This is one of our base recipes. Warm bread, gooey cheese, and flavorful toppings – what’s not to love about pizza? It is easy to pick up the phone and order from your favorite pizza joint, but have you ever thought about making your own homemade pizza? Not only is it fun, but it’s extra delicious too! Use our pizza base recipe as a guide, then have fun adding toppings to your taste!

Three Must-Know Cooking Skills

For recipe success, learn how to:

Culinary Tips for the Best Homemade Pizza Base Recipe

Try making homemade pizza dough! If you don’t have time to make your own, see if you can buy raw dough from your favorite pizza shop or a local grocery store. Look for a true dough ball, and not the kind in a tube.

Stretch your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper for easy transfer to the oven and quick clean-up. You can also use cornmeal underneath the dough to help it not stick to the pan or stone. Use a generous amount of cornmeal if using this method.

Don’t use too many toppings, otherwise you will weigh down the pizza and the crust won’t get as crispy as you like.

Vegetable toppings don’t soften much in the oven due to the short cook time. If you want more tender vegetables, roast or sauté them before assembling the pizza.

A pizza stone is truly the best way to go make a crispy crust pizza. If you are a pizza lover and enjoy making your own, it is definitely worth the investment!

This is a great pizza recipe for kids to help make! Let them help spread the sauce and add their own toppings. Make two, mini 6” pizzas by dividing the dough in half. Make pizza night a family cooking night!

Ingredient Substitutions

• Pizza Dough: substitute a cauliflower crust, gluten-free crust, pre-made crust, etc. Prepare according to manufacturer’s instructions. You can also make a pizza flatbread by substituting naan, pita, or a pre-made flatbread.
• Sauce: use a classic marinara sauce or substitute crushed tomatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, and fresh or dried basil. You can also experiment with different sauces or spreads including extra virgin olive oil, pesto, white sauce, roasted garlic spread, or barbecue sauce.
• Cheese: fresh mozzarella cut or torn into thin slices is best, but you can also substitute shredded mozzarella. Other cheeses that work well on pizza include burrata, provolone, ricotta, Monterrey jack, gruyere, goat cheese, and asadero – basically any cheese that melts well. Use smaller amounts of strongly flavored cheese like goat cheese or goat cheese. You can also use a combination of cheeses.

Pizza Base Recipe Variations

Remember that this is a base recipe, so the goal is for you to customize it to your taste! Keep it simple or spruce it up!

Use these additional ingredients for even more flavor and texture.

Slice or dice toppings into pieces that will be appealing to eat.

You can change up the sauce, cheese, and toppings to whatever sounds good to you. Consider different cuisines for more unique variations: barbecue, Greek, Mexican, Indian, Thai, and more!

Want some pizza recipe inspiration?

Use these recipe variations for inspiration, then have fun exploring other flavors, ingredients, and textures!

Equipment Recommendations

Use these kitchen tools for recipe success!

• Pizza Stone
• Wooden Pizza Peel
• Pizza Cutter Wheel
• Cutting Board
• Chef’s Knife
• Parchment Paper

Find all of our favorite kitchen tools here!

Is Pizza Healthy?

Pizza gets a bad rap for being unhealthy, but homemade pizza is nothing like the kind that is delivered. By building your own, you get to control the ingredients and can create a pizza that is much lower in saturated fat and sodium than popular fast food pizza chains. You can build a healthy homemade pizza by topping your dough with healthy vegetables or by serving it as part of an overall well-balanced meal. 

The tomatoes, cheese, and vegetables (if you choose to add them, and we hope you do!) add flavor and nutrition to pizza.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a phytonutrient that helps protect against heart disease and prostate cancer. Canned and/or cooked tomatoes are higher in lycopene than their fresh counterparts.

Cheese

Cheese is a good source of calcium and protein which are important for building and maintaining strong bones and teeth. While research is currently challenging the belief that full-fat dairy products are harmful, cheese is high in saturated fat, so we suggest trying to limit how much you eat until we know more. Try to stick to the suggested amount in the recipe.

Vegetables

All vegetables provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and disease fighting phytonutrients. Aim to eat a variety of colors – each color provides a different benefit for our bodies. The more colors on your pizza, the healthier it will be!

A Note on Pizza Dough

We make our own homemade Italian pizza dough with 00 wheat flour. Not sure what to think about gluten? Learn all about it in this article!

Learn more about health benefits of different foods in our book, To Your Taste!

Serving Suggestions for a Healthy Homemade Pizza Meal

Start your meal with a large side salad, and then serve a side of roasted vegetables with the pizza for a beautiful Whole Life Plate. 

How to Store Homemade Pizza

If you have leftovers, cool completely, then store in an airtight container or bag in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. Leftover pizza can also be frozen for up to 3 months.

To reheat, place your pizza on a pan and place in an oven while it is preheating to 350°F. Once it hits 350°F, your pizza should be ready!

Looking for a marinara sauce or pizza dough recipe?

Try out these tried and true recipes!

Classic Marinara Sauce

Italian Pizza Dough