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This vibrant avocado pizza makes the ultimate pizza topping! This colorful pie stars avocado with bell peppers, red onion, fresh basil, and creamy goat cheese.
After 4 trips to Italy and over 10 years of research, Alex and I can finally say we’re homemade pizza experts. We’ve created our perfect pizza dough recipe and tangy pizza sauce recipe, and we know how to bake them to perfection.
While the classic Margherita pizza is our specialty, here’s another top pizza topping we make on pizza nights: avocado pizza! This pie is a mix of colorful veggie toppings, with bell peppers, red onion, basil, and dollops of soft goat cheese. Top it all off with that vegetable (or fruit!) darling: the avocado.
Ingredients for this avocado pizza
This veggie and avocado pizza is a take on the “So Cal” pizza served here in Indianapolis at Jockomo’s. When a friend asked us if we could create a pizza inspired by the So Cal, we jumped at the chance. It turned out incredibly colorful and totally delicious, due to the genius combination of flavors and textures. Here are the toppings on this veggie and avocado pizza:
- Pizza sauce: Our “famous” pizza sauce makes a savory base, a combination of canned tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and oregano.
- Goat cheese and mozzarella cheese: Creamy, tangy goat cheese dollops contrast with the stretchy mozzarella, which holds the pie together.
- Avocado: This veggie makes a savory, creamy pizza topping. Make sure to add it after baking so it doesn’t turn brown.
- Bell peppers & red onion: These vegetables add beautiful colors and a crunchy texture.
- Fresh basil: Fresh basil seals the deal, adding a peppery herbaceous note.
How to make pizza dough
For the dough for this avocado pizza, we’ve got several recipes that you can make depending on your tastes and equipment! Here are our best methods:
- Pizza Dough Recipe is our best method that results in a classic, crispy yet chewy pizza crust! You can use a stand mixer, but you can also knead it by hand.
- Easy Thin Crust makes a similar dough, but you roll it out into thinner crust.
- Pizza Dough in a Food Processor: This one is quicker than the first two, and uses a food processor to knead the dough.
- Pan Pizza or Sheet Pan Pizza: These methods are easier since you don’t have to shape the dough! You can bake them in a cast iron skillet or sheet pan, respectively.
More pizza recipes
We’ve got loads more pizza recipes and toppings to try! Here are our top pizza recipes:
- Try Margherita Pizza or Neapolitan Pizza Recipe
- Try these 35 Great Pizza Recipes or 25 Popular Pizza Toppings
- Make our Pickle Pizza, Burrata Pizza, Mushroom Pizza, Spinach Pizza, or Pizza Bianca
Dietary notes
This avocado pizza recipe is vegetarian.
Frequently asked questions
Avocado is best added after the pizza has been baked. This prevents it from browning or becoming mushy in the oven and keeps it fresh and vibrant.
Avocado pairs well with various toppings, both savory and sweet. Some popular combinations include:
Savory: Bacon, chicken, feta cheese, red onion, cilantro, jalapeño, corn, black beans
Sweet: Mango, pineapple, balsamic glaze, goat cheese, honey
We recommend eating avocado pizza the day of baking, since the avocado turns brown during storage.
Veggie & Avocado Pizza
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Description
This vibrant veggie and avocado pizza is the ultimate vegetarian pizza recipe, starring bell peppers, fresh basil, and creamy goat cheese!
Ingredients
- 1 ball Best Pizza Dough (or Food Processor Dough or Thin Crust Dough)
- 1/4 red bell pepper
- 1/4 yellow bell pepper
- 1/4 small red onion
- 8 to 10 leaves fresh basil
- ⅓ cup Homemade Easy Pizza Sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 4 ounces soft goat cheese
- 1/2 avocado
- Kosher salt
- Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting the pizza peel
Instructions
- Make the pizza dough: Follow the Best Pizza Dough recipe to prepare the dough. (This takes about 15 minutes to make and 45 minutes to rest.)
- Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500°F. OR preheat your pizza oven (here’s the pizza oven we use).
- Make the pizza sauce: Make the Homemade Pizza Sauce.
- Prepare the toppings: Thinly slice the peppers. Thinly slice the onion. Thinly slice (chiffonade) the basil leaves. Remove the avocado pit.
- Place the dough on the pizza peel: 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.
- Quickly assemble the pizza: Spread a thin layer of the pizza sauce onto the dough. Top with the mozzarella cheese. Then add sliced peppers, onions, and dollops of goat cheese. Using a spoon, scoop out small dollops of the flesh onto the pizza. Sprinkle the top with kosher salt.
- Bake the pizza: Transfer the pizza to the pizza stone in the oven using the pizza peel, and bake until the cheese is melted, about 7 minutes (or 1 minute in a pizza oven). Allow to cool slightly, then garnish with basil and serve.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nice pictures, I hope you guys can actually create a healthy pizza, with minimal use of cheese and all the unhealthy accessories. Thanks for sharing this though.
I love goat cheese on a pizza – it feels so luxurious somehow! You’ve used most of my favourite foods in the world on this, perfect inspiration for our next pizza night.
Delicious!! love the goat cheese and avocado combo!
goat cheese is one of my favourites on pizza, but have never tried avocado! I feel I am missing out. This looks amazing. xo
Homemade pizza is the best! My husband introduced me to goat cheese on pizza years ago and I love the flavor it adds. Another favorite topping of his is a handful of cashews or shelled sunflower seeds for some textural interest.
So glad I’m not the only one with pizza guilt. But sometimes ya just gotta have a slice! This is a beautiful pie — makes me want to dig right in!
I love goats cheese on pizza, especially with beets. I also like the avocado in this recipe. We don’t have a pizza tradition but I’ve been telling myself I need to make it more often. What a fun tradition you guys have for Thursday nights.
I live alone, but I do make pizza for myself about once a month or once every couple of weeks. I love adding capers to my pizza, something I first came across while living in Germany. My tradition is that I do always use the same sauce, from a simple recipe given to my family by some Italian friends many years ago. Their name was Astolfi, so we call it (I guess obviously) “Astolfi’s Pizza Sauce.” It’s really great, has no added salt, and makes enough for 2 large pizzas. You can refrigerate any leftover in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid for up to 2 weeks, or even freeze it.
One 6-ounce can of tomato paste
One 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
1 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Dash or two of Tabasco sauce (to taste)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (to taste)
Stir ingredients well and heat over medium heat until just starting to bubble around the edges. Do not boil. Spoon onto pizza dough, add your toppings, and bake.
These pics look amazing and this recipe is just in time for spring! About to breakout our pizza oven, so we may have to try this combo of toppings! Love the idea of avocado on a pizza – great addition of fiber!
Being from so-cal I crave the flavors in this pizza. Avocado on evvvverything! So beautiful. As for pizza traditions – pizza was one of the first dinners Scott and I ever made together while dating, and still have occasional pizza nights where we build them and recount those happy memories :) food is so much more fun when you get to make it together!
Pizza night is one of our go-to recipes on any night of the week, so I’m always looking for fresh ways to mix it up. This recipe looks so fabulous for spring!
Yum, looks so good!!
This pizza sounds interesting and definitely worth a try! I am a So Cal native and I love pizza. My husband’s family has a Christmas Eve tradition of making pizza at home- enough pizza to cover every counter and table in the house!
I just love the avocado on top of this! Such a yummy addition!