Homemade crust with a liberal smear of garlicky pesto, followed by red onion slivers that practically disappear into the dough, and melty Swiss cheese–tempting, right? But the best part of this pesto potato pizza is the potatoes–thinly sliced, gently sautéed, and layered on top of all the other goodies! This unique mouthwatering pizza is not to be missed!
Save this recipe to make later–click here to PIN Pesto Potato Pizza.
October is National Pizza Month. It’s time to get your dough on with homemade potato pesto pizza. You can make the pesto and dough from scratch, or go easy on yourself with purchased pesto and crust. Needless to say, I recommend homemade all the way. Especially the crispy thin whole wheat crust–worth the effort!
The Pesto Potato Pizza ingredients:
Thinly sliced potatoes: We’re talking 1/16 of an inch, less than 2 millimeters. To get potatoes that thin it’s best to use a slicing tool like a mandoline.
Besides slicing the potatoes as thinly as possible, the secret is pre-cooking the slices with a little olive oil and garlic. You can use whatever potatoes you darn well please on your potato pizza–I like Yukon golds or red potatoes.
Pesto: Needless to say, fresh herby pesto is as essential to this pizza as the potatoes. There’s always a stash of some sort of pesto in our freezer– basil walnut pesto is my first choice. You might also try this Arugula Cashew Pesto. To save that step, use purchased pesto.
The crust: My whole wheat pizza dough rolls out nice and thin, resulting in an amazing crispy crust that draws rave reviews.
- You can make the homemade whole wheat dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge until you use it for dinner the next day. Or make it earlier in the same day…
- Of course if you don’t want to make your own dough, buy it already made. Or even easier, bake your goodies on top of store-bought flatbread and pop it in the oven until the cheese bubbles.
- *** Gluten free? Try these toppings on cauliflower pizza crust.
Cheese: Potatoes and Swiss cheeses have natural affinity for each other. I used a cow’s milk Swiss Gruyère cheese for this pizza. Smoked Gouda or manchego would be good alternatives.
Red onions: Those onion slivers provide just the right accent to the pesto, potatoes, and cheese. (The raw onion bite disappears in the baking.)
Fresh thyme: Besides looking pretty on top, a final sprinkle of bitter/sweet thyme adds its earthy notes.
Making pizza, especially vegetarian pizza, is creating art, the crust a blank canvas ready to be painted with a variety of toppings. Besides pesto potato pizza, here are some more ideas:
- There’s the classic margherita pizza, the dough simply spread with tomato sauce, sliced mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.
- Have you ever tried fruit on pizza? Apart from pineapple, that is. When peaches are in season, you must make this Peach and Arugula Pizza!
- Outstanding any time of year, this Pizza with Arugula, Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, and Walnuts.
- Last week we made a truly irresistable caramelized red onion and cheddar cheese pizza. (Caramelize 2 large sliced red onions and season with red wine and balsamic vinegars. Brush the dough with garlic-infused olive oil and sprinkle on the onions and cheese.)
Just so you know, some of the links below are affiliates. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!
Helpful tools for homemade pizza:Â
- Oxo makes an inexpensive hand-held slicer (affiliate link) for potatoes and other vegetables. They also sell a larger mandoline-style slicer. (Affiliate link.) Both have 3 thickness settings—the thicker is good for slicing zucchini and carrots.
- Most slicing tools come with a hand protector food guard to protect your hands from cuts while pushing the vegetables through the slicer, but I like the control I get using my hands. I highly recommend using food grade cut-resistant gloves. (Affiliate link) They’re made of lightweight, breathable material made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, fiberglass and spandex and come in different sizes so they fit your hand snugly and comfortably. This video shows these gloves in action.
- If you see more homemade pizza in your future, a pizza stone (affiliate link) and long-handled pizza peel (affiliate link) are good purchases. If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet, just allow a few more minutes for the pizza to bake.
- When you build your pizza on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal, the pizza slides easily from assembly to oven. If you don’t have a pizza peel, use a rimless baking pan sprinkled with cornmeal.
Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and make homemade pizza!
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- Adapted from the new potato and grilled pepper pizza in Deborah Madison’s The Greens Cookbook. (Affiliate link.)
PS If you make this recipe and love it, please consider leaving a blog post comment. Your comments help other readers learn more about the recipe. If you’d also give the recipe a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating, I’d be delighted!
Nutrition information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. The numbers will vary based on the quantity consumed, brands used and any substitutions.The pizza dough nutrition comes from the online calculation, if you want a more accurate, look at the nutrition calculation on my whole wheat pizza dough recipe. The numbers will also vary based on substitutions you make, and how much you actually eat.;-)
Homemade Pesto Potato Pizza
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 ounces pizza dough (½ recipe Whole Wheat Pizza Dough), or store-bought flatbread
- Cornmeal , as needed
- 2 each Yukon gold or red potatoes (8 to 10 ounces total), well-scrubbed and very thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- ¼ cup basil pesto, homemade or purchased
- ¼ cup very thinly sliced red onion
- 4 ounces Gruyere cheese , grated
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- Over low flame, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sliced potatoes and the garlic and season with salt. Cook and stir for about a minute, then add 3 tablespoons of water and cover the skillet. Cook, just until the potatoes are tender. Take off the cover and let any remaining water cook away. Set aside.
- If you have a pizza stone, place it on a rack in the oven. Preheat oven to 475°F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a thin 13-inch round.
- Transfer the pizza crust to a pizza peel or an upside-down pizza pan that you have sprinkled lightly with cornmeal. The cornmeal acts as ball bearings so the pizza can slide onto the stone. (see notes if you don’t have a stone or peel or if you have one and not the other)
- Spread the pesto evenly on the crust, followed by the red onion slices and about 2/3 of the grated cheese. Now arrange the potatoes on top. They will stick together some, just spread them as evenly as you can. Sprinkle with salt and a big grind of black pepper. Sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly over the potatoes, followed with the grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano. Finish with the thyme.
- Give the pizza peel a slight horizontal jiggle to make sure the crust will slide off the peel. Tip the peel to the back of the preheated baking stone, and pull it away quickly, releasing the crust onto the stone. Bake until the crust is brown, 7 to 9 minutes on the stone. (see notes)
- Slide the baked pizza back onto the peel or a rimless baking pan, and then transfer to a serving platter.
Notes
- If you don’t have a pizza stone use a baking sheet and allow a few more minutes for the pizza to bake.
- If you don’t have a pizza peel, use a rimless baking pan sprinkled with cornmeal.
- Don’t let lack of equipment keep you from homemade pizza. Just sprinkle a baking pan with cornmeal, then assemble and bake the pizza right on the pan.
Nutrition
*** Updated 2015 recipe with new photos and verbiage.
Letty, this looks delicious! Reminds me of a pizza I really enjoyed when my family spent a few months in Italy. I think the pizzeria also added corn and zucchini on their pesto potato pizza but boy was it delish! We have pizza around here quite often and I’m sure my husband and kidlets would love this one too. Yum! Pinning. · 2 October, 2015
Thanks Jelli.
Glad my post sparked happy memories for you! · 3 October, 2015