Try this 4 ingredient, delicious homemade margherita pizza! Margherita pizza is flavorful, fresh and simple to make. Pin it here.
There are a few things in this world I’m not willing to give up and pizza is one of them. The good news is, I don’t think you have to give up the foods that you love. In fact, you shouldn’t. Food is meant to be pleasurable aside from just being “fuel”. One of my favorite foods to make is homemade margherita pizza! It’s great for serving guests, or hey you just need a slice’a ‘za!
Disclosures: This post was sponsored by the Tomato Products Wellness Council. Thanks for supporting the brands that keep this blog running!
Homemade Margherita Pizza
Margherita pizza is the fail-safe to all pizza. It’s simply made from a tomato-based pizza sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil. Margherita pizza is the fresher, more refined version of your classic American cheese pizza.
Now, I don’t mean for this to come off in the threatening mom voice, but you can make this homemade margherita pizza as easy or as difficult as you want it to be. Real talk. I’m giving you all the options.
Pizza Sauce
Let’s start with the sauce. Margherita pizza uses a red pizza sauce base made from tomato sauce or paste. It’s yet another reason why you should always keep at least one can each of tomato sauce and paste on hand at all times. If tomatoes are the base of pizza sauce… that basically means tomatoes are the base of happiness.
If #tomatoes are the base of pizza sauce... that basically means tomatoes are the base of #happiness. Try this #yummy homemade margherita #pizza! #AD @TomatoWellness Click To TweetYou can make a red pizza sauce from scratch (like this simple, 5 minute recipe) or you can buy one. If you’re going to buy, my favorite pizza sauce is Leonardo’s Pizza Sauce because it has simple ingredients, a light consistency and robust flavor. I like the Original or Garlic Leonardo’s flavors.
Pizza Dough
Easy: Now if you really want the easy way out, then just grab the 100% Whole Wheat Pizza Crust by Boboli. It’s fast, has pretty good flavor and consistency for a pre-cooked crust (I like it better than all the other whole grain, pre-cooked crusts I’ve tried) and has more oomph nutritionally than a conventional crust.
Medium: I usually go the medium route and get a pre-made, raw, frozen pizza dough from Central Market. If you’re in Texas and familiar with Central, you have to ask someone from the bakery for their frozen pizza dough, and just know not every Central has them. They have regular or multi-grain; I go with the multi-grain for a little extra fiber boost.
Trader Joe’s also carries raw, frozen pizza dough (plain, garlic & herb, or wheat) which many rave about, but I personally haven’t tried. TJ’s isn’t near any shopping I usually do so it’s not a common stop for me!
To use raw, frozen pizza dough you just need to let it thaw and rise before kneading it. Usually 6-8 hours is plenty of time. Just set out the raw dough in the morning in a large bowl, with a wet kitchen towel or cheesecloth over the top so it doesn’t dry out.
Hardest: Now if you want to be super legit then you better believe it’s time to make your own dough. I would suggest using this recipe from King Arthur Flour. If you prefer a whole grain crust, you can swap out all purpose flour for white whole wheat flour, which is still a whole grain but has a softer texture.
Mozzarella Cheese
Do yourself a favor and buy a fresh mozzarella cheese instead of a shredded mozzarella cheese. The flavor is so. much. better. and it is hardly any extra work. To make it easier to cut you can freeze for a few hours. Or I have bought sliced, fresh mozzarella cheese that just needs a few extra snips.
Basil
Lastly, you need to have fresh basil for a flavorful, true margherita pizza. Dried basil will not do the trick.
Tips for Homemade Margherita Pizza Success
First, use great ingredients. Second, don’t overcook the crust. Third, use a perforated pizza pan. If you don’t have a perforated pizza pan, just use tin foil and poke holes in it with a fork! It works. Fourth, if you don’t like using a rolling pin (like me!) just flour a glass cup (I share more of my unconventional kitchen hacks in this blog post).
What to Serve with Homemade Margherita Pizza
I love to serve pizza with a nice salad! Here are some ideas:
- Caesar salad with extra veggies (tomato, cucumber), light on the dressing
- Spinach salad with berries, feta cheese, crushed pecans and light raspberry vinaigrette
- Spinach or romaine salad with tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, mushrooms, shaved parmesan cheese, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (or reduced balsamic if you have it)
And without further ado, I bring you the homemade margherita pizza recipe!
Have you ever made margherita pizza?
What’s your favorite type of pizza to make?
Have you tried this homemade margherita pizza recipe?
Pin it here.

Homemade Margherita Pizza | Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 raw, frozen pizza dough (or use ready whole wheat pizza crust - Boboli makes a 100% whole wheat pizza crust that works well!)
- 1/2 c pizza sauce
- 6 basil leaves, roughly chopped
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped
Instructions
- Remove pizza dough from freezer at least ~6-8 hours prior to when you want to make the pizza. Place dough in a mixing bowl with a damp kitchen towel or cheesecloth over the top. Let rise.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Flour your hands, pizza dish and your rolling pin (or glass cup). Remove dough from mixing bowl. Knead, and roll out to desired thickness. (Optional: use a pastry brush to brush a little olive oil on the edge of the pizza crust).
- Add pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese and chopped basil. Bake for ~12 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy.
Nutrition

Your post made me hungry–looks delish! Love how you give the options of easy to homemade–always appreciated depending on available time!
Yes! But just because you don’t have time to make your own dough/sauces doesn’t mean you have to order a regular take-out!
This looks SO delicious! I am craving pizza now 🙂
Haha! Hey that’s a good thing!
Love all the options! And I can totally smell that pizza through my laptop..looks amazing.
Haha!! I need one of your laptops! 😉
Homemade pizza is so delicious!!
I think so too :).
This is my favorite kind of pizza! and it comes together so quickly when you’ve got a great dough and sauce ready to go! This is perfect for busy nights too… although we’ve had a standing Friday night pizza tradition for quite a while!
Yes!! I agree. And we grew up with Friday night pizza too!!
Margherita pizza is my absolute favorite and homemade sounds even better! Yours looks incredibly delicious and so flavorful. I am definitely giving this a go 🙂
This looks like pizza perfection! We usually do pizza night almost every week. One of my fave combos is spinach, onions, garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese, and mozzarella. Now I’m craving pizza!!!
That combo sounds amazing, too!! Thanks EA!