Homemade Garden Vegetable Pesto Pizza starts with a delicious garlic cream sauce topped with mozzarella cheese, eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, sweet corn, fresh basil, and a drizzle of pesto . The perfect summer pizza, straight from the garden!
So….planting season has come and gone….and guess who missed it. Again!? I start each summer with good intentions, I really do. And then, before I know it, summer is half over and my garden is still completely bare. Not a vegetable in sight, unless you count the basil plant that’s growing on my windowsill…..
I’ve been able to justify it in years past by focusing on the HUGE responsibility of keeping kids alive….(which is clearly more important than keeping vegetables alive)….especially because one of those kids has so often been a newborn. But this year, our youngest is one…..and we definitely had big plans for our vegetables. Plans that included new wine barrels and river rocks and fresh dirt and lots of care.
And boy, have we failed! The new wine barrels are sitting empty in the freshly weeded garden, just waiting to be filled. And, at this point, they will be waiting until next year. To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened. Except….life! The good news? We have a jump start on next spring.
I’m always inspired by fresh summer produce, and since pizza is one of our family’s favorites, I thought I would combine the two to bring you this delicious Garden Vegetable Pesto Pizza. It starts with an easy homemade crust, a finger-licking garlic cream sauce, mozzarella cheese, and tons of fresh produce.
I used eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, corn, purple onion, and basil….but you can feel free to substitute what’s fresh and local for you! That’s the great thing about fresh summer produce – no matter how you mix it, it’s going to be delicious.
Garden Vegetable Pesto Pizza
Ingredients
- *Note: ingredient amounts shown are for two pizzas.
- For crust:
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/4 ounce packet dry yeast 2 1/2 tsp.
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- For Garlic Cream Sauce:
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- For toppings:
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 red or green bell pepper thinly sliced in rings
- 1 small zucchini thinly sliced
- 1/2 medium eggplant thinly sliced
- 2 ears fresh sweet corn kernels removed
- 2 thin red onion rings quartered
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 12 fresh basil leaves chopped
- 1/4 cup prepared basil pesto
Instructions
For crust:
- Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm tap water. Add 1/2 teaspoon sugar.
- Wait 5-10 minutes for mixture to foam.
- Add remaining 1/4 cup warm water and 1/2 cup milk.
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Add yeast mixture and oil to dry ingredients and mix with hands into a ball. Knead 5 minutes.
- Add flour if too sticky or small amounts of water if too dry.
- Let rise, covered with a towel, 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Punch down dough to remove all air; divide in two equal parts and roll to fit two round pizza pans.
- Poke crusts multiple times with a fork to release air bubbles during baking.
- Par-bake at 400 degrees for 4-5 minutes.
- *Par-baked crust can be prepared in advance or used immediately.
For sauce:
- Melt butter and garlic over medium heat in a small saucepan.
- Stir in flour, salt, and pepper.
- Add milk and Parmesan cheese; cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.
- Remove from heat.
- Prepare pizza by spreading sauce evenly over both pizza crusts.
- Top each with 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Layer with fresh vegetables (except basil) and drizzle each with 1 Tablespoon olive oil.
- Bake at 400 degrees 12-15 minutes; then broil on high 2 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with fresh basil leaves and pesto.
I definitely need to plant a garden next year! This pizza looks fantastic, Cathy! What a great way to use up fresh summer veggies. And I’m loving the pesto on here. What a great combination!
The best pizza EVER! I love everything about this pizza Cathy! I’ll be making this STAT 🙂 Pinned!
My kind of pizza!
I love homemade pizza and this is definitely calling my name! Like you, I totally had intentions of doing a garden again this year… Maybe next year!
What a great looking pizza! I love how many veggies you managed to cram on there!
I am on zucchini overload right now! Love the idea of making a pizza from garden veggies. Pinned!
I would eat both pizzas, no joke. Perfection!
You had me at “garlic cream sauce!” I’m a garlic fanatic, and paired with this pizza? Wow! It’s so beautiful as a bonus! Love it!
What a gorgeous pizza, Cathy – love the list of produce ingredients that make it so colorful!
I have been dying to start a garden and just haven’t gotten around to it….good intentions but life just gets in the way. Except I only have one child so I am assuming my excuse might have more to do with my binge watching of food network 😉
Loving this gorgeous pizza! So many yummy veggies!
This looks delicious! We love pesto around here, I think this would be a yummy hit! We don’t have Pic n Saves here, maybe they will expand to New England someday! For now, I’ll tell all my friends about their yummy offerings!
This sounds sooooo awesome!!
Veggie pizzas with pesto are my favorite, Cathy — I think you made this just for me! 🙂
This is so my kind of pizza! yum! I love loading pizza with veggies and pesto is my very most favorite!!!
YUM – so fresh Cathy! I’ll take a slice or two!!