A Margherita Pizza is a timeless favorite and a real classic. One of the best flavors and all colors of Italy on your plate. This homemade Margherita pizza recipe is made in your standard home oven with everyday ingreidents, you’ll LOVE this pizza recipe so MUCH! Tips, Step by Step and Video!
If you think homemade pizza is daunting, think again! You can have the crust as thin or thick and as crispy as your heart desires. Choose your favorite type of dough, toppings, and cooking techniques to achieve that pizza perfection you crave!
Skip take-out for today and get the tips and tricks to bake the BEST pizza!
Who can resist Pizza Night? While takeout is sometimes the best option, and don’t me wrong, I often do takeout too. But I also don’t miss out on making pizza at home. It’s another experience, specially when you got the basics covered.
Basics like this no brainer Pizza Dough Recipe and this make ahead fuss free No Knead Pizza Dough with my no cook Pizza Sauce and my homemade Basil Pesto.
Moving on to my 5 minute Air Fryer Pizza Rolls made using brioche buns instead of dough, and my fun Pizza Bites that are like pizza popcorn! Plus, we found a genius way to Air Fryer Pizza where the dough cooks perfectly!
When I make pizza at home, I love adding a twist to make unique pizza flavors like this Burrata Pizza, Caprese Pizza, Cacio e Pepe Pizza or Mushroom Pizza.
What is Margherita Pizza?
This particular pizza recipe is a real classic that I feel is sometimes overlooked among the many endless variations of gourmet pizzas.
And while I can’t deny I love twisting recipes left, right, and center ( the most recent one squash basil amaretti lasagna) I also love the REAL DEAL classics.
The technical answer to this question is that a true Margherita pizza recipe has tomatoes, basil, cheese, and sauce on a thin, crispy crust.
Margherita Pizza Ingredients:
- Homemade Pizza Dough. Try our recipe for the best pizza dough. You will learn all the basics of how to make the perfect crust from that post. If you need the easy button, try our No-knead overnight pizza dough.
- Homemade Sauce. What’s a pizza without sauce? Here is my favorite ultimate best ever easy no-cook pizza sauce recipe. This sauce comes together in minutes (like 2 minutes) and tastes fresh, flavorful, and perfectly balanced. It’s super convenient and can be prepared way in advance. I seriously can’t stress how much I LOVE this sauce 🙂
- Good Quality Pizza Mozzarella Cheese. So you’ve got the dough, the sauce, and finally, all you need is good quality pizza mozzarella cheese to top this pizza. You can try fresh buffalo mozzarella, which is really good too. It isn’t my preference because (in my opinion) it contains a high moisture content and works best in commercial, wood, or coal pizza ovens
- Fresh Basil. In U.S. grocery stores, you can buy live basil plants in the produce department of many grocery stores and harvest the basil as you cook. You can also use Basil Pesto.
- Small Tomatoes on the Vine. I love to top my cheese with thin slices of baby tomatoes, and when the pizza is done I love to sprinkle some minced fresh basil.
How to Make Margherita Pizza Recipe
Making the pizza is very easy.
- Always start by placing a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet in your oven and preheating it to the highest setting on your oven.
- The hottest oven makes the best pizza crust. Then, split your pizza dough into two pieces and stretch each piece to your desired thickness and shape. Set these aside to rest for ten minutes and gather your toppings.
Bake Margherita Pizza
3. Spread the dough lightly with sauce, and top the pizza with cheese and tomato slices. Bake the pizza for ten to fifteen minutes.
4. Add a sprinkling of chopped basil to the top of your pizza when it comes out of the oven and enjoy your classic pizza for dinner!
TIPS and FAQ
- Chose the type of dough to use for this recipe, and notice that the Pizza Dough Recipe is a classic light and airy dough. And the No Knead Pizza Dough is lighter, thinner, more artisanal, but requires planning a day ahead.
- Since Margherita is based off really simple ingredients, make sure you use quality tomatoes to make the Pizza Sauce, fragrant Basil Pesto and pizza style mozzarella cheese.
- For a cheesier and creamier topping, I used a combo of mozzarella cheeses.
- Baking the pizza at home requires a very high temperature oven, and even better if you can have a pizza stone or baking steel.
- Ensuring the pizza goes in to a hot surface will create a perfect crust for you.
- If you like a charred top on the dough, switch to broil for the last 2 minutes of cooking.
- Leftover pizza is great when you reheat it in your air fryer and tastes just as fresh!
This is a perfect slice for me, golden and very crispy edges and bottom, very airy and soft texture on the inside, loaded with sauce, basil, and cheese. Let’s talk about some of the questions you might have.
Does Margherita Pizza have alcohol?
No. There is no alcohol in this pizza recipe.
Is Margherita Pizza vegetarian?
Yes.
How to Make a Margherita Pizza from scratch?
We walk you through this step-by-step on our recipe card!
What sauce is on a Margherita pizza?
This pizza calls for a classic red sauce, we recommend our two-minute homemade pizza sauce!
Do you bake basil on a Margherita Pizza?
No. We recommend adding the basil after the pizza comes out of the oven, and even better using Basil Pesto.
How do I store leftovers?
