The classic Margherita pizza is easy to prepare and a delicious meatless main dish, especially when you assemble it on a ready-made flatbread. This Margherita Flatbread Pizza presents an elegant dinner in just 15 minutes!
For a simple but delicious homemade happy hour, you can dish up wedges of the flatbread with Baked Zucchini Fritters and Stuffed Mini Peppers. Serve this classic pie alongside a Quick and Easy Caesar Salad or Italian Salad for a complete meal.
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Friday night is our typical pizza night. Homemade pizza. It’s taken a few years to get it just right, but we’ve arrived.
We’ve discovered so many delicious ways to make pizza — grilled pizza, bagel pizzas, sourdough pizza. No matter how you slice it, you can make homemade pizza to suit any flavor preference, any topping, any base.
This Margherita Flatbread Pizza is a combination of a favorite, classic topping with a super simple pizza base that makes for quick pizza nights. Be sure to add it to your pizza-making repertoire.
Why Make This
It’s easy. This is a pretty simple recipe: crust, olive oil, spice mix, tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil. Just six ingredients that are easy to keep on hand.
It’s super delicious. The combination of rich olive oil and salty spice mix are a great foil for the creamy cheese, tart tomatoes, and aromatic basil.
It’s quick to make. You can assemble and bake this Margherita Flatbread Pizza in less than fifteen minutes! I’m thinking that’s a world record for quick and easy.
Ingredients
As I mentioned, you just need six ingredients:
flatbread – While homemade pizza dough is delicious and affordable, sometimes you need something quick and easy. Keeping ready-made flatbreads in the freezer is a super convenient way to make your pizza night happen in a snap. They might be a little more expensive, but the convenience pays off. I buy mine at ALDI for best pricing.
olive oil – Extra virgin olive oil is traditional. Buying it in bulk at Costco helps keep the costs down.
spices – The classic Margherita Pizza features a generous sprinkling of salt and sometimes garlic. I’ve combined the two into Jamie’s Spice Mix. You can use salt and garlic powder or another spice blend if you prefer.
fresh mozzarella – Fresh mozzarella is a lot different than your standard shredding kind. A bit less salty and it melts differently. It’s also a little more expensive. Use standard mozz if you prefer.
fresh tomatoes – There’s no getting around it, fresh tomatoes are a must-have on a Margherita pizza. Use romas and slice them thinly for best results. You can use other varieties if that’s what you have.
fresh basil – Fresh basil is a signature ingredient for this classic Neapolitan pizza. Grow your own for the most affordable pricing. If you’ve got lots of basil, be sure to make this Easy 3-Ingredient Basil Sauce and freeze it for later. It would be tasty drizzled on the pizza in lieu of fresh basil leaves.
Step-by-Step Instructions
This is a super simple pizza to make!
- Brush olive oil over the flatbread. Season to taste with the spice mix.
- Distribute slices of the mozzarella around the surface of the flatbreads, then lay tomato slices across the pizza. Fill in any large spaces with chunks of mozzarella.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the crust is crisp and the cheese melted and lightly browned.
- Sprinkle with basil leaves, slice, and serve.
FAQs
The history of the Margherita Pizza is that some chef invented it to honor a visiting Queen Margherita. The red, green, and white of the toppings were designed to represent the Italian flag.
A Margherita pizza is a Neapolitan pizza made with olive oil and salt spread on the crust and topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
A cheese pizza typically has tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese while a Margherita does not have a sauce other than olive oil. The tomatoes are thinly sliced and fresh mozzarella is typically used.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- flatbread – $4.00
- olive oil – $0.20
- spices – $0.10
- fresh mozzarella – $3.50
- tomatoes – $0.40
- fresh basil – $0.10
Shopping at a mid-range grocery store at non-sale prices, you can expect to pay $8.30 for 2 good-sized flatbread pizzas or $4.15 per pizza. These start at about $5 each at the grocery store. A comparable Margherita Flatbread from Panera costs $8.99 a pizza.
Get twice as much for the less!
Save more by either shopping at ALDI where all the ingredients will be slightly lower priced, look for mozzarella and flatbreads on sale, or use regular mozzarella and a homemade pizza crust instead of the flatbread.
More Great Pizzas
Margherita Flatbread Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 ready-made flatbread or unbaked pizza dough
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Jamie’s Spice Mix
- 2 roma tomato sliced thinly
- 2 sprigs fresh basil
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 °. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the flatbreads on the baking sheet.
- Brush olive oil over the flatbread. Season to taste with the spice mix.
- Distribute slices of the mozzarella around the surface of the flatbreads, then lay tomato slices across the pizza. Fill in any large spaces with chunks of mozzarella.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the crust is crisp and the cheese melted and lightly browned.
- Sprinkle with basil leaves, slice, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on August 29, 2013. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Alison
Love this! Friday is our homemade pizza night too. We have 7 kids, and find that 4 large pizzas covers us. I can’t wait to try your pizza Margherita! Thanks!!
Kathy
Delicious! My husband loves Margherita pizza! I’ll have to try this!