Margherita Pizza
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Savor the classic flavors (and colors) of Italy with a crispy thin-crust Margherita pizza that rivals your favorite pizzeria!
Margherita pizza, a classic thin-crust Italian pizza from Naples, owes its name to Queen Margherita of Savoy. Legend has it that during her visit to Naples in 1889, she was served a pizza that was made with the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomatoes), white (mozzarella cheese), and green (basil leaves). This marked the creation of the now universally loved Margherita pizza.
Though this pizza is traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven, you can easily recreate it at home without one. I use a rich homemade pizza dough (store-bought works too), a blazing hot oven, and a sheet pan to produce a crisp yet chewy pizza crust. The no-cook Neapolitan pizza sauce is made made from canned San Marzano crushed tomatoes and can be whipped up in just 5 minutes! Pro tip: when making Margherita pizza, it’s essential to use high-quality ingredients and not overload the pizza with too many toppings. Less is more here—too much sauce and cheese will make the crust soggy.
Table of Contents
“Made the sauce, dough, and pizza. It’s the best pizza I’ve had or made and I’ve tried many.”
What You’ll Need To Make Margherita Pizza
- Pizza dough: Homemade pizza dough is ideal, but store-bought may be substituted (these dough balls weigh about 1 pound each).
- San Marzano crushed tomatoes: A variety of plum tomatoes that originate from the town of San Marzano sul Sarno near Naples, Italy, these tomatoes have a sweeter, less acidic, and more concentrated flavor than typical roma tomatoes. Many supermarkets carry them but don’t worry if you can’t find them; regular crushed tomatoes will work.
- Fresh Mozzarella: Look for a fresh mozzarella ball that is not packed in water. (Or, if the cheese is packed in water, be sure to dry it well.)
- Parmigiano Reggiano: Use authentic Parmigiano Reggiano, which you can identify by looking at the rind, which is embossed with the name over and over. If the cheese is already grated, it should be labeled “Parmigiano Reggiano,” not “Parmesan.”
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Make the sauce by combining the crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar in a small bowl.
Mix to combine. Alternatively, if you prefer a smoother sauce, you can blend the ingredients in a food processor or blender. (Note: This recipe makes enough sauce for four pizzas. You can refrigerate extra sauce for up to one week, or freeze for up to three months.)
On a lightly floured surface, using your hands, stretch and press one ball of dough into an 12-inch round.
Transfer the dough to a cornmeal-dusted baking sheet, and gently stretch it out again so that it maintains its shape.
Spread 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of the sauce over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges.
Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 7 minutes, until the crust is partially cooked.
Remove from the oven, and scatter half of the mozzarella cubes over the sauce, followed by half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Slide the pan back into the oven and cook until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 4 minutes more.
Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Sprinkle with the basil and slice. Repeat with the remaining pizza dough and ingredients. (If you’d like to bake the two pizzas at the same time, you can fire up two ovens. Or, if you don’t mind the crust a little thicker, you can form the two dough balls into 8×12-inch rectangles and place them side by side on the baking sheet.)
You May Also Like
Margherita Pizza
Savor the classic flavors (and colors) of Italy with a crispy thin-crust Margherita pizza that rivals your favorite pizzeria!
Ingredients
- 1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
- 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Flour, for stretching the dough
- 2 (1-lb) homemade pizza doughs
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella, not packed in water, cubed
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- ½ cup roughly chopped fresh basil, lightly packed
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal, for baking
Instructions
- Make the Sauce: In a medium bowl, stir together the tomatoes, garlic, salt, sugar, pepper, and oil. (Alternatively, for a completely smooth sauce, you can blend the ingredients in a small food processor or blender.)
- Preheat the oven to 500°F and set an oven rack in the bottom position. Dust a 13x18-inch baking sheet with half of the cornmeal.
- On a lightly floured surface, using your hands, stretch and press one ball of dough into an 12-inch round. Transfer the dough to the cornmeal-dusted baking sheet, and gently stretch it out again so that it maintains its shape.
- Spread about ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons of the sauce over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges. Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 7 minutes, until the crust is partially cooked. Remove from the oven, and scatter half of the mozzarella cubes over the sauce, followed by half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Slide the pan back into the oven and cook until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 4 minutes more. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Sprinkle with the basil and slice. Repeat with the remaining pizza dough and ingredients. (If you'd like to bake the two pizzas at the same time, you can fire up two ovens. Or, if you don't mind the crust a little thicker, you can form the two dough balls into 8x12-inch rectangles and place them side by side on the baking sheet.)
