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This Artichoke Pizza is a simple dinner of pure delicious homemade comfort food. A creamy white pizza sauce, artichoke hearts, and smoky cheese come together in a tasty homemade pizza recipe.
We take pizza seriously in the Cook household. Whether it is chicken bacon ranch pizza, onion pizza, corn and bacon pizza, or puff pastry pizza, we make A LOT of pizza at home.
And now, we have added this amazing artichoke pizza to our repertoire.
For this recipe, I use my trusty cast iron pizza pan. A pizza stone or even a regular baking sheet will work as well. If you prefer an extra crispy crust and own a stainless steel pizza steel, this is a great recipe to use it.
Ingredients
This recipe uses:
- Pizza dough – use storebought or homemade (overnight pizza dough, 100% whole wheat pizza dough, or spelt pizza dough)
- Creamy sauce – I used our homemade white pizza sauce, but jarred alfredo works great.
- Pesto – use our pesto without pinenuts or store-bought.
- Mozzarella
- Smoked gouda
- Canned artichokes
- Cornmeal
- Crispy bacon if you feel like being extra.
Use other cans of artichokes to make this delicious artichoke salad or these crispy fried artichokes.
How to Make Artichoke Heart Pizza
*I’ll walk you through it here with some photos and tips, and you’ll also find a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post with exact measurements, etc. You can also click “jump to recipe” to skip down.
Preheat oven to 450˚F with a pizza stone or baking sheet in there during the preheating process.
While the oven is preheating, let’s work on the fixings. The sauce for this pizza is a combination of our white pizza sauce and homemade pesto. And if you’re using storebought alfredo and pesto, the prep time will be even shorter.
On a floured surface gently shape the room-temperature pizza dough into your desired shape/size. Remember, you and I are not professional pizza makers, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t apologize for imperfections. Call it “artisanal and rustic” and go live your best life.
In a small bowl, mix the creamy sauce and the pesto until fully combined. Drain the artichokes in a strainer, and give each one a gentle little squeeze to release any additional water. Like a little hand hug for your veggies.
When the pizza pan is nice and hot, reduce the temp of the oven to 425˚F. Sprinkle the pizza pan with cornmeal and gently transfer the pizza dough onto the pan. Poke it all over with the tines of a fork.
Bake the pizza dough at 425˚F for 8 minutes. This is called parbaking. Bust that cool fact out at your next dinner party and impress your friends.
Top the parbaked dough with the creamy sauce, half of the artichoke hearts, mozzarella, and smoked gouda. Repeat layering. Top with bacon if using.
Bake at 425˚F for 10 minutes or until cheese is melty and lightly browned.
Variations
You’ll see I put some marinated roasted tomatoes on the pizza in these photos, and they’re delicious! You can also try sundried tomatoes, dehydrated tomatoes, or even fresh tomatoes.
Want to make a spinach and artichoke pizza? Sounds incredible, right? Throw some chopped baby spinach on the pizza, or pile a bunch of arugula on top of the hot pizza when it is fresh from the oven.
While I used canned artichokes that are packed in water if you’d prefer to use marinated artichokes, feel free! I would drain excess oil from the artichokes before adding them to the pizza.
How to Store and Reheat
Storing Leftovers: Allow the pizza to fully cool before storing slices in an air-tight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Reheating Leftovers: You can reheat the pizza for 2-6 minutes (depending on the thickness of the crust) in the air fryer, in the oven at 400˚F for 5-10 minutes, or in the microwave for 1 minute. Get more details in our post on how to reheat pizza in an air fryer.
Freezing: I do not recommend freezing this pizza. The artichokes would become watery and mealy upon thawing.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH Artichoke PIZZA
A side dish of veggies like Chopped Cabbage Salad, Roasted Frozen Broccoli, Air Fryer Asparagus, or Green Pea Salad are all great.
And for more carbs (yes please!), Cheesy Garlic Bread, Air Fryer Texas Toast, Stuffing Biscuits, or No Knead Dutch Oven Bread are delicious options.
PRO TIPS/RECIPE NOTES
- If you are using store-bought pizza dough, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or so before trying to roll it. Room temp pizza dough is much easier to work with.
- If you have the time, shredding your own cheese will give you better results. Preshredded cheese from the store has ingredients added to keep it from clumping in the bag—which also makes it melt less smoothly.
- Fully preheat the oven with the pizza pan in it. Baking the pizza before the oven is hot will lead to a soggy crust.
- I prefer to par-bake the pizza crust (partially bake) before putting on the toppings. This also helps prevent a soggy crust.
- Optional: brush the crust of the finished pizza with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt before serving.
- If you want to use the grill, cook at 425˚F for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is cooked through. Make sure the grill and pizza pan are fully preheated.
MORE DELICIOUS PIZZA RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
Artichoke Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza Peel
- Pizza Cutter
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough {room temperature}
- all-purpose flour for working with dough
- 1.5 tsp cornmeal
- 1 cup white pizza sauce or alfredo
- 1/3 cup pesto
- 1.5 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1/2 cup shredded smoked gouda
- 14 oz canned artichoke hearts {drained}
- 2 strips cooked bacon, diced {optional}
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450˚F with a pizza stone or baking sheet in there during the preheating process.
- In a small bowl combine white pizza sauce/alfredo and pesto. Set aside.1 cup white pizza sauce or alfredo, 1/3 cup pesto
- On a floured surface, flatten the pizza dough with your hands. Working in a circle, press it outward until it is at your desired thickness (usually about 1/3 in thick for thin crust or 1/2 in thick for normal crust).1 lb pizza dough, all-purpose flour for working with dough
- Reduce oven temp to 425˚F and carefully remove the pizza stone.
- Sprinkle the pizza stone with cornmeal and carefully (the pan will be hot!) transfer the flattened pizza dough onto the pan.1.5 tsp cornmeal
- Poke the dough all over with the tines of a fork.
- Bake pizza dough at 425˚F for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Spread the pesto sauce over the pizza, keeping a 1-inch perimeter around the edges.
- Top with half of the artichoke hearts, mozzarella, and smoked gouda. Repeat layering. Top with bacon if using.1.5 cup shredded mozzarella, 1/2 cup shredded smoked gouda, 14 oz canned artichoke hearts, 2 strips cooked bacon, diced
- Bake at 425˚F for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is melty and lightly browned and the crust is cooked through.
Notes
- If you are using store-bought pizza dough, allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour or so before trying to roll it. Room temp pizza dough is much easier to work with.
- Optional: brush the crust of the finished pizza with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of garlic salt before serving.
- If you want to use the grill, cook at 425F for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is cooked through. Make sure the grill and pizza pan are fully preheated.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
