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Roasted Tomato Caprese Pizza

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This easy roasted tomato caprese pizza was inspired by our favorite Italian flavors for a fresh and flavorful pizza that’s delightful all summer long.

Roasted tomato mozzarella and pesto on a pizza.

We’ve always loved taking our favorite dishes and turning them into pizza (like our elota pizza or butter chicken pizza) – it’s one of our favorite ways to come up with new recipes. We love caprese sandwiches, so it only felt fitting to turn this classic Italian sandwich into a pizza as well!

With a basil pesto sauce, fresh slabs of mozzarella cheese, and juicy roasted tomatoes, this pizza is bursting with the bright flavors of summer. It’s the perfect date night dinner when you want an upscale yet comforting dish you can pair with a summery craft cocktail or your favorite bottle of wine.

What To Expect

  • Great for: Homemade summer pizza nights.
  • Ready in: 35 minutes
  • Serves: 2 people
  • Flavor profile: Fresh, savory, and bright summer flavors.
  • How to make it: Roast the tomatoes, assemble the pizza – dough, pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes – and bake!

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Key Ingredients

A caprese salad is made with simple high quality ingredients, and we didn’t do anything different here. Mozzarella, tomato, and basil (pesto) create a light, bright, and delicious pizza. 

  • Pizza dough – Store-bought pizza dough is always a good, easy option for making pizza at home. However if you enjoy making your own pizzas, we highly recommend purchasing a copy of Marc Vetri’s Mastering Pizza cookbook. It’ll help you take your pizza creations to the next level by making all your own doughs. 
  • Roasted cherry tomatoes – We like the sweetness cherry tomatoes add to this pizza. You could also use grape tomatoes or any other small tomatoes you prefer. 
  • Basil pesto – The pesto sauce makes for a flavorful base. If you want to make this pizza nut free, try using our nut free basil pesto!
  • Mozzarella – We recommend sliced fresh mozzarella for this recipe just as you’d expect in a caprese salad or sandwich. 

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Cookbook Spotlight: Mastering Pizza Cookbook

Marc Vetri expertly teaches the art of making your own pizza dough at home. With many dough styles and variations, there is plenty in this cookbook for all pizza lovers to enjoy.

How To Make Burst Tomato Caprese Pizza

Homemade pizza is one of our go-to date night dinners because they are so easy, fun, and unique. We are able to put our own personal touch on each pizza, and constantly customize them to our tastes. Plus, pizza is an amazing template for trying out new flavor combinations or transforming much loved classic recipes. Just like we have here with the caprese! 

  1. Roast the tomatoes – Roast the tomatoes until they are blistered and lightly charred. Then smush them with the back of a spoon to gently flatten them out.
  2. Assemble the pizza – Spread an even layer of pesto onto the dough, topping with sliced mozzarella and the tomatoes.
  3. Bake – Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is nicely melted.

No matter how you choose to enjoy it, homemade pizza nights are always special. Let us know in the comments your favorite pizza night traditions and don’t forget to rate and share the recipe if you found it helpful!

Expert Tips

  • Smushing the tomatoes before putting them onto the pizza helps to both flatten them out and release some of the juices. As tempting as it may be, you don’t want all of the tomato juice on the pizza because it will make the sauce too liquidy and keep the crust from crisping properly. 
  • Making your own pizza dough makes homemade pizza taste even better and makes for a more special night. There’s nothing like enjoying a delicious meal you’ve made from scratch. 
  • If you don’t already have a round pizza pan, we recommend getting one. It tends to be easier to shape your dough into a circle than to fit it to a rectangular sheet pan. Plus a round pizza fits make-at-home takeout night so much better!
Pesto pizza with roasted tomatoes and mozzarella.

Serving Suggestions

I have always loved having a side with pizza nights. So in case you enjoy that too, here are some of our favorite suggestions!

Or if you prefer a cocktail to go with your pizza, then give our rosemary vodka lemonade a try! The light and bright Italian flavors pair perfectly with our caprese pizza.

Other Summer Pizza Recipes

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Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

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Roasted tomato mozzarella and pesto pizza.

Roasted Tomato Caprese Pizza

Nicole & Alex Langdon
This easy roasted tomato caprese pizza was inspired by our favorite Italian flavors for a fresh and flavorful pizza that's delightful all summer long.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6 slices
Calories 353 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
 
 

  • 5 ounces cherry tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 425 grams pizza dough
  • 3 ounces basil pesto
  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella sliced
  • Parmesan cheese grated

Instructions
 

  • First, roast the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, whole, to a small baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, then roast under the broiler on low (~425 degrees F) until blistered and lightly charred, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Switch the broiler off and preheat the oven to 525 degrees F. Oil and flour a 14-inch pizza pan, then flour your hands and stretch the dough into a roughly 12 to 14 inch circle to fit the pan.
  • Now, top the pizza. Spread the pesto evenly over the dough, leaving about a quarter inch crust around the edges. Top with sliced mozzarella.
    Gently smush the tomatoes with the back of a spoon to release some of their juices, then top the pizza with them, making sure to get some of the juices onto the pizza (but not all – see Notes section for details).
    Finish with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
  • Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly, about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Notes

Pizza dough: We like to make pizza dough from scratch using recipes from Marc Vetri’s Mastering Pizza cookbook and Ken Forkish’s Flour Water Salt Yeast cookbook. But you can also use store bought!
Pizza pan: If you don’t own a round pizza pan, we can recommend this 14″ round pizza pan from Wilton. It’s budget-friendly and crisps up the pizza nicely without sticking.
Roasted tomatoes: Make sure to gently smush the tomatoes before they go on the pizza, and leave some of the juices off the pizza so it doesn’t become too wet. Excess juice on top of the pizza will burn off as it bakes.
Baking tips: In general, bake pizza in the middle of your oven (move your oven racks if needed) to ensure even cooking. If you are baking two pizzas at once on separate racks, space the racks evenly in the oven and just switch the pizzas about halfway through. Pizza can also be finicky and cooks at different rates depending on the hydration level of your dough, your oven’s actual temperature, and other factors. We recommend keeping an eye on your pizza as it cooks and using visual cues to tell when it’s done – use our time estimates as a rough guide.

Nutrition

Serving: 1sliceCalories: 353kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 15gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 891mgPotassium: 80mgFiber: 1gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 657IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 216mgIron: 2mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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As a kid, Alex was deemed the pickiest eater ever. That was at least, until he learned how to cook. While he always enjoyed cooking and eating good food growing up, the definition of good food was just really limited. Alex’s world of food quickly expanded in college as a way to get to know new friends. Now he’s constantly looking forward to finding new recipes and cuisines to try.

Alex is a mechanical engineer by degree, but a food blogger by reality. Even though engineering isn’t his day to day anymore, Alex has carried over many lessons learned from the engineering world to The Candid Cooks. With a very detail oriented, analytical mind, Alex thrives in the amount of data, science, and experimenting that comes with both cooking and running a website.

When Alex isn’t cooking or working on the blog, his favorite hobbies include playing soccer, running, hiking, reading a good book, or getting lost in a video game. Alex loves baking bread of all sorts, which is probably why pizza is one of his favorite foods to both make and eat!

5 from 1 vote

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One Comment

  1. 5 stars
    This pizza is like a better, extra cheesy version of a margherita pizza. I love the addition of the pesto, the roasted cherry tomatoes are so flavorful, and you just can’t beat fresh mozzarella for a pizza.

    Reply