- Note: This recipe makes enough sauce for 4 (12-inch) pizzas. Refrigerate extra sauce for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (4 servings)
- Serving size: 3 slices
- Calories: 734
- Fat: 32 g
- Saturated fat: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 80 g
- Sugar: 3 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Sodium: 710 mg
- Cholesterol: 57 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
I am making the sauce as a side for calzones. Does the sauce need to be cooked down prior to serving or can it be used as-is? Thanks in advance, your recipes are the BEST!
Hi Rebecca, I’d either cook it down or use this marinara sauce instead.
Made the pizza last night using the dough recipe,easy and delicious.Assembled everything on the pizza peel then cooked on the pre heated pizza stone in the gas grill which gets to about 650-700 degrees,gets done in about 5 minutes.Freshly made tomato sauce and basil from the garden.Amazing. Thanks for the recipes Chef Jenn.
Turned out really good. My go to recipe
My pizza crust never seems to be fully cooked, even in a 500 oven, without overcooking toppings. What are your thoughts on par-cooking crust before adding toppings?
Hi Maryann, This recipe does call for that; after you put the sauce on, you bake the crust for about 7 minutes/until it’s partially cooked. Have you tried this recipe yet?
Hi Jen,
We make homemade pizza just like this but have never started by putting just the dough and sauce in the oven…the fully assembled pizza just goes in all at once. Can you tell me the advantage of doing it your way? Very curious! Many thanks! Mary in London
Hi Mary, Partially baking the dough ensures the center of the pizza doesn’t get soggy when you put the toppings on.
Jen… I can’t wait to make this recipe for the “Margherita Pizza” with fresh ingredients. We just got a new Weber Genesis grill; so I think I’ll have great results because, I can get it very hot to produce a better crust. I’ll post the results soon. Dee
I think you have a great website for baking. For cooking, if you can’t have garlic it’s a tough one. This is an example. I’ve ordered margarita pizza all over Italy and when I ask if it has garlic they give me a look and say no, it’s margarita, there is no garlic. So just a wish I guess, you find great recipes and good instructions, more based on herbs rather than garlic and onion. I yes. I know I’m very much the minority 🙂
Hi, you’re absolutely right, no garlic needed for pizza margherita, just basil and oregano 😉
Anna, Italy
Hi Jen,
I haven’t been able to find a 14oz can of San Marzano tomatoes. The stores around here only have 28 oz cans. Can this recipe be doubled?
Definitely!
The homemade dough recipe is AMAZING. I lost track of how many times I have used it. This pizza is amazing, and if you haven’t made the Stromboli…just as good if not better!
I did try to swap the all-purpose flour with Gluten Free flour, but the dough was a bust. Not sure if you have a GF pizza dough recipe Jenn…hint hint.
Thanks for all the awesome recipes,’
Vinny
We love this recipe and make it often. I have also had success with making and freezing the dough.
I’’m steadily stocking our freezer with batches of your freezer-friendly recipes in advance of postpartum; just wondering if you think I could do the initial bake, then top with sauce and cheese, pop in freezer for 15 min (?) to let toppings set, then wrap in foil/freezer bag and proceed with second bake when we’re ready to pull it out to actually eat it? I know this recipe is best as written, and isn’t labor intensive, but I’m remembering that even chopping garlic felt impossible in those hazy newborn days…
Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes!
Lauren – you sound really on top of it — I’m impressed! Yes, although this is best as written, I think you could get away with what you’re describing. Enjoy your new addition when he/she arrives!!
I wanted to make a Margherita pizza the other day and realized after reading this that I had no understanding of what the pizza was supposed to be – nor had I ever tasted one that was made with the right kind of sauce. I therefore went to the effort to get premium Italian diced tomato, and experienced for the first time a fresh unprocessed sauce. The flavour and aromatics were absolutely amazing, and restraint was used to curb the urge to add other ingredients. This was definitely not just a cheese and basil pizza! We all loved it and it will now be a regular favourite. As a side note, a perfect pairing with Amarone – each exceptional on their own, but a perfect fit together. Thank you so much!