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This scrumptious, vibrant veggie pizza is a must! The pizza crust is light, crispy and the juicy topping is made with creamy mozzarella, roasted vegetables, fresh basil and arugula.
It’s colorful, full of flavor, a breeze to make and totally delicious!
This has been one of my favorite vegetarian pizza recipes as long as I can remember. Every pizzeria in Italy has its own veggie pizza on the menu. It’s called “vegetariana”, sometimes “ortolana” (greengrocer), and tastes amazing.
The vegetarian topping is made with roasted or grilled vegetables: bell peppers, zucchini, eggplants, tomatoes and red onions. And you’ll never see broccoli, just saying. : )
This easy recipe is inspired to this classic Italian pizza.
To enhance all the flavors, I love roasting the vegetables. It’s easy: I just pop a baking sheet with the sliced veggies in the hot oven before baking the pizza. Believe me, it’s so worth it!
For the pizza crust I use this easy no-knead pizza dough. It’s a high-hydration pizza dough, so easy to whip up in 1 bowl, and it tastes amazing. But feel free to use your favorite pizza crust if it makes your life easier, and bake and enjoy the best veggie pizza ever.
Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but I’m such a pizza lover! : )
Ingredients for the no-knead pizza dough
- All-purpose flour or bread flour
- Instant yeast (or Active yeast)
- Fine salt
- Water
- Extra virgin olive oil or olive oil
Please, follow this recipe with helpful step-by-step photos and video.
Ingredients for the veggie pizza topping
Once you’ve made the pizza dough, prepare the vegetarian topping with:
- Vegetables (zucchini, red onion, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers)
- Fresh mozzarella ball (shredded mozzarella is ok too)
- Arugula
- Fresh basil or oregano
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper
How to make veggie pizza topping
- Scatter the sliced vegetables on a baking sheet without overlapping them.
- Roast them for 20 minutes in the preheated oven before baking the pizza.
- While the veggies are in the oven prepare the pizza crust.
- Top with chopped mozzarella, roasted vegetables, cherry tomatoes.
- Season with salt and pepper. I added oregano too.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, until golden and crusty.
- Serve warm with arugula, fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy!
Recipe notes
Veggie pizza ingredients
Vegetables: the best vegetables for this pizza recipe are zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, red onion, tomatoes, arugula and basil. But the recipe for the topping is pretty flexible, feel free to use your favorite combination of these vegetables (I skipped the eggplant this time!).
Flour: unbleached, all-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe, but bread flour will do too.
Instant yeast: you can stir it directly into the dry ingredients and doesn’t require any activation in water. Alternatively, Active dry yeast works fine too, but it needs to be activated in water before you add it to the dry ingredients (check the manufacturer’s instructions).
Mozzarella: whole milk mozzarella in water is best, but make sure you don’t overload the pizza because fresh mozzarella contains plenty of water which can make the crust soggy. Alternatively, the shredded mozzarella that you find at your local store is ok too.
Olive oil: use a drizzle of good-quality extra virgin olive oil to enhance all the flavors!
Tips to make a delicious veggie pizza
Vegetarian topping: bake the vegetables, their flavor shines once they’re roasted in the oven, while the raw arugula and fresh basil add freshness. Season them with salt, pepper and don’t forget a drizzle of olive oil before and after baking.
Pizza crust: follow these simple rules to make a crispy homemade pizza!
- Make sure the oven is preheated and hot to give a burst of initial heat.
- Place the rack in the lowest position close to the heating element.
- Use hot pizza stone or pizza steel to make a crispy crust. Alternatively, you can use a preheated baking sheet (see my tips in the recipe card!).
- Use parchment paper and a pizza peel to transfer your pizza to a hot stone. This helps when you deal with sticky high-hydration dough like this.
More easy delicious pizza recipes:
- Fresh tomato pizza
- Pizza with peppers
- Pizza with zucchini
- Anchovy pizza
- Spinach pizza with feta and pesto
- Quick Caprese pizza
If you make this veggie pizza, or if you have any questions, let me know! Leave a comment or rate it. I would love to hear from you!
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Veggie Pizza
Ingredients
Easy pizza dough
- 1 ½ cup + 2 Tbsps (210 grams) all-purpose flour (leveled cups, see notes), plus more flour to sprinkle
- ½ tsp Instant yeast (or dry Active yeast, see notes)
- ½ tsp fine salt
- ¾ cup (180 grams) water, lukewarm
- ¾ Tbsp Olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
Veggie topping
- 5oz (150 grams) fresh mozzarella (or from ½ to ⅓ cup shredded firm mozzarella)
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 1 zucchini, cut it into ¼ inch slices
- 2 bell peppers, cut it into ¼ inch slices
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters or into halves
- 1 handful arugula, washed
- 10 basil leaves
- 1 tsp dried oregano (optional)
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Pizza dough: follow the easy no-knead pizza recipe to prepare the dough. It takes 5 minutes of prep time and 1 hour of proofing time. When the dough has doubled in size and looks bubbly, start making the veggie topping.
- Veggie topping: preheat the oven to 240°C/465°F and place the rack on the lowest position. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the sliced vegetables without overlapping; season with salt, pepper, and spray or drizzle a little olive oil. A good pinch of oregano is optional, but tastes lovely.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, until they get golden. I leave the baking sheet on the lowest shelf for 15 minutes, and I move it closer to the broil for the last 5 minutes. Using the broil is optional, keep an eye on them because they might burn easily if they're too close.
- Shape the dough: while the veggies are in the oven, prepare 2 parchment paper sheets. Using a spatula, divide the dough by pouring half of it onto each sheet (you'll find all the tips and video here). Sprinkle some flour over and, starting from the center, gently press it out with your fingers to get approx 2 13-inch round pizza (or you can make a whole large pizza without diving the dough).
- Remove the veggies from the oven, but don't turn the the oven off and place a pizza stone or a large baking sheet on the lowest rack instead. You want to preheat a pizza stone or a baking sheet for at least 10-15 minutes to make a nice pizza crust.
- Topping: Scatter the diced mozzarella, the roasted vegetables and the cherry tomatoes over the pizza. Season with salt, pepper, and sprinkle with oregano.
- Bake: Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone or onto the hot baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden and crusty. Each oven is different, keep an eye on it (e.g. in a forced fan oven it will take about 8-10 minutes). Repeat for the second pizza.
- Serve warm, top with a handful of fresh arugula, some fresh basil leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy.
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