Keep leftover pizza in a plastic zipper bag in your refrigerator for two or three days and reheat them in an air fryet at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes.
How to Reheat Pizza in the Air fryer?
Place the pizza slices in a single layer in your air fryer basket and ste to 350 degrees F. reheat for 3-4 minutes until the cheese is melty and the crust has crisped up.
Can I freeze pizza leftovers?
Yes. Place the slices in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Reheat the same way using the air fryer.
MORE PIZZA RECIPES
Now take these basics and play around with any topping you love. If you want, you can make ahead and store the dough and sauce so that on busy nights it’s ready! Or use the same dough and sauce to make these crowd-pleasing pizza popcorn bites! I
f you’re into a more fancy feel–try this gourmet mushroom brie pizza.
For a different type of pizza using the same dough–try this Turkish pizza Lahmacun. Thin pizza dough is topped with a spicy lamb/beef mixture. After baking it’s topped with feta, fresh mint, onions, tomatoes and rolled up into a wrap!
Air Fryer Pizza Rolls are my go to pizza rolls when I need pizza in 5 minutes! MUST TRY RECIPE!
However you play around with your best pizza dough and easy-no-cook pizza sauce, I’m sure this Pizza Margherita will make your table more often than you expect!
Margherita Pizza
A pizza Margherita recipe is a timeless favorite and a real classic. One of the best flavors and all colors of Italy in your plate. This pizza is easy to prepare in advance, and can be made your own if you prefer to jazz it up with extra toppings. Have the crust as thin or thick and as crispy as your heart desires! S
Ingredients
- 1 batch of the best homemade pizza dough recipe
- 1 1 1/2 cups of the easy no cook pizza sauce recipe
- 2 cups (more or less to your taste) of good quality pizza mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup of fresh basil , minced
- 10 small tomatoes on the vine , thinly sliced
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to it’s highest setting and set either a baking stone or rimless cookie sheet or an inverted cookie sheet in the middle rack. (For more details and tips on baking pizza dough and adjusting the crust preference, you can read the best pizza dough recipe post or the no knead pizza dough recipe post)
-
Divide the dough in half and roll out the dough to your desired thickness ( and always remember the dough will puff up to about twice it’s thickness while baking). Let the dough sit covered for about 10 minutes.
-
Spread the dough with the easiest no cook pizza sauce and sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top.
-
Place the sliced tomatoes on top of the cheese and bake your pizza for about 10-15 minutes (depending on the thickness and size of your dough).
-
When the pizza is done, sprinkle it with the minced basil and enjoy!
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
TIPS and FAQ
- Chose the type of dough to use for this recipe, and notice that the Pizza Dough Recipe is a classic light and airy dough. And the No Knead Pizza Dough is lighter, thinner, more artisanal, but requires planning a day ahead.Â
- Since Margherita is based off really simple ingredients, make sure you use quality tomatoes to make the Pizza Sauce, fragrant Basil Pesto and pizza style mozzarella cheese.
- For a cheesier and creamier topping, I used a combo of mozzarella cheeses.
- Baking the pizza at home requires a very high temperature oven, and even better if you can have a pizza stone or baking steel.Â
- Ensuring the pizza goes in to a hot surface will create a perfect crust for you.Â
- If you like a charred top on the dough, switch to broil for the last 2 minutes of cooking.
- Leftover pizza is great when you reheat it in your air fryer and tastes just as fresh!
This is a perfect slice for me, golden and very crispy edges and bottom, very airy and soft texture on the inside, loaded with sauce, basil, and cheese. Let’s talk about some of the questions you might have.
Does Margherita Pizza have alcohol?
No. There is no alcohol in this pizza recipe.
Is Margherita Pizza vegetarian?
Yes.
How to Make a Margherita Pizza from scratch?
We walk you through this step-by-step on our recipe card!
What sauce is on a Margherita pizza?
This pizza calls for a classic red sauce, we recommend our two-minute homemade pizza sauce!
Do you bake basil on a Margherita Pizza?
No. We recommend adding the basil after the pizza comes out of the oven, and even better using Basil Pesto.
How do I store leftovers?
Keep leftover pizza in a plastic zipper bag in your refrigerator for two or three days and reheat them in an air fryet at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes.Â
How to Reheat Pizza in the Air fryer?
Place the pizza slices in a single layer in your air fryer basket and ste to 350 degrees F. reheat for 3-4 minutes until the cheese is melty and the crust has crisped up.Â
Can I freeze pizza leftovers?
Yes. Place the slices in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Reheat the same way using the air fryer.
We’ve made this pizza several times and it always turns out perfectly! My family loves it!
Total classic pizza, perfect for Friday night pizza night!
It was so delicious and everyone loved it! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Wow! that was a really easy pizza to make! It was delicious… thanks for the recipe!
So good, and such a fun recipe to make together with my girls!
We had this pizza for dinner last night and it was amazing! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
This is fabulous! I had to laugh when you gave freezing instructions – because there are never any leftovers with this pizza – Yum!
I love margerita pizza but don’t usually make it at home! Your recipe has inspired me to try it out – looks amazing!
This is my favorite style of pizza and with all the fresh tomatoes we have this in going to be made this weekend its looks great!
Looks amazing!
Thanks 😉