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Broccoli takes center stage on this gourmet broccoli pizza! The florets mingle with three cheeses: creamy ricotta, melty mozzarella, and salty Parmesan, all layered over a soft and chewy crust.

Broccoli Pizza
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Got broccoli and want to add it to a pizza? Here’s the best way to do it: try this broccoli pizza with ricotta and Parmesan! This tasty pizza pie features our tested and true pizza dough and easy no cook pizza sauce. It’s topped with fresh sauteed broccoli florets, dollops of seasoned ricotta cheese, and showered with salty Parmesan. As cookbook authors with over a decade of perfecting homemade pizza, we guarantee you’ll love it!

Ingredients for broccoli pizza

This broccoli pizza is a basic idea for adding broccoli to pizza, and you can customize it as desired! We’ve used a tomato sauce and three types of cheese, making for a pie with huge flavor. Don’t attempt a broccoli pizza with raw broccoli (it doesn’t cook through in the bake time), but a quick sauté in a hot pan first does the trick. Here’s what you’ll need for the pizza:

Broccoli makes a great pizza topping! Want more recipes to use up the remaining broccoli? Go to 20 Tasty Broccoli Recipes.

Broccoli Pizza

Tips for cutting broccoli

This broccoli pizza recipe calls for cutting the broccoli into very small florets. This is important because it makes it easier to bite into on a pizza, versus a large floret that may take up the entire slice. Here are a few notes for cutting small florets:

  1. Using a large chef’s knife, cut off the broccoli floret right where its stem meets the larger stalk.
  2. Separate large florets by cutting the base of the stem in half, then into smaller florets as desired.

Quick and easy pizza sauce

The star of this broccoli pizza, outside of the broccoli of course, is the pizza sauce! This easy no-cook tomato sauce is just a matter of stirring together a few ingredients. It’s so simple and you don’t even need to cook it! Here’s what you’ll need:

  1. Fire roasted tomatoes This type of canned tomatoes is better than all the rest! Roasting tomatoes over an open flame brings a mellow, sweet flavor right out of the can. This type of tomato has become widely available in the US. If you can’t find it, use San Marzano tomatoes.
  2. Small garlic clove
  3. Dried oregano
  4. Olive oil
  5. Salt
Broccoli Pizza

Pizza dough recipes

The trick to the best broccoli pizza? Homemade pizza dough. This crust recipe works perfectly in a standard oven or pizza oven to make next-level, artisan style pies. We’ve got our tried and true master recipe, then a few other options.

  • This Best Pizza Dough is our master recipe for pizza dough. It works best on a pizza stone in a standard oven. You’ll also need a pizza peel to easily slide the pizza onto the hot stone in the oven.
  • This Thin Crust Pizza Dough is easy to make: you can roll it out instead of stretching it! It also works well in a home oven.
  • If you’ve got a pizza oven, try this Pizza Oven Dough.
  • Want a few easier options? Try a Pan Pizza in a cast iron skillet, no special pizza tools required. Or, make our Sheet Pan Pizza for serving a crowd: it makes two large pizzas in a sheet pan.

Broccoli pizza add-on ideas

This broccoli pizza recipe is delicious as is, with ricotta cheese that makes a creamy base for the salty broccoli florets! You can also add your own toppings like prosciutto, bacon, or other favorite adders to step it up. Here are a few ideas:

  • Hot honey would add a sweet spicy counterpoint, or you could simply sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Try this 1-Minute Hot Honey recipe.
  • Prosciutto slices or bacon would make a smoky, salty addition.
  • Sausage crumbles would add a satiating savory component. For vegetarian, try purchased plant-based sausage or Homemade Vegan Ground Beef.
Broccoli Pizza

More pizza recipes

Want more homemade pizza recipes? Here’s how to make the best pizza at home:

This broccoli pizza recipe is…

Vegetarian.

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Best Broccoli Pizza

Broccoli Pizza
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5 from 1 review

Broccoli takes center stage on this gourmet broccoli pizza! The florets mingle with three cheeses: creamy ricotta, melty mozzarella, and salty Parmesan, all layered over a soft and chewy crust.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 1 medium pizza (8 slices) 1x
  • Category: Main dish
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: Italian inspired
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 recipe Best Pizza Dough
  • ½ cup Homemade Pizza Sauce
  • 1 cup broccoli florets, cut very small
  • ½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
  • ⅛ tsp kosher salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (whole milk if possible)
  • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • Flaky salt
  • Adders: prosciutto slices, hot honey, red pepper flakes, etc

Instructions

  1. Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza DoughThin Crust Pizza Dough or Pizza Oven Dough recipes to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
  2. Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
  3. Make the pizza sauce: Make the Homemade Pizza Sauce. (You’ll use about ½ cup for the pizza; reserve the remaining sauce and refrigerate for up to 1 week.)
  4. Prepare the toppings: Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Boil the broccoli florets for about 1 minute until bright green and tender. Remove from the pan and shake dry, then place them into a bowl. In another bowl, mix the ricotta with the kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
  5. Bake the pizza: When the oven is ready, dust a pizza peel with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you don’t have a pizza peel, you can use a rimless baking sheet or the back of a rimmed baking sheet. But a pizza peel is well worth the investment!) Stretch the dough into a circle; see How to Stretch Pizza Dough for instructions. Then gently place the dough onto the pizza peel.
  6. Spread a thin layer of the pizza sauce over the dough, then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Add the ricotta in dollops. Sprinkle the broccoli florets across the top, then sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and a pinch of flaky salt.
  7. Use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the cheese and crust are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes in the oven (or 1 to 2 minutes in a pizza oven).
  8. Allow the pizza to cool for a minute or two before slicing into pieces. Serve immediately.

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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  1. Sonja Overhiser says:

    Let us know if you have any questions!