Goat Cheese Pizza (With Pesto And Fresh Vegetables)

Goat cheese pizza will become your new pizza favorite in your family. Creamy tangy goat cheese gets paired up with pesto and topped with fresh veggies for a pizza that will rock your family pizza night.

I love experimenting with recipes. I have several “basic recipes” that can be tweaked to suit the mood or the ingredients I have on hand. Mix and Match Muffins is one example. There’s no end to the different combinations you can create in a muffin, particularly if you have a bag of the dry mix on hand.

Pizza is another great recipe to experiment with. Once you have the dough ready, you can vary the toppings at will. Worried that you might not love the flavor combination? Well, divide the dough ball into smaller pieces and experiment with mini pizzas. You’ll get a taste of that new pizza without being stuck eating it all if it’s a train wreck.

Recently, I took some of my favorite flavors and put them on a pizza. And it was delish!

Goat Cheese and Pesto Pizza with Fresh Vegetables

I love baked goat cheese. One of my favorite appetizers involves roasted garlic, baked goat cheese, and sourdough bread. S’pose I should blog that one….

When we go to fancy pizza restaurants where you order individually sized pizzas, the goat cheese pizza is where I land. Always. Every time. Love that flavor.

Is goat cheese good on a pizza?

Oh. My. YES. A thousand times over! The tangy cheese pairs so well with mozzarella and it’s creamy factor just can’t compare. 

It also just happily gets along with the fresh veggies and pesto going on in this pizza too. 

Go round up these ingredients to rock this pizza

• Pizza dough
• Pesto
• Roma tomatoes
• Red bell pepper
• Red onion
• Mozzarella cheese
• Goat cheese crumbles

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR PIZZA DOUGH?

You can buy commercial pizza dough at the store or make your own dough. I’m partial to these four types:

• Deep dish pizza crust
• Sourdough pizza crust
• Whole wheat pizza crust
• Regular pizza crust

But, if you don’t have time to make your own dough, you can also make pizza on pita bread or make pizza bagels, all with these goat cheese pizza toppings. 

How do you make this goat cheese pizza you ask? 

Well let me tell you…

• Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan or screen with nonstick cooking spray. Fit the pizza dough into the pan, stretching to fit.
• Spread the pesto sauce across the dough to cover. Distribute the tomato, bell pepper, and onion pieces across the pizza. Sprinkle the cheeses over the top.
• Bake the pizza for 8 to 9 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is crisp. Remove to a cutting surface to slice. Serve immediately.

Easy peasy right?

Goat Cheese Pizza FAQ’s

WHAT TEMPERATURE DO YOU COOK HOMEMADE PIZZA ON?

You want to cook your homemade pizza at a high heat- somewhere between 450 and 500 degrees. When I don’t grill pizza, I cook it at 475 degrees. 

Keep in mind that not all pans can sustain such high heats, so be sure to check that your pans are safe for higher temperatures. If you use USA pans, bump the heat down to 450 and cook it a minute or so longer.

These pizza tools are some of my favorites.

My pizzas take about 10 minutes to cook at high heat. You want to bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and the crust is crisp.

DO YOU COOK PIZZA TOPPINGS BEFORE ADDING TO THE PIZZA?

For the pizza toppings on this pizza, you do need to cook them first. 

If you prefer, you can precook the vegetables to eliminate some of their water content. That’s up to you.

WHY IS MY HOMEMADE PIZZA SOGGY?

Again, watch how many vegetables you put on the pizza. Too many and you might end up with a soggy pizza.

Another possible pizza cooking mistake could because your oven wasn’t hot enough. We cook ours at 475 degrees or on a very hot outdoor grill. 

How I make this a good cheap eat

But, often goat cheese can be expensive. It’s a definite splurge. Unless I find it really cheap on markdown. Then I buy several logs and freeze them. Worked like a charm and I could add a good cheap eat to my pizza at will.

Here are a few more tips to make this budgety-friendly:

Shop the cheapest store – Find the best prices for the things you buy and shop that store.

Shop the sales – The goat cheese and pesto are the highest priced items here. Watch for sales, stock up, and stash the extras in your freezer. 

Buy in bulk – You can usually buy the yeast, and shredded mozzarella cheese in bulk at Costco. Store the big bag of yeast in the freezer and break the 5-pound bag of cheese into smaller bags to use over time.

DO YOU NEED SPECIAL TOOLS TO MAKE PIZZA?

After 20 years of making homemade pizza almost every week, I’ve tried a lot of different recipes as well as different tools and techniques. These are the ones that I’ve found to be the most helpful:

• a bread machine or Kitchenaid mixer to make the dough
• a bench knife to cut the dough into portions
• a large cutting board to roll dough out on
• pizza screens for easier and more effective baking
• pizza cutter to cut it easily after baking

If you prepare this recipe, be sure to take a picture and hashtag it #GOODCHEAPEATS. I can't wait to see what you cook up!