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Flatbread pizza is easy to make: a great appetizer or simple dinner! Use store bought flatbread to keep it fast, and pick your favorite pizza toppings.
We’re all about traditional artisan Italian pizza around here. But we’re also about weeknight shortcuts. Meet the flatbread pizza! This idea doubles as a quick and easy dinner or an elegant appetizer. Here the crust is thin and crispy, and it’s topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, arugula and Parmesan cheese shavings, with balsamic reduction drizzle to finish it off. But you can use any pizza toppings you’d like! Here’s how to put together this quick and breezy pizza.
What’s a flatbread pizza?
There’s no official definition of flatbread pizza. Some sources say it’s any pizza with a thin crust, others say it’s pizza shaped in a rectangle. Others say it’s pizza that uses a flatbread as the crust. For this recipe, we went with the latter definition. To us, it’s a pizza made using a flatbread! This makes it quick and easy to make, and a little different from all our other pizza recipes. It’s very similar to Naan Pizza, Tortilla Pizza, English Muffin Pizza, or Pita Pizza (or Pizza Bagels!).
Homemade flatbread vs store bought
Homemade flatbread makes for the best tasting flatbread pizza! But, it takes a little time to put together. If your goal is a delicious homemade appetizer, you may want to go with homemade. If you’re going for a quick and easy dinner, store bought is the way to go. Here are a few notes:
- Homemade flatbread: This Easy Flatbread recipe takes about 1 hour to make, with 30 minutes hands off time. That makes this flatbread pizza with homemade flatbread about the same time commitment as thin crust pizza. The pros? You can make the flatbread in advance, it’s an easier method, and you don’t need a pizza peel or pizza stone.
- Store bought flatbread: Making this flatbread pizza with store bought flatbread is so fast! Try to find the highest quality bread you can find: any type of naan bread or pocketless pita bread works well.
Ingredients for flatbread pizza
Here are the rest of ingredients you’ll need for this flatbread pizza! The method is simple: prebake the crust in a 450 degree oven for a few minutes until lightly crisped, then top it and bake a few more minutes until the cheese melts. Here’s what we used:
- Flatbread: We used homemade Easy Flatbread
- Cheese: Mozzarella and shaved Parmesan
- Veggies: Tomatoes and thin sliced red onion
- Baby arugula: Make sure to find the baby variety! Standard is much too spicy
- Balsamic drizzle: It’s optional, but balsamic reduction (or a purchased version) adds a sweet tart element
- Pine nuts: The nutty punch of toasted pine nuts take it over the top
10 more flatbread topping ideas
Of course, you can top flatbread pizza with whatever you like! Here are a few of our favorite ideas:
- Margherita: red sauce, mozzarella and basil. Try Perfect Margherita Pizza.
- Classic cheese. Try Homemade Cheese Pizza.
- Pesto and fresh tomatoes. See Pesto Pizza.
- Refried beans and cheese. See Taco Pizza.
- Mushrooms, veggies & feta. See Veggie Supreme Pizza.
- Peppers, onions and arugula. See Best Healthy Pizza.
- Spinach and artichokes. See Spinach Artichoke Pizza
- Mushrooms and herbs. See Truffle Pizza.
- Olives, spinach & sundried tomatoes. See Mediterranean Pizza
- Avocado, peppers, and goat cheese. See Veggie & Avocado Pizza
What to serve with flatbread pizza
You can serve this flatbread pizza as an appetizer, and it feeds about 4 to 6 people. Or try it as a main dish: it’s a light pizza so you’ll need to accessorize with hearty sides. How to make it into a meal? Here are a few things we’d pair with it:
- Green Salad. Try Perfect Italian Salad, Chopped Salad, Best Tossed Salad, Classic Spinach Salad, Arugula Beet Salad, or Fennel Orange Salad.
- Hearty Salad. Try our Quinoa Salad, Kale Quinoa Salad, Simple Chickpea Salad, or French Lentil Salad for heartier choices.
- Veggies. While it’s in the oven, make some Sauteed Rainbow Chard, Best Sauteed Kale, Simple Sauteed Broccoli, Sauteed Spinach, or Best Sauteed Mushrooms.
This flatbread pizza recipe is…
Vegetarian.
Flatbread Pizza
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 7 minutes
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 4 pizzas 1x
Description
Flatbread pizza is easy to make: a great appetizer or simple dinner! Use store bought flatbread to keep it fast, and pick your favorite pizza toppings.
Ingredients
- 4 Flatbreads (or purchased flatbreads)
- Olive oil, for brushing
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 handful cherry tomatoes (or 1 thin sliced tomato)
- 1 handful thin sliced red onion (optional)
- 2 handfuls baby arugula
- Shaved Parmesan cheese, to garnish
- Balsamic Reduction, to garnish
- Toasted pine nuts, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mince the garlic. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Mix the baby arugula in a small bowl with a drizzle of olive oil.
- Place the flatbreads on the oven grate and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly crisp (depends on the thickness of the bread you’re using).
- Remove the breads and place them on a baking sheet. Brush the crusts with olive oil and sprinkle with minced garlic. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and a pinch of salt. Add the cherry tomatoes and bake for 2 to 3 minutes until the cheese melts.
- Top with the baby arugula, shavings of Parmesan cheese. If using, drizzle with balsamic reduction and top with toasted pine nuts.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
More pizza options!
Outside of our standard pizza recipes, we’ve got a few more fun alternative pizzas to try:
- Easy Eggplant Pizza Use eggplant for the crust to make Eggplant Pizza! These mini pizzas are tasty and easy to make, covered in garlicky sauce and gooey cheese.
- Focaccia Pizza A super fluffy crust: and makes a big sheet pan!
- Perfect Pan Pizza or Easy Cast Iron Pizza Here’s how to make the incredible pan pizza at home! It’s got thick pillowy crust and tastes like your favorite pizzeria…but even better.
This is awesome. Thanks for sharing the recipe.