Margherita Pizza

Only 15 minutes (including bake time) to make amazing individual sized Margherita pizzas. We’re using a shortcut (naan bread) in place of regular pizza dough to have dinner on the table in a flash!

Pair these easy pizzas with a simple and flavorful salad such as this cucumber salad, Italian salad, or quinoa salad.

When I don’t know what to make for dinner, these pizzas always save the day. They’re so fast to make, relatively healthy, delicious, and all the whole family loves them. After getting back from Italy last year I was determined to perfect the famous margherita pizza. My family fell in love with the pizzas and started requesting them almost daily (this spaghetti bolognese made up most the other requests!). While making pizza crust from scratch is not too difficult or super time consuming, it’s requires resting time and a longer bake time.

So, these “cheater” margherita pizzas came to be. While nothing will beat a homemade pizza crust, these are pretty darn good especially when you consider the effort required!

How to make naan bread margherita pizzas

So for the base, we use Naan bread. For these pizzas, I pretty exclusively use Stonefire naan (not sponsored). You can grab original, whole grain naan, or roasted garlic. Any work for this pizza, but we prefer original. In our local grocery store, the naan bread is typically in the bakery section with breads and rolls.

The naan bread gets quickly toasted in the oven while the mozzarella cheese and tomatoes are thinly sliced.

On top of the toasted naan bread we add pizza sauce. Since there are so few ingredients make sure to use a good pizza sauce. I love and recommend Muir Glen (pictured above; again not sponsored). Spread the sauce over and layer with mozzarella and then tomatoes.

While the pizza is baking, grate some parmesan cheese and prepare some basil leaves. You’ll likely even have time to whip together this strawberry salad! Out of the oven, I add a little bit of parm, a quick drizzle of olive oil, and fresh basil leaves.

Quick tips

• Good ingredients: good naan bread, good pizza sauce, whole milk mozzarella cheese, and FRESH campari tomatoes and basil are key for flavor
  • Speaking of campari tomatoes: these tomatoes are known for their juiciness, low acidity, high sugar level, & lack of mealiness. They’re PERFECT for these pizzas.
• Eat quick: don’t let these pizzas sit around for long after being baked or they will get soggy — eat them straight out of the oven!
• Drizzle of olive oil: a drizzle of high quality olive oil adds a delicious richness to these margherita pizzas.
• Watch closely: ovens differ, naan bread differs, etc. etc. so watch the pizzas carefully. As soon as the cheese melts, pull them out.
• Chiffonade basil: if you don’t want large basil leaves on the pizza (and don’t have access to small leaves), chiffonade the basil into little strips to add to the pizza.
• Not too much mozzarella cheese: go lighter than you might think on the mozzarella cheese — since the crust isn’t super thick, the cheese can easily overtake it. I recommend very thin slices and about 1.5 ounces per pizza.

Margherita pizza variations

• Add a balsamic glaze on top (to make a Caprese flatbread pizza)
• Add some heat by sprinkling on some red pepper flakes on the top
• Make it herby by adding some Italian seasoning on top of the pizza sauce
• Use cherry tomatoes in place of campari tomatoes
• Add a drizzle of basil pesto right on top 

Margherita pizza measurements

While I’ve done my best to include measurements in the recipe, this margherita pizza recipe is more of adding however much of what you like. Eyeball amounts to fill up the naan bread. This recipe is also easy to scale up or down — make as many margherita pizzas as you’d like. (In our home, the boys share 1 pizza, my husband can eat 1 and 1/2, and I’ll usually eat 1 full one).

More EASY, fast recipes

• Chicken Salad
• Ham and Cheese Sliders
• Chicken Ramen
• Ham and Cheese Quiche
• Chicken Tortilla Soup {20 Minute Prep!}
• Black Bean Corn Salad {15 Minute Prep!}