Veggie Garden Pesto Pizza
This Veggie Garden Pizza Pesto recipe is the perfect summer or early fall recipe to use up those garden vegetables or to take advantage of the farmer’s market. There is a homemade pesto sauce and it’s topped with arugula for a fresh, healthy, and delicious pizza.
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This Veggie Garden Pesto Pizza is inspired by one of my favorite restaurants I used to frequent when I lived in San Francisco called Park Chow. It’s no longer in business, but I’ve tried to recreate my favorite pizza and I think I got pretty close.
This pizza has fresh heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn, homemade pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese and is topped with fresh arugula. That’s a lot of fresh ingredients! If you are looking for a way to use up your summer and early fall vegetables from your garden or just love veggies in general, this is the pizza for you!
If you love making homemade pizza, check out my Fig and Prosciutto Pizza recipe!
Ingredients Needed to Make Veggie Garden Pesto Pizza
All of the ingredients for this pizza are either fresh produce or made from scratch. But, if you don’t want to make everything from scratch, you can use store-bought pizza crust and/or pesto.
The veggies I love on this pizza are heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, and arugula. This pizza tastes like summer!
You will also need cheese, of course. I used a pre-sliced fresh mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella is always a good idea on pizza, but you can use whatever cheese you love or have on hand.
What are Heirloom Tomatoes?
According to Bon Appetit, “The seeds are what make an heirloom tomato an heirloom tomato. They are passed down from season to season, taken by the farmers from the tomato plants that produced the best fruit. This process allows farmers to select for certain desirable traits like juiciness, size, shape, or color. Heirloom tomatoes are also often open-pollinated, which means that they are pollinated naturally, by birds, insects, wind, or human hands. No weird science-y genetic modification here.”
Although heirloom tomatoes can look a little strange in shape and color, they taste unbelievable and have so much more flavor than your typical grocery store tomato, in my opinion. Since heirloom tomatoes have become much more popular over the years, you can find them in most grocery stores in the summer and early fall.
Tools for Making Pizza at Home
A pizza stone is a must-have for making pizza at home. When you preheat the stone, it helps achieve a crispy crust. Having a pizza peel to move the pizza to and from the oven is also helpful and makes pizza baking safe…that stone gets hot! This set from Cuisinart has all of your pizza baking needs all in one!
Tips for Making the Best Homemade Pesto Pizza
- I like to bake my homemade crust for 3-4 minutes before adding the toppings. This helps prevent a soggy middle, especially when using fresh tomatoes, and it also makes it easier to move the crust after topping.
- For an extra layer of flavor, coat the fresh arugula with a light coat of olive oil before placing it on top of the baked pizza.
- Use a pizza peel for an easy and safe way to place the crust on the pizza stone and remove it as well.
- No pizza stone? Use a large baking sheet or pizza baking pan. There is no need to preheat the pan and make sure to adjust bake time as needed.
Other Fresh Ingredient Recipes to Check Out
- Fresh Mango Galette
- Fresh Cherry Tart Recipe
- Rhubarb Simple Syrup
- Dehydrated Cherries
- Healthy Shrimp Ceviche
Veggie Garden Pesto Pizza
Equipment
- pizza stone or pizza pan
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 1 pizza crust homemade or store-bought
- 3-4 tablespoon pesto homemade or store-bought
- 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese (I used pre-sliced)
- 1-2 medium heirloom tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cob fresh sweet corn, remove from the cob
- 1 ounces fresh arugula a little over a cup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven and pizza stone at 500°F. Roll out the pizza dough to a 12" round (if you made my homemade crust, this will be half of the dough). Once the oven is preheated, place the rolled-out crust in the oven and bake for 3-4 minutes and remove it from the oven. This step is optional, but I find that it creates a crispier crust and prevents a soggy bottom from the heavy ingredients.
- Spread on a layer of pesto then add the cheese, tomato slices, and corn. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the crust is brown around the edges.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and place the arugula on top. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
- I like to bake my homemade crust for 3-4 minutes before adding the toppings. This helps prevent a soggy middle, especially when using fresh tomatoes, and it also makes it easier to move the crust after topping.
- For an extra layer of flavor, coat the fresh arugula with a light coat of olive oil before placing it on top of the baked pizza.
- Use a pizza peel for an easy and safe way to place the crust on the pizza stone and remove it as well.
- No pizza stone? Use a large baking sheet or pizza baking pan. There is no need to preheat the pan and make sure to adjust bake time as needed.
Nutrition
Any nutrition calculations are only estimates using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Did you Make This Veggie Garden Pizza with Pesto?
If you make this Garden Veggie Pesto Pizza I’d love to see it! Tag me on Instagram or Facebook and show me your creation. Also, don’t forget to leave a review 😊.
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My daughter would love this pizza. She isn’t a fan of tomato based sauces so pesto is the perfect alternative.
Well, then you definitely need to try this one.😁
This looks so so good. My husband will love this dish.
I LOVE pizza, especially homemade kinds! This is perfect!
I agree homemade pizza is the best! Enjoy!!
I love pesto so much and this was amazing! Perfect for our Friday pizza night!
I’m so glad you liked it, Michael! Pesto is the best on pizza!
Absolutely fresh and delicious. Highly recommend.
Thanks, Elizabeth!
Pesto on pizza is a great flavor and using the one homemade is so much better for the taste! I love also vegetables on pizza!
Sounds like this pizza was made for you! Thanks for trying it out.😁
This was such a great way to use those end-of-summer vegetables! They were especially delicious with the pesto.
I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks, Amanda!
Love the addition of pesto in this pizza. So refreshing and flavorful
Pesto and pizza just go together, right? Thanks for checking it out.
Such a great way to use those fall veggies.
Yes! Use up veggies and have pizza…what could be better?? 😉
Absolutely delicious! So fresh and yummy.
I’m so glad you liked it. Thanks for trying it out.
Trying this next pizza night!
That’s great to hear, I know you are gonna love it!
I love that I was able to get all of this at the farmer’s market! So delicious! We always eat pizzas on Fridays so I am making this again tonight!
Farmer’s markets are the BEST! Happy Pizza night!!
What a vibrant and delicious pizza. Definitely one to try for our next pizza night.
I hope everyone loves it for pizza night 😁
This was amazing and such a treat! Thank you!
Thanks, Shandi! I love to hear that.
This is such a yummy pizza for family pizza night at our house! Love the sweet corn and arugula together.
There are a lot of different flavors going on in this pizza but they just seem to work together. I’m glad you and your family liked it.
Great recipe! So healthy and delicious!
Thanks, Nora!
The perfect weeknight pizza!
Arugula on top of pizza adds so much flavor, crunch and actual vitamins. I can eat it all day!
Isn’t it great when you find something delicious AND nutritious?? Enjoy!
delicious vegetable pizza and I like the use of pesto, have to try!
Pesto and veggies are magical together. I hope you get a chance to try it!
Great recipe! Love the use of pesto!
Thanks, Amy!