Ah, the Margherita pizza. Where to even begin with you. Now, I'll need to stop myself short before I wind up writing an entire ode to the dish itself. It's hard not to when you think about all this pizza has to offer: mozzarella cheese, fresh basil leaves, juicy cherry tomatoes, and complementary seasoning. Even if you only get yourself a personal size, those four slices are some of the finest bites you'll encounter. However, if you don't feel like hitting up every Italian restaurant in your area, you can make a Margherita pizza in the comfort of your very own home.
Margherita Pizza Recipe
What You'll Need
- 1 package of pizza crust dough (or homemade pizza crust)
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 can of plum tomatoes, drained and crushed
- 1-2 pounds of buffalo mozzarella, thinly sliced
- 8-10 large, torn basil leaves
- 2-3 minced garlic cloves
- 2-3 tablespoons of parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Spread your pizza dough over a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with olive oil.
- Evenly spread the minced garlic and drained, crushed tomatoes over the pizza crust.
- Place the cheese slices evenly over the pizza crust and make sure that the layer of cheese remains thin.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over the pizza.
- Evenly distribute the basil leaves over the ingredients.
- Cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and the crust turns a golden brown.
- Remove from heat and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately.
Additional Ingredients
Depending on how much you love tomatoes, you can add thinly sliced tomatoes to your Margherita pizza. Once you coat the crust with the garlic, mozzarella, and crushed tomatoes, you can place 1/2 a tomato, thinly sliced, on top. You can then garnish with basil leaves and head into the baking.
Some people also enjoy adding crushed red pepper flakes to the pizza. This is entirely up to you, though, and your dish will be just fine without them. It's just a little something extra that some people enjoy! You can also sprinkle on some oregano or extra basil leaves once the pizza is all ready to go.
The Margherita pizza is a classic choice for those who love bursts of flavor without going too nuts. With such tame ingredients and no heat added, this dish is a people-pleaser that you can bust out whenever you have guests coming over. Of course, you can always make yourself a personal sized pizza and no one would judge you...