8 Quick and Easy Pizza Recipes for Dinner
Pizza on a weeknight only works for me if I do not have to make the dough.
The moment a recipe says to let it rise for an hour, I am ordering in.
Every one of these starts with bread somebody else already baked.
Dinner in about the time it takes the oven to come up to heat.
1. French Bread Pizza
A loaf split lengthways with garlic butter, pizza sauce, mozzarella, Italian seasoning and basil.
Twenty minutes, and one loaf stretches to ten servings.
The split loaf gives you a thick, bready base that is closer to deep dish than anything else here.
Scoop a little of the soft middle out before you top it, so the sauce has somewhere to sit.
2. Easy Pizza Quesadillas
A folded tortilla with pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, griddled in butter.
Twenty minutes, serves four.
Keep the sauce thin and away from the edges or it leaks out and burns in the pan.
Cheese on both sides of the filling glues it shut as it melts.
Cut it into wedges and serve extra sauce for dipping.
3. Margherita Flatbread Pizza
Flatbread brushed with garlic butter, then marinara, mozzarella, tomato, basil and balsamic glaze.
Fifteen minutes, serves two.
The garlic butter under the sauce is what stops the flatbread tasting like a cracker.
Fresh basil and the balsamic go on after it comes out of the oven.
4. Quick Tortilla Pizza
A flour tortilla crisped into a thin crust with pizza sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan and basil.
Fifteen minutes, serves four.
Crisp the tortilla dry for a minute before the sauce goes on.
Straight from the pack it goes floppy and you end up eating it with a fork.
5. Air Fryer English Muffin Pizza
Split english muffins with pizza sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, crisped in the air fryer.
Six minutes, serves four.
The nooks hold sauce and melted cheese in a way flat bread does not, which is the whole appeal.
Toast the halves briefly before topping them so the middle does not stay doughy.
6. Sheet Pan Pizza
Ready-made pizza crust pressed into a sheet pan with sauce, fresh cheese, herbs and whatever toppings you have.
Twenty minutes, serves eight.
This is the one for feeding a table, and square slices mean nobody argues about the middle.
Let the dough sit at room temperature for a few minutes before you stretch it, or it springs back every time.
7. Easy Naan Pizza
Store-bought naan with pizza sauce, cheese and basil.
Fifteen minutes, serves two.
Naan is the closest of these to a real pizza base, since it is thick enough to hold up and it puffs and chars at the edges.
Put it straight on the oven rack for a crisper bottom.
8. Easy Pita Pizzas, Two Ways
Wholewheat pitas with two topping versions, one barbecue chicken with black beans and corn, one with pizza sauce, mushroom and pineapple.
Ten minutes, serves five.
Pita is the thinnest base here and gives you something close to a cracker crust.
It is also the easiest one to hand a child and let them top themselves.
Tips for Crisp Crusts
A hot oven is more important than a long one, so go to 425°F or higher.
Pre-toast whatever base you are using before the toppings go on, since that single step fixes most sogginess.
Use less sauce than feels right, because a thin layer is plenty and a thick one steams the base from above.
Put thin bases directly on the oven rack or on a preheated tray so the bottom gets direct heat.
Grate your own mozzarella where you can, as the pre-shredded kind is coated in starch and melts less smoothly.
Notes on Toppings
Wet toppings like fresh tomato, mushroom and pineapple release water as they cook, so pat them dry or cook them first.
Raw meat does not have time to cook on a ten-minute pizza, so use something already cooked.
Fresh basil, arugula and anything delicate go on after it comes out of the oven.
These are all best eaten immediately, and none of them reheat especially well.
Leftover sheet pan pizza is the exception and crisps up again in a hot oven.