16 Recipes For Pizza Lovers To Try Out This Fall
Pizza is one of those dishes that is a perennial favorite. Whether you're ordering takeout from your favorite pizza joint or you're whipping up a pie at home, there's something about the combination of crispy crust, fresh sauce, melty cheese, and an array of toppings that offers the perfect combination of flavors and textures to satisfy every craving.
It doesn't hurt that the possibilities for pizza are practically endless, and that it's even possible to choose recipes that are perfectly geared to the season. For instance, as the cooler temperatures of fall blow in, you can enjoy seasonal toppings, pizza-inspired soup, or hearty pizza pot pies to fill you up and keep you warm. Of course, pizza itself is nice and hot, so if you prefer to keep things classic with a traditional or deep-dish pie, those are always options, too. Regardless of your personal preferences, you're bound to find a new pizza recipe to fall in love with this fall when you check out these 16 flavorful options featuring meat, veggies, and cheese atop delicious homemade crusts and sauces.
Italian Salad Pizza
Salad and pizza go together like peanut butter and jelly, so there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't combine the two into a single, delicious dish. This sweet and savory Italian salad pizza may feature ingredients that make it seem "light," like arugula and nectarines, but it's anything but light on flavor. In addition to the salad-like ingredients, it also includes items you'd find on your favorite, more traditional pies, like prosciutto, ricotta and Parmesan cheese, and a good amount of garlic, too.
Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pizza
When you're looking for a heartier, more filling pizza, you can't go wrong with this Detroit-style deep-dish pizza. Featuring a thick and delicious crust, lots of cheese, and the toppings of your choice (pepperoni is always a favorite), it's finished off with stripes of tomato sauce on top. While you may not be used to the sauce on the top of your pizza instead of the bottom, it's an experience worth trying (and one you're bound to enjoy).
Recipe: Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pizza
Sheet Pan Sicilian Pizza
Sicilian pizza is a simple, light pizza option that works as well as a main course as it does an appetizer or side. Featuring a more focaccia-like crust that's a little bit spongy, along with simple toppings like mozzarella cheese, basil, and tomato sauce, it's similar to a margherita pizza, but with a softer crust. It's also traditionally made with the dough stretched across a sheet pan. This makes it perfect for cutting into squares or rectangles to share with a crowd.
Recipe: Sheet Pan Sicilian Pizza
French Bread White Pizza
French bread pizza is a great option when you're short on time and don't want to deal with making a pizza crust. All you have to do is slice up the bread, layer it with the toppings of your choice, and heat the pizza in the oven until it's hot and ready.
For the cooler fall months, it's always fun to switch out the tomato sauce for a thicker, creamier white sauce. This creamy Parmesan sauce doesn't take long to make and pairs perfectly with the suggested toppings of arugula, red onion, and prosciutto.
Recipe: French Bread White Pizza
Grilled Veggie Grilled Pizza
Grilled veggies on top of a pizza? It's the perfect way to beef up (so to speak) your intake of rainbow-colored produce without needing to eat yet another salad. This recipe includes everything from sliced eggplant and zucchini to red pepper and onions, artichoke hearts, and the mushrooms of your choice.
You can even through on sundried tomatoes and olives to really amp up the flavor. The entire pizza is grilled, leaving you with a flavorful meal that works every bit as well in the fall as it does in the summer.
Recipe: Grilled Veggie Grilled Pizza
Margherita Pizza
There's nothing wrong with loading up a pizza with lots of different toppings — it's the possible flavor combinations that make pizza so special, right? But don't underestimate the power of a simple slice of pizza.
This homemade margherita pizza recipe uses smashed, whole tomatoes as sauce, followed by slices of fresh mozzarella and basil leaves. As the finishing touch, there's a basil-oregano-chive-infused olive oil you can make while the pizza is baking to drizzle across the top of this fall-friendly dish.
Recipe: Homemade Margherita Pizza
Mini Chicago Pizza Pot Pies
If you think about it, the concept of a pot pie isn't all that different than a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Both meals feature a deep crust filled with hearty (often meaty) ingredients. So, it makes sense that if you choose to fill a pot pie crust with pizza-like ingredients, you end up with a Chicago pizza pot pie.
These mini pot pies are made in ramekins, providing the perfect single-serving portion when you want a cold-weather comfort food without overdoing it. While you can decide which ingredients to use to fill your pot pies, this recipe includes sweet Italian sausage, red bell pepper, onion, an array of spices, mushrooms, and mozzarella cheese.
