Easy Bruschetta Pizza

A delicious twist on a classic Italian appetizer featuring diced tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, served on plant-based pizza.

I love pizza and I love bruschetta. By combining the two, we create Easy Bruschetta Pizza!

It’s the best of both worlds. You get a crispy crusty pizza with all the flavor and texture you love. You also get fresh tomatoes and basil tossed with a garlic-infused olive oil. The result is perfection. Plus, while the pizza dough is resting, the bruschetta topping is releasing excess juice. It’s synergy and time management at its best.

But I can’t take all the credit for this delicious hybrid. When I lived in La Maddalena, Italy several years ago, my daughter and I ordered pizza from Robi’s Pizza almost every weekend. And this was one of our favorites! It’s basically a white pizza with fresh tomatoes on top. But they aren’t just regular diced tomatoes, it’s a delicious bruschetta with fresh basil, garlic, and olive oil.

It’s still one of our favorite pizzas to make and enjoy. I hope you try it and enjoy it as well.

So let’s chat a bit about the primary ingredients and options.

As mentioned, this Easy Bruschetta Pizza is a hybrid of two recipes. The first is the Easy Italian Bruschetta. It’s a classic Italian antipasto featuring diced tomatoes, fresh garlic and basil, served on a toasted bread or crostini. It makes a great appetizer or starter to any meal, as well as a fantastic snack! But it also makes a great topping for this pizza.

The key to bruschetta is allowing the tomatoes ample time to release their juices. And while you could discard the juice, why would you? You can use the tomato juice to flavor soups and stews. That’s what I do.

The second key ingredient is my Pizza Dough. You can use any pizza dough or pizza crust you have, but my pizza dough is a super easy three-ingredient  pizza dough with all the right stuff – a soft and chewy inside and a nice crisp crust – plus, no salt or oil, unless you want it. I think it’s the perfect match up. This is especially true since both the bruschetta and the pizza dough need about the same amount of time to get ready.

The third ingredient is vegan cheese. I like using mozzarella shreds on the pizza crust and a little parmesan sprinkled atop the bruschetta. Feel free to mix it up how you see fit. You can use any commercially prepared vegan cheese, though you can also make your own using my Vegan Mozzarella.

I make my own whenever my grocer doesn’t have any in stock or when I’m trying to reduce the amount of oil I consume. My Vegan Mozzarella is a tasty plant-based oil-free mozzarella style cheese that shreds and melts, which makes it ideal on this pizza.

And finally, you have the option to drizzle a little balsamic glaze over top if you so choose. Some people enjoy it, and some prefer their pizza without. It’s a personal preference and completely up to you.

So now that we’ve covered the ingredients used to create this delicious Easy Bruschetta Pizza, let’s discuss the method. Basically, we need to make the bruschetta and the pizza dough. Do one and then the other. The order doesn’t much matter since the dough rises and the tomatoes release juices during the same timeframe. Once your pizza dough and bruschetta are ready, preheat your oven.

Once the oven is hot, shape your pizza on the counter or pan, then top it with the mozzarella and bake it until nice and bubbly. Remove the pizza from the oven and spoon some of the prepared bruschetta over top. Slice the pizza and enjoy!!

I hope you enjoy this Easy Bruschetta Pizza as much as I do.  

I would love to see your results! Please leave a comment and rate it down below, tag a picture @pebblesandtoast and #pebblesandtoast on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!   

And don’t forget to subscribe for new plant-based and vegan recipes today!! Just click on the subscribe link in the header or on the side. I simply love creating and sharing new recipes.

Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• Easy Italian Bruschetta
• Pizza Dough
• 1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese
• vegan parmesan cheese (optional)
• pinch of garlic powder
• pinch of oregano
• balsamic glaze (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven or grill to 500° F or as hot as it will go.
2. Roll out and shape the dough into desired size pizza discs.  
3. Transfer to a pizza stone or pan and top with mozzarella cheese, garlic powder, and oregano, as desired. 
4. Bake until cheese is bubbly, about 8-10 minutes.

1. Remove from the oven, slice with a pizza cutter or knife, and spoon the bruschetta over top.
2. Drizzle balsamic glaze or sprinkle vegan parmesan over top, if desired.
3. Serve immediately.  

Notes

* You can use any Vegan Mozzarella cheese you have on hand.  You can also make your own using my easy oil-free Vegan Mozzarella recipe.