Pizza with Zucchini (no-knead recipe)

Pizza with zucchini is one of our favorite summer pizza recipes! Its crispy crust and shaved parmesan pair beautifully with fresh, marinated zucchini. Plus, it’s super easy to make from scratch with this easy no-knead pizza dough!

Good news? You don’t need to cook zucchini, but I’ll show you how to save time and add plenty of zucchini to your pizza, not just a few slices for decoration.

To be honest, in my world pizza is supposed to be YUMMY and initially I was reluctant to use raw, bland zucchini for the topping. But I wanted to find a way to enhance their delicate flavor without the hassle of frying or grilling them.

You know I like to keep things simple, so I came up with MARINATED ZUCCHINI: easy and super quick to make without requiring fancy ingredients!

If you let marinate finely sliced zucchini in some olive oil, Italian herb seasoning and lemon zest, you can easily turn them into a fresh, delicious topping in no time. The marinade adds flavor to zucchini, making a lovely match for creamy mozzarella, sliced garlic and savory parmesan cheese.

Believe me, this pizza with zucchini is everything but dull and absolutely delicious!

Video: watch how to make pizza dough

List of the ingredients

• All-purpose flour
• Instant yeast (or Active yeast)
• Fine salt (and sea salt flakes for the topping if you wish, they’re are optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil or olive oil
• Zucchini
• Fresh mozzarella
• Italian herb seasoning
• Lemon
• Parmesan
• Salt & pepper

How to make pizza with zucchini

(Note: this is a quick description with step-by-step photos, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page).

• Make the marinade in one bowl.
• Finely slice the zucchini. I use this mandoline, it’s so handy, easy to store, and saves me so much time when it comes to these types of tasks.
• Toss the zucchini with the marinade and set aside.

• Make the dough by mixing flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
• Add water, olive oil and stir with a spoon until combined.
• Let it rest in a warm place until doubled in size and bubbly.

• Pour the dough onto a large piece of parchment paper or into a baking pan.
• Dust with some flour and stretch it.

• Scatter the zucchini slices evenly over the pizza base.
• Finish with mozzarella, Italian herbs, salt, pepper and bake until golden and crusty.
• Serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and parmesan shaves. Enjoy!

Recipe notes & tips

Pizza with zucchini ingredients and substitutions

FLOUR: all-purpose flour is great for this recipe. Go for good-quality unbleached flour if possible and be sure to measure the flour correctly (see more notes in the recipe card).

YEAST: I used instant yeast, it’s very convenient since you add it directly into the flour. But you can use Active dry yeast instead, it works fine, but it must be reactivated in warm water before adding to the dry ingredients (follow the manufacturer’s directions). 

ZUCCHINI: I used two large zucchini for this recipe, at least 18oz/500 grams. You want to finely slice them, possibily with the help of a mandoline (see the picture), so they’re thin enough to absorb brine and to cook nicely in the oven, loosing their moisture.

HERBS & SPICES: I used Italian herb seasoning for convenience and flavor, plus a pinch of chili flakes and freshly ground black pepper, definitely pantry staples for many. But you can use chopped fresh herbs like basil or parsley, and skip the chili flakes if you wish.

LEMON: the lemon zest adds delicate, fresh notes and goes very well with parmesan and the spicy topping. But it’s subtle, you can taste it here and there. Use more zest if you want the lemon flavor pops.

CHEESE: fresh, creamy mozzarella is best, it melts over the zucchini nicely, while savory shaved parmesan cheese adds a gourmet twist. Feel free to skip the parmesan cheese if you prefer a vegetarian pizza recipe, or swap mozzarella and parmesan for crumbled feta or ricotta cheese if you wish.

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: finish with a drizzle of extra virgin oil for more flavor, definitely a must for every Italian pizza lover.

Tips to make the best pizza with zucchini

I’m a huge pizza lover, and here a few of my tips to make a terrific homemade zucchini pizza with a light, crispy crust:

• Marinate the finely sliced zucchini: they absorb flavor and cook properly.
• Don’t use a rolling pin: it makes a flat pizza pushing out gas and bubbles. But use your fingers trying to keep as much bubbles as possibile (watch the video).
• Preheat the oven: it gives a burst of initial heat making pizza puffy and crusty.
• Place the rack in the lowest position close to the heating element.
• Use hot pizza stone or pizza steel if you can. And if you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a baking sheet (see my tips in the recipe card!).
• Use parchment paper: this easy pizza dough is a high-hydration dough, it means that the high water content makes it too sticky if you want to transfer your pizza from a pizza peel to a hot stone.

Note: the recipe uses this high hydration dough which means that the amount of water is over 80% of the amount of flour. It’s a bit sticky, but easy to whip up in 1 bowl and makes a delicious crispy crust.

More easy delicious pizza recipes:

Easy, versatile and full of flavor, pizza is definitely one of our favorite meals:

• Fresh tomato pizza
• Pizza with pepper
• Anchovy pizza
• Spinach pizza with feta and pesto
• Quick Caprese pizza
• Easy no-knead Italian focaccia

If you’re still wondering if zucchini goes on pizza or if you can put raw vegetables on pizza, the answer is yes!

And if you make this delicious pizza with zucchini this weekend, or you have a question, let me know by leaving a comment. I would love to hear from you! x
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