Recipe: Mini Chicago Pizza Pot Pies
Flammkuchen (Puff Pastry Pizza)
When you're looking for a shortcut to make your pizza crust, making a flammkuchen pizza using store-bought puff pastry is the way to go. This German version of pizza features the type of flaky, light crust more often associated with tarts, turnovers, or Danishes.
And when using a pre-made puff pastry, you can have your pizza perfectly cooked (consider serving with toppings like red onion and calabrese) in less than 30 minutes. It makes an excellent breakfast or brunch option but also works as an appetizer or main dish.
Recipe: Flammkuchen (Puff Pastry Pizza)
Grilled Peach And Gorgonzola Pizza
The rich, tangy taste of gorgonzola cheese paired with the sweet and slightly smoky flavor of grilled peaches combine to offer the type of deep flavor pairing that is perfect served aside a steaming bowl of soup on a chilly fall evening.
Add to that the peppery flavor of arugula and the sweetly spicy addition of hot honey on top? You've got yourself the type of gourmet pizza that checks and is guaranteed to become a family favorite.
Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Sure, it's easy enough to take shortcuts when it comes to pizza dough — French bread, puff pastry, and pre-made crusts are all readily available options. Yet, at the end of the day, a truly delicious homemade pizza crust is hard to beat.
This Neapolitan pizza dough is flavored with sugar, salt, Italian seasoning, and garlic to give you the type of crust you'll want to have on hand for all your pizza-making needs. The good news? You can even make it ahead and freeze it so you don't have to go to the trouble of making it from scratch every time you want to bake up a homemade pizza.
Recipe: Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Beer-Based Pizza Dough
Grab your favorite fall-friendly beer and put that carbonation and yeast to work as you make your next round of pizza crust. Turns out that when you use beer in your pizza crust instead of a packet of yeast, you cut down on the time required. This is because you don't have to wait for the yeast to activate or the dough to rise. That means you can have a delicious pizza dough ready to bake in just 20 minutes — not the hour or so that's more typical for a traditional pizza dough.
Recipe: Beer-Based Pizza Dough
Pizza Soup
What pizza recipe could be more fall-friendly than a pizza soup? This steamy hot soup features all the ingredients you'd expect in a veggie pizza — colorful bell peppers, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, and lots of broth and pizza sauce.
Topped with cheese and olives (only if you like them, of course), you end up with the type of soup that will warm you up and satisfy your pizza cravings. And of course, to get even more of that pizza-like experience, you can serve it alongside slices of rich, crusty bread.
Recipe: Best Pizza Soup
Pizza Sauce
Just as it's possible to take shortcuts when it comes to making pizza crust, it's every bit as easy to take shortcuts with pizza sauce. All you have to do is walk through the aisles of your local grocery store to see all the jars and cans of pre-made sauce. But the truth is, making your own homemade sauce at home is easy and much more delicious. This recipe for sauce takes about 40 minutes to make, but most of that time is spent simmering to allow the flavors to meld. Plus, you can double or triple the recipe and store it in the freezer for later use.
Recipe: Extra-Flavorful Pizza Sauce
Gluten-Free Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Pre-made options for gluten-free pizza are widely available, but making your own cauliflower pizza crust is easier than you might think. And once you've mastered the process, you can enjoy celiac-friendly pizza at home without paying the markups so often added to commercial gluten-free products. The crust takes about 30 minutes to make and uses affordable ingredients like cauliflower, eggs, almond flour, cheese, gluten-free flour, and seasonings.
Mexican Breakfast Pizza
When the craving for pizza hits first thing in the morning, you don't have to delay your satisfaction. This recipe for Mexican breakfast pizza is the perfect answer to your breakfast or brunch needs. Featuring Mexican chorizo, eggs, salsa, and cheese, along with a creamy cilantro and lime sauce, it will fill you up and tide you over well into the lunchtime hours. And given its savory and spicy flavor combination, there's no reason you can't double-up and enjoy the leftovers for lunch, too.
Recipe: Mexican Breakfast Pizza
Creamy White Pizza Sauce
White pizza sauce is every bit as easy to make as its somewhat more popular tomato-based cousin. In fact, this cheesy, Parmesan-based recipe takes only about 12 minutes to make and offers the perfect base for your fall-forward pizza recipes, pairing nicely with chicken, prosciutto, spinach, red onion, mushrooms, and artichokes, just to name a few. You don't need many ingredients to whip up this recipe — in addition to Parmesan, all you need is butter, flour, milk, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Recipe: Creamy White Pizza Sauce