With its blistered, crispy crust and utterly irresistible aroma, Garlic Pizza is proof that the simplest things are often the best. You’ll find yourself turning to this deeply browned, super savoury pizza -made from simple ingredients that you likely have on hand already- more often than you can imagine.
Garlic pizza is perfection in its simplicity. It’s just pizza dough brushed with homemade garlic oil, sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
You bake it until bubbly, chewy, crusty on the bottom, and deeply browned on top. Hit it with a little more fresh parmesan cheese and a handful of chopped herbs.
Here’s where you swoon if you’re anything like me. It’s just so completely perfect.
This recipe isn’t just a great addition to meals, though. It is a total crowd pleaser that is sure to impress at your next pizza night with friends or potluck!
I’m content to serve this alongside an arugula salad and call it a day. This white pizza also makes an admirable accompaniment to lasagna soup, Tuscan Braised Beef (peposo), tortellini vegetable soup, and more.
Garlic Bread Pizza
Is it a garlic bread recipe? Is it pizza?
It’s a mix of the two; it’s garlic bread pizza or garlic pizza bread. Not thoroughly one or the other, it pulls the best of both classic recipes together for a fabulous dish that just happens to be vegetarian.
Let’s go over the list of ingredients and equipment needed for this ultra-breezy garlic pizza recipe. There are some easy switch-ins to accommodate what you do or don’t have available.
Ingredients
- Pizza dough
- All purpose flour
- Cornmeal or semolina flour
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Fresh garlic cloves
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh herbs
- Optional: crushed red chili flakes
When it comes to pizza dough, you have options! Feel free to use your favourite homemade pizza dough, store bought pizza dough, or dough purchased from your neighborhood pizzeria.
I do not recommend using the pop-open cans of pizza dough for our garlic pizza. It isn’t more budget-friendly than purchased dough or homemade dough, and it just plain doesn’t hold up well in this application.
You only need enough all-purpose flour to dust your counter and hands when you stretch the dough. The cornmeal or semolina is just there to serve as little ball bearings and allow the pizza dough to move more smoothly onto the pizza stone/steel or pan.
The cheese affords a little grace, too. I love this made with parmesan cheese, but it’s equally delicious made with romano or asiago cheese.
Most semi-hard cheeses are good options for our garlic pizza. I do strongly recommend using freshly grated cheese, though. It behaves better in the high heat environment of the oven.
Yes it’s a vegetarian pizza as is, but you can take a step back from that by adding anchovy fillets before baking. Conversely, you can make this a vegan garlic pizza by the easy swap of vegan parmesan cheese for the regular cheese.
I like to mince a mixture of whatever fresh herbs I have in the house to toss on the finished pizza right before serving. This is optional, but it really makes our garlic pizza next level!
Equipment
Again, we have options! I’ve broken it down into two lists; List #1 is for those with pizza stones or peels and List #2 is for those without them.
List #1
- Standard home oven
- Pizza steel or pizza stone
- Pizza peel
- Cutting board
- Cheese grater
- Chef’s knife
- Optional but helpful: a pastry brush
List #2
- Standard home oven
- Pizza pan or sheet pan
- Oven mitts
- Cutting board
- Cheese grater
- Chef’s knife
- Optional but helpful: a pastry brush
For the ultimate in home pizza making, it’s worth investing in a pizza steel. It helps your home oven more closely replicate the environment of a wood-fired pizza oven.
It holds and distributes the heat evenly throughout the oven in a way even a pizza stone can’t. A pizza stone is a close second best.
With either of those options, you’ll want a pizza peel to convey your uncooked pizza to the steel or stone and remove your cooked pizza from the oven. You can make do with a flat pan that has no edges, but a peel makes life much easier.
Garlic Pizza
Preheat the oven to 475°F.
Mix the minced garlic and olive oil together in a small bowl.
Stretch the dough ball into a roughly 10-inch to 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the dough to a pizza pan or a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal or semolina flour.
Use a fork to fish as much of the raw garlic as possible from the oil and scatter it over the dough. Brush or drizzle about ⅔ of the olive oil evenly over the crust.
Sprinkle with all but about 1 tablespoon of the grated parmesan cheese.
Transfer the crust into the preheated oven (either on a baking sheet or onto a baking steel or stone) and bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom is crisp, about 6-8 minutes with a steel or stone or 10-12 minutes with a pizza pan.
Brush the pizza crust with the remaining garlic oil and sprinkle with the reserved parmesan cheese and minced fresh herbs. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm, or cold.
This is best the day it is made, but can be reheated in the air fryer or a moderate oven. To reheat in the air fryer, place it in the air fryer basket and reheat at 360ºF for 2 to 3 minutes.
To reheat in the oven, wrap your slices of garlic pizza loosely in foil and place in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. By the time the oven is hot, your pizza will be perfectly reheated.
*You can use homemade pizza dough or pizza dough which has been purchased from your grocery store or favourite pizzeria. I do not recommend making this with canned pizza dough, though.
If using frozen pizza dough, be sure it is thawed and thoroughly proofed before making your pizza with it.
Garlic Pizza
Equipment
- 1 pizza steel, pizza stone, pizza pan, or half sheet pan
- 1 pizza peel (if using a stone or steel)
- oven mitts
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 cheese grater
- 1 small bowl
- 1 fork
- optional but helpful: pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound pizza dough see notes
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan romano, or asiago cheese
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon of minced fresh herbs like parsley chives, oregano
Instructions
- Combine the olive oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 475°F.
- Mix the garlic and olive oil together in a small bowl.
- Stretch the pizza dough into a roughly 10-inch circle. Transfer the dough to a pizza pan or a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal or semolina flour.
- Use a fork to fish as much of the garlic as possible from the oil and scatter it over the dough. Brush about ⅔ of the olive oil evenly over the crust.
- Sprinkle with all but about 1 tablespoon of the grated parmesan cheese.
- Transfer the crust to the oven (either on a baking sheet or onto a baking steel or stone) and bake until the crust is golden brown the bottom is crisp, about 6-8 minutes with a steel or stone or 10-12 minutes with a pizza pan.
- Brush the crust with the remaining garlic oil and sprinkle with the reserved parmesan cheese and minced fresh herbs. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm, or cold.
- This is best the day it is made, but can be reheated in the air fryer or a moderate oven. To reheat in the air fryer, place it in the air fryer basket and reheat at 360ºF for 2 to 3 minutes.
- To reheat in the oven, wrap your slices of garlic pizza loosely in foil and place in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. By the time the oven is hot, your pizza will be perfectly reheated.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
did you make this recipe?
Make sure to tag @foodiewithfam on Instagram and #hashtag it #foodiewithfamily so I can check it out!
