How about pizza tonight? It’s hard to beat classic pesto pizza. This simple vegetarian pizza recipe is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. It offers an irresistible combination of fresh, bright flavors from the basil pesto and tomatoes, plenty of cheesy mozzarella, and a bubbling crust with a satisfying chew.

This easy pesto pizza recipe comes together quickly with the help of your food processor. You can whip together the dough and pesto in about 15 minutes—just wipe down the processor in between the two components. If you’re looking for a super simple weeknight meal that’s better than take-out, use store-bought dough and pesto instead!

Pesto Pizza Ingredients & Topping Options

Here’s what you’ll need to make this pizza:

Pizza dough

As usual, I started with my favorite Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe, which is a breeze to make. I recommend using white whole wheat flour, which is now called Golden Whole Wheat by King Arthur, so the whole wheat flavor doesn’t distract from the bright pesto. The recipe works with all-purpose flour, too.

Change it up: Use your favorite pizza dough recipe that yields around one pound of dough. Store-bought pizza dough works, too—just follow the package’s instructions on letting it rise at room temperature, if necessary.

Pesto

This recipe includes instructions for making basil pesto from scratch. It calls for fresh basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.

Change it up: You can substitute another nut for the pine nuts, including almonds, walnuts, pecans or pepitas. You can also use arugula instead of basil, which is generally more affordable and easy to find year-round.

Mozzarella cheese

Mozzarella is perfect on pesto pizza. I loved the results with mini fresh mozzarella balls, called ciliegene, which are just the right size to dot your pizzas. You can also use larger mozzarella balls, torn into one-inch pieces. The trick to making great pizzas with fresh, water-packed mozzarella balls is to lightly pat the cheese dry before topping your pizza to avoid excess moisture.

Change it up: You can also use grated part-skim mozzarella for delicious results. I slightly preferred the fresh mozzarella’s texture and loved seeing the pesto’s green color shine through.

Toppings

Tomatoes are the classic choice. I recommend cherry tomatoes, which are not too watery and generally more flavorful year-round. They bake up best on pizzas when they’re quartered lengthwise, which helps distribute them evenly across the pizzas and gives them ample surface area to help roast away any excess juice.

Change it up: You can omit the tomatoes altogether, or substitute other thinly sliced veggies like bell pepper, marinated artichoke, olives, mushrooms, or zucchini or yellow squash (cut like this). Well-drained, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes would offer extra flavor.

Watch How to Make Pesto Pizza

What to Serve with Pesto Pizza

If you’re building your meal around pesto pizza as your main course, it’s hard to go wrong. Pesto pizza complements many other fresh, herbed dishes. Here are my top suggestions organized by category.

More Recipes Featuring Pesto

Pesto is one of my favorite sauces! Here are a few more top recipes with pesto on Cookie and Kate:

Please let me know how your pesto pizza turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you.

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It’s hard to beat a bowl of pesto pasta. Today, I’m sharing a classic basil pesto pasta recipe from start to finish! You’ll learn how to make basil pesto from scratch and toss it with freshly cooked noodles in perfect proportions.

I like my pesto pasta saucy, so I used a generous amount of pesto here, which is more affordable when you’re making your own pesto. It takes ten minutes or less to make pesto in a food processor, but you could certainly use store-bought pesto if you have a favorite brand.

This vibrant pesto pasta is quick and easy to make for dinner on a weeknight. It’s also a lovely side dish to serve at a dinner party or casual summer cookout. Get ready for the best pasta pasta you’ve ever had.

Pesto Pasta Ingredients & Options

You’ll find the full recipe and an instructional video below. Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe and why:

Pasta

The best pastas for pesto are spaghetti or angel hair, spiral shapes like rotini or fusilli, or farfalle (bow ties). Pesto clings well to these shapes, so choose your favorite. Try to buy bronze-cut pasta, which has more texture for grabbing hold of sauce (it’s the traditional Italian method to extrude pasta).

Tip: Be sure to salt your pasta cooking water well, or your pasta will never have as much flavor as it could have had.

