)…or you can buy it too!

One container of small fresh mozzarella balls (If you get a large one, just cut it up.)

A few tomatoes

A package of prosciutto (This will be less expensive at your local store than probably anywhere online.)

Directions for Pesto Pizza

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Step 2: Roll out the pizza dough and place it on a floured baking sheet. Pierce it with a fork several times and bake it in the oven for about 10 minutes with nothing on it.

Step 3: Drain the mozzarella balls and let them dry while you chop up the tomatoes.

Step 4: Once the dough has baked on it’s own, spread the pesto on it.

Step 5: Put the mozzarella on the pesto.

Step 6: Add tomatoes. Place the pizza back in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is cooked all the way through and the cheese is melted.

Step 7: Take the pizza out of the oven and add some prosciutto if you’d like. Place the pizza back in for another 3-5 minutes, until the prosciutto is warm and wilted.

Step 8: Decide if you’d like to add a simple side dish…

We decided to serve prosciutto e melone with this pesto pizza.

If you’ve never had prosciutto and cantaloupe together, I highly suggest you try it! It is one of our favorites.

You can serve it as larger slices or cut the cantaloupe into smaller pieces and add smaller bites of prosciutto.

Mangiamo!

If you like the idea of different types of pizza, you may also like:

Tex Mex Pizza

What is your favorite pizza?