This Italian Caprese Salad Pizza recipe will transport you straight to pizza heaven! Pizza dough is topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil leaves, then drizzled with olive oil. It’s a pizza…it’s a salad…it’s just everything you love!
Hello everyone, I am Elise Laney from Polka Dotted Blue Jay and I am excited to share one of my favorite recipes with you today. It feels like just yesterday that I took my first international trip to Italy when in reality it was three years ago. I can almost still taste the gelato and the pizza; thank goodness for photos that remind me of all the delicious food I ate on our 10-day trip. As soon as we arrived in Rome, we checked into the hotel and jogged to find a small pizza parlor near the Trevi Fountain that my husband had discovered on a prior Italian trip in 2007 to enjoy some pizza.
The pizza parlor was a tiny store front that only had seats for 16 people at a time, but had a deli case full of freshly-made pizzas. I was completely fascinated with the square pizzas and slices; I picked the outside pieces since pizza crust is my favorite part.
Italian Caprese Salad Pizza Recipe
We ordered three different kinds of pizza and I was so intrigued with the Caprese Pizza. I usually enjoy light marinara on my pizzas, but this one didn’t have any marinara at all. Just delicious and gooey mozzarella cheese!
Caprese is a simple, but delicious, food that is generally served as a salad. It is the combination of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil leaves that are drizzled with olive oil. Sounds amazing, right? Well, imagine that same combination on freshly-made pizza dough and you have pizza heaven…which is exactly what that Italian Caprese Salad Pizza was.
When we got home from Italy and recovered from some jet lag, I set out to try to replicate that Italian Caprese Salad Pizza recipe as best as I could. Now, there is something about ancient stone streets, landmarks, and fountains that make everything taste better, but this simple recipe comes pretty close to the original I had in Rome.
Ingredients
- Pizza dough (from scratch or pre-made)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Mozzarella
- Tomatoes
- Fresh Basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- Prepare your pizza dough on a baking sheet.
- Slice tomatoes (or dice if you prefer).
- Rinse and gently dry basil leaves.
- Grate mozzarella.
- Spray pizza dough with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and spread with a pastry brush.
- Cover dough with grated mozzarella (the more, the better).
- Bake until the pizza dough is 90% done.
- Place tomatoes and basil on top.
- Add a light layer of mozzarella to the top.
- Finish baking and remove from oven when the cheese is bubbly and slightly golden; a total of approximately 15 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Home Chef Tip: Sauté garlic in olive oil and spread on the dough before adding the cheese.
We hope you love this Italian Caprese Salad Pizza recipe from SoFabFood Home Chef, Elise from Polka Dotted Blue Jay, as much as we do. If you love this delightful recipe, stop by our Pizza section to find more like it. For daily recipe inspiration, subscribe to our newsletter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Pinterest and Instagram. Enjoy!
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