Fresh basil

This recipe is the perfect use for a surplus of garden basil. You can also make it with a large container of store-bought basil. If basil is out of stock, make this recipe with arugula instead.

Tip: Store your basil at room temperature—the easiest way is with a paper towel in the container to absorb moisture, or better yet, store it in a vase with the stems covered by an inch of water. Basil is a warm-weather crop and does not like the refrigerator!

Pine nuts

Pine nuts are traditionally used in pesto. You can also use almonds, walnuts, pecans or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds). I’ve tried and enjoyed them all.

Tip: For enhanced nutty flavor, gently toast the nuts in a skillet before blending them into the pesto. I included this step in the recipe since it makes such an impact.

Parmesan cheese

Pesto typically includes Parmesan cheese, which offers some deliciously salty, nutty, cheesy flavors that complement the other ingredients. Technically, most Parmesans are not vegetarian but you can find versions made by Whole Foods 365 and BelGioioso that are.

Lemon juice

I like to add a splash of lemon juice to my pesto to brighten the flavors. It’s not essential, but I appreciate the extra boost of flavor.

Garlic

It seems like garlic cloves have grown larger in recent years, so use two small-to-medium cloves or one large. Too much garlic could overpower the basil. There’s no need to press or mince the garlic. Cut it into a few segments and let the food processor do the rest of the work.

Olive oil brings the pesto together. We’ll drizzle it into the food processor while it’s running to help incorporate it with the other ingredients.

Reserved pasta cooking water

Before draining the pasta, pour some of the cooking water in a heat-safe vessel like a glass liquid measuring cup. Pasta cooking water is like magic—it contains starches that create a creamy emulsion and help attach the sauce to the pasta.

Watch How to Make Basil Pesto

Pesto Pasta Serving Suggestions

Make pesto pasta when you’re craving a fresh bowl of noodles. Serve it as a base for protein or veggies, or as a simple side to accompany something like Eggplant Parmesan.

To bulk up your pasta with produce, consider adding marinated artichoke, avocado, olives, peas, tomatoes (try raw or roasted cherry tomatoes with small mozzarella balls) or zucchini (perhaps ribboned with a julienne peeler).

Pesto pasta is a lovely dish to serve in the summer when basil is in season, although I’ll gladly enjoy it any time of year. Here are some suggestions to help build out your menu.

More Pesto Recipes to Love

As you’ll see, I love a creative pesto recipe. Here are some fun ways to incorporate bold pestos and veggies into your meals:

Please let me know how your pesto pasta turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.

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Avocado pesto is a deliciously creamy and fun variation on classic basil pesto. This avocado pesto recipe features ripe avocado in addition to the usual basil, Parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts (in these photos, I used pepitas instead, which are lovely as well). A squeeze of fresh lemon brightens and complements the flavors, and helps keep the avocado green.

You can use avocado pesto on pasta, of course. It makes a stellar veggie dip and sandwich spread, too. You’ll find more uses and tips for it below. The one caveat is that avocados brown with time, so it’s best used immediately or stored in a jar until you’re ready to serve.

Avocado Pesto Serving Suggestions

Pasta

Try this pesto on spaghetti or twisted shapes like fusilli. If you like saucy pasta like I do, this recipe nicely coats 8 ounces of pasta, although you can stretch it to lightly coat 12 to 16 ounces of pasta.

Tips: Reserve some of the starchy cooking water and add splashes of it along with the pesto to help loosen it up. Try to wait until the pasta has cooled somewhat to stir in the pesto. If you intend to have leftovers, store the pesto and pasta separately for optimal results, since the color starts browning fairly quickly once it’s exposed to air and heat.

Veggies: Grilled, roasted or raw

This avocado pesto will take basic vegetables to the next level, whether you serve it as a dip on the side, swoosh it underneath or dollop it on top. It would be especially nice with bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms or artichokes.

Sandwiches or toast

Spread this pesto on crusty bread and add sliced tomato and mozzarella for a fantastic summertime sandwich. I can also attest that it’s lovely on toast with a fried egg on top for breakfast.

More Unexpected Pesto Recipes to Try

Please let me know how you serve your avocado pesto in the comments! I love hearing from you.

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