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Homemade Pesto Potato Pizza

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!

baked Potato Pesto Pizza on wooden board cut in wedges

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!

unbaked pizza dough on board with pesto, onion, cheese, potatoes

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.

pizza dough on wooden board spread with 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.

pizza doigh on wooden board spread with pesto, onion, potatoes, finally cheese

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.

pizza dough on wooden board spread with pesto and onion slivers

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.

baked Potato Pesto Pizza on wooden board

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.)

baked pizza on wooden board cut in wedges

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: 

  • 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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This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase a product via my link, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps defray the costs of Letty’s Kitchen blog. Thank you for supporting Letty’s Kitchen.

  • 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.;-)

*** Updated 2015 recipe with new photos and verbiage.

2 comments

  • 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. Reply · 2 October, 2015

    • Thanks Jelli.
      Glad my post sparked happy memories for you! Reply · 3 October, 2015

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