Veggie Pizza Toppings

This Pizza starts with a base of my whole wheat pizza dough. As an alternative, use one pound of store-bought pizza dough, which you can divide by two to follow my recipe exactly (or just make one large pizza—that also works with store-bought dough).

Then we’ll add the following. This recipe is truly very flexible—you can skip any of them if you don’t like ’em or don’t have ’em.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 batch easy whole wheat pizza dough or 1 pound store-bought pizza dough
• 1 cup pizza sauce or marinara
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 2 to 3 cups (8 to 12 ounces) shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup jarred or canned artichoke, cut into 1” pieces
• ½ cup fresh red or orange bell pepper, cut into narrow 2″ strips
• ½ cup red onion, cut into thin wedges
• ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
• ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise
• ½ cup sliced almonds (optional)
• Optional garnishes: Fresh basil (small leaves or torn), red pepper flakes and/or finely grated Parmesan cheese.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack in the upper third of the oven. If you’re using a baking stone or baking steel, place it on the upper rack. Prepare dough through step 5.
2. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the two pizzas, leaving about 1 inch bare around the edges. Evenly distribute the spinach on top of the sauce, followed by the cheese (use all three cups if you want a cheesy pizza as shown here).
3. Top the pizzas with artichoke, bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, olives and almonds (if using).
4. Bake pizzas individually on the top rack until the crust is golden and the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 10 to 12 minutes (or significantly less, if you’re using a baking stone/steel—keep an eye on it).
5. Transfer pizzas to a cutting board and sprinkle with with fresh basil, red pepper flakes and Parmesan, if using. Slice and serve! Leftover pizza keeps well in the refrigerator for 4 days, or for several months in the freezer.

I like my Sauce to have a bit of texture to it, and this sauce strikes the perfect balance. Many pizza sauces are either thick and dull or watery and flavorless. Not this one.

I originally developed this sauce recipe for a pizza recipe in my cookbook, Love Real Food. Since I just re-shared my favorite pizza dough recipe, I’m providing my go-to pizza sauce to go along with it.

Both the dough and the sauce come together very quickly, so you can enjoy homemade pizza with minimal fuss. How about pizza tonight?

Pizza Sauce Ingredients

Tomato Paste

Tomato paste offers deep tomato flavor. It also thickens up the sauce. We won’t use the whole can for this recipe. I like to buy tomato paste in glass jars so I can easily refrigerate the rest. Or, transfer leftovers to a freezer bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze your tomato paste for a future recipe.

Crushed Tomatoes

Crushed Tomatoes are perfectly suited for pizza sauce. Unlike tomato purée, crushed tomatoes still have some texture. Unlike diced tomatoes, they are not too chunky or watery.

Use fire-roasted or plain crushed tomatoes, but skip the options with added flavors like basil or chilis. I always buy the Muir Glen brand of canned tomatoes because you can taste the quality.

Don’t have crushed tomatoes in your cabinet? No problem—blitz some whole peeled tomatoes or diced tomatoes in a food processor or blender until you achieve a crushed tomato consistency.