Puff pastry pizza is the easiest homemade pizza yet
Puff pastry pizza is so easy: built on a base of buttery, airy, flaky puff pastry, you can top this pizza with your favorite toppings and get it into the oven in no time.
I love this because you don’t need to make pizza dough ahead of time. A bit of frozen puff pastry (I use a piece of my homemade puff pastry) loaded up with just about whatever you have in your fridge, and you can make this before the oven heats up. And no, you don’t need a pizza stone or any kind of fancy pizza oven setup to make this.
This is a weeknight sheet tray dinner at its finest. And while this won’t replace my family’s regular overnight pizza dough, this is a fun alternative when time is short. Puff pastry pizza is perfect football food as it comes together quickly, and the added richness of the pastry makes it easy to cut up into small pieces to make good football watching snacks.
Let’s top us some pizzas.
Puff pastry pizza
What you’ll love about puff pastry pizza
- No fancy pizza gear needed: Most pizza recipes need you to crank up your oven to 11 literally. Here, we just need a moderately hot oven and a plain old sheet tray.
- Top it with whatever you have: Top this with dibs and dabs of sauces and whatever cheese you have on hand. Feel free to make this your own. I love using this recipe as a leftovers reinvention dinner mid-week for a night when we’re on the go. This is a pantry meal essentially, which is something we all need in our busy lives. Be sure to check out the Flammkuchen toppings below: this is our house favorite “pizza” of all time.
- Flaky flaky crust: Making pizza on puff pastry is different. You won’t get the toothy yield from a yeasted crust but instead a flaky pastry. Different is fun and intriguing.
- Easy easy easy: You don’t need any fancy skills here. If you can roll out the dough with a plain old rolling pin , you can make this pizza.
Ingredients for Puff Pastry Pizza
- Puff pastry: frozen is just fine, though I’ll still advocate for you to stock your freezer with homemade puff pastry!
- Cheese: a cheese blend of mozzarella and provolone is great, but anything goes.
- Sauce: jarred pizza sauce, Alfredo sauce, BBQ, pesto, or even sour cream
- Meat: leftover sauteed ground beef from another meal, pepperoni, prosciutto, bacon, chicken, etc.
- Spices: freshly ground pepper, red pepper flakes, nutmeg, etc.
Topping ideas for puff pastry pizza
Classic pepperoni
- Jarred pizza sauce
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
- Pepperoni
Greek pizza
- Sauteed ground beef (