This amazing pesto pizza recipe takes less than 15 minutes to prepare and has only five ingredients. While this individual-sized pizza made with English muffins and topped with fresh tomatoes and bacon, isn’t fancy-schmancy enough for a dinner party, it is the ultimate quick and easy weeknight dinner. Your family will love it!
These versatile English muffin pizzas are also perfect for an afternoon snack for the kids or a quick casual lunch. In addition, they are also a great party appetizer, and my personal favorite, they make a killer breakfast!
That’s right, breakfast! It’s a healthy way to add some veggies to the most important meal of the day, and a wonderful way to start your day. In fact, I had one this morning!
Pizza toppings ideas:
Of course, everyone has their favorite pizza toppings, and you can certainly substitute yours for the bacon and tomato. And, you can always substitute regular pizza sauce for the pesto. But, I hope you at least try it with the pesto. You won’t believe how much it elevates the flavor of the pizza. Other pizza toppings ideas include pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, black olives, and green peppers.
Calories:
These handheld wonders come in at around 240 calories per pizza.
Ingredients:
Pesto pizza ingredients include English muffins, fresh tomato, bacon, pesto, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil for garnish.
How to make them:
Top each of your English muffin halves with a heaping teaspoon of pesto and spread out evenly.
Then place the muffin halves on a baking sheet and put under your broiler for 1-3 minutes. Watch them carefully, because they can go from not quite done to burned in a few seconds. You do want the edges to be browned and crusty looking.
Reduce the oven heat to 450 degrees F.
Next, seed and chop your tomato. If you don’t know how to seed a tomato, click on this link to watch a quick video showing you how to seed a tomato. This step is important because too much tomato juice will make your pizzas soggy. Top each English muffin half with a handful of the chopped tomato pieces.
Sprinkle bacon on top of the tomato on each English muffin half. Then, top with as much shredded mozzarella cheese as will stay on.
Place the pesto pizzas in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.
Garnish with fresh basil and serve hot!
Recipes with pesto:
If you are as big a fan of pesto as I am, you will love these easy recipes with pesto: Quick and Easy Basil Pesto Chicken, Shrimp Burgers with Basil Pesto, and Pesto Pasta with Shrimp and Tomatoes.
Speaking of pesto, if you are not already a fan of pesto, you should give it a try. It is a versatile condiment that can be used in almost any dish, particularly pasta dishes, soups or stews, to give them another layer of flavor. I always keep a jar in my pantry, but you can also buy refrigerated pesto or even make your own pesto.
Easy homemade pizza recipes:
We have already established that I love pizza in any shape or flavor. If you are like me, in addition to my Pesto Pizza, you will love these easy homemade pizza recipes on my blog: Rustic Roasted Cherry Tomato Pizza, Tomato and Artichoke Pizza, as well as Cast Iron Margherita Pizza from the Pudge Factor blog. In addition, I even have an Easy Supreme Pizza Casserole recipe that is fun and delicious!
Sharon’s Expert Tips:
- For easy cleanup, line your baking sheet with foil before adding the cheese and baking the pizzas.
- I highly recommend using refrigerated sourdough English muffins for this recipe. You can substitute regular English muffins but, in my opinion, the sourdough muffins are crisper and have a better taste. You can usually find them in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.
- It’s important to toast your English muffin before adding the toppings. I know you have probably had English muffin pizzas that weren’t toasted first and they are usually gummy, which is exactly the opposite of the taste we are going for.
- You can certainly substitute your favorite toppings for the bacon and tomato. And, you can always substitute regular pizza sauce for the pesto. Other substitute pizza toppings include pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, black olives, and green peppers.
- Low-moisture mozzarella cheese is my favorite and the classic cheese for pizza. But, if you want to substitute another cheese, check out this article The Best Cheese for Pizza.
- If you don’t know how to seed a tomato, click on this link to watch a quick video showing you how to seed a tomato.
**If you make Pesto Pizza, please give it a star rating and let me know how you liked it in the comments section!**
Thank you for visiting Grits and Pinecones!
📋 Recipe:
Pesto Pizza - English Muffins with Tomato and Bacon
Ingredients
- 3 English muffins I prefer sourdough, split
- 1 tomato medium, seeded and chopped
- 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
- ⅓ cup pesto can use jarred or refrigerated
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil optional garnish, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler on your oven.
- Top each of your English muffin halves with a heaping teaspoon of pesto and spread out evenly. Place the muffin halves on a baking sheet and place under the broiler for 1-3 minutes. Watch carefully, because they can go from not quite done to burned in a few seconds. You are looking for brown crispy edges.
- Reduce the oven heat to 450 degrees F.
- Next, seed your tomato. Discard the seeds and the core of the tomato. Then chop the remaining tomato into small pieces. This step is important because too much tomato juice will make your pizzas soggy. Top each English muffin half with chopped tomato pieces.
- Add bacon. Then, add as much shredded mozzarella cheese as you can without it falling off.
- Place the English muffin pizzas in the oven, and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is bubbling. Optional, garnish with fresh basil.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Nutrition
**September 5, 2019, updated this post and republished to include expanded directions and tips, new photos and an instructional video.
HOLY SMOKES!! That looks so Deeelicious!! You are SO FUN!! Always Impressive!! Nice Job! Can’t wait to try!!