Calling all pesto lovers, this is the ultimate pizza recipe for you.
Pesto is one of those sauces that I actually love to make. First of all, it doesn’t require any cooking. So that’s a huge win right there, isn’t it?
Second, it doesn’t require any chopping or cutting of any sort.
Instead, you can let your food processor do all of the work. You just dump in the ingredients and let it come together as you slowly drizzle in olive oil. The result is a sauce that you can use in so many ways, but most importantly, in a delicious recipe like this one.
What I love about this recipe is that the homemade sauce is prepared with parsley instead of basil. This makes for a whole new, fresh and flavorful take on pesto.
It’s actually a really affordable option because parsley is so inexpensive to buy by the bunch, especially compared to the cost of buying basil like you’d use in the traditional recipe.
Better yet, you could even try growing it in your own garden! Our sister site Gardener’s Path has all the tips you’ll need if you want to give it a shot.
To me, a tasty pesto pizza should have a bold, herbaceous flavor. The parsley leaves pair wonderfully with the pine nuts, Pecorino cheese, and garlic to give this pesto a rich nuttiness and depth, and the sauce comes together in just a couple of minutes.
It’s this sauce that actually pairs so well with the einkorn flour crust it’s spread on. The nuttiness of the ancient grain is a perfect base for the sauce, because you get those nutty notes along with with an extra burst of herbaceous freshness.
On top of all this, you get bursts of flavor from the juicy and acidic fresh tomatoes. And the fresh and light mozzarella cheese comes in to tie the whole thing together.
The final touch is a bit of extra minced garlic on top, which adds a little extra zing.
Top it all off with a few dollops of that delicious green sauce, or save the leftovers to use in a variety of different ways. I’ll tell you more about my suggestions at the end of this article.
But first, let’s talk a little more about this recipe.
How many times a week do you like to eat pizza? For me, it’s at least once a week, but sometimes a little bit more often…
Hey, having self control is hard when it comes to this kind of food!
I love this recipe because you make the crust from scratch. It’s such an easy process to make the einkorn dough, and it all comes together in one bowl, so you won’t be stuck with a million dishes to do.
Instead, you can focus your time on rolling out the dough, together with your family in the kitchen. Making homemade pizza is one of those memories I absolutely cherish from my childhood, and it’s a shared activity that my husband and I love to embrace now as adults.
The toppings keep everything simple and flavorful, so you don’t have to worry about things getting overly complicated, especially if you have little kiddos.
The only question is whether you can stop yourself after eating a couple of slices – because you’ll likely end up devouring the whole pie quickly.
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Parsley Pesto Pizza with an Einkorn Crust
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch pizza 1x
Description
Bold, flavorful parsley pesto pizza with an einkorn crust is crispy, cheesy, and fresh. This makes for a tasty, fresh option to enjoy on a night in at home.
Ingredients
For the Pesto:
- 1 bunch fresh parsley (about 2 cups lightly packed leaves)
- 1 cup pine nuts
- 1 cup shredded Pecorino cheese
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1/4–1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
For the Pizza:
- 1 einkorn pizza crust, rolled out very thin
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 5 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425˚F and place pizza stone or baking sheet inside on the center rack.
- Remove parsley leaves from stems. Add leaves and pine nuts to a food processor. Pulse until well-combined. Add Pecorino cheese and garlic, and pulse again.
- While blending, add olive oil in a steady stream through the top opening of your machine. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and taste. Add more salt if desired. If needed, add more oil to reach desired consistency.
- Top crust with pesto as a base covering. Then arrange tomato halves, mozzarella slices, and garlic on top.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden around the edges. You may wish to brown the cheese quickly under the broiler at the end. Season with salt and serve.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Baked Goods
Keywords: einkorn, pesto, parsley, pine nut, mozzarella, tomato
Cooking By the Numbers…
Step 1 – Prep and Measure Ingredients
Remove the parsley leaves from the stems.
Toast the pine nuts, if you like. You can do this is a dry frying pan for a few minutes over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until light golden brown and fragrant. Keep an eye on it, and don’t let the nuts burn!
Peel and mince 5 cloves of garlic, or use a garlic press, dividing them for the pesto and pizza as listed.
Roll out the dough into a thin 9-inch crust.
Halve enough grape tomatoes until you have 1 cup.
Slice 5 ounces of fresh mozzarella into rounds.
Measure the remaining ingredients as listed on the ingredients list.
Place a pizza stone or baking sheet in the oven on the center rack. Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
Step 2 – Make Pesto
Add the parsley leaves and pine nuts to a food processor. Pulse until well-combined.
Add the cheese and 3 cloves minced garlic, and pulse again until combined. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula.
Set the food processor to low speed if this option is available to you, otherwise just turn it on. Slowly pour in the olive oil in a steady stream through the top of the machine.
Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, pulse to combine, and taste. Add more salt, if desired. If you need to, you can add more oil to reach your desired texture as well.
Step 3 – Add Sauce and Toppings
Remove the stone or baking sheet from the oven and carefully place the crust on top.
Spread the crust with pesto as a base, leaving a thin border of crust around the edges if desired. You don’t need to use all of the pesto.
Arrange the tomato halves, mozzarella slices, and garlic on top.
Don’t have einkorn flour? If you have bread flour on hand, try our recipe for an herbed crunchy chewy pizza dough.
Step 4 – Bake
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The crust should be lightly golden around the edges.
If the cheese doesn’t brown enough, you can brown it more under the broiler for an extra minute or so.
Season with salt, slice, and serve immediately.
What Can I Do with Leftover Pesto?
If you are only making one pie, you’ll definitely have some leftover pesto to use up. I personally love to use it in a few different ways.
First, you can serve it as a sauce for your favorite kind of pasta. It can also be spread onto sandwiches, either hot or cold.
It can be used to mix into a topping for bruschetta, tossed with vegetables before roasting or grilling them, or you can even use it to top your eggs in the morning!
Honestly, the options are endless here.
Do you need more homemade pizza recipes in your life? Check out the following from Foodal to try next:
- Homemade Squash Apple
- Gluten-Free Zucchini and Caramelized Onions
- Strawberry Leek on Kefir Einkorn Crust
- Alsatian White with Potato, Onion, and Bacon
How will you use up the leftover pesto sauce from this recipe? Tell us in the comments below. And be sure to come back to rate the recipe as well, to let other readers know how much you enjoyed it!
Photos by Meghan Yager, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published by Shanna Mallon on October 30, 2012. March 29, 2020.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Meghan Yager
Meghan Yager is a food addict turned food and travel writer with a love for creating uncomplicated, gourmet recipes and devouring anything the world serves up. As the author of the food and travel blog Cake 'n Knife, Meghan focuses on unique foodie experiences from around the world to right at home in your own kitchen.
This pizza is so good! Thanks for showing the step-by-step photos too!
★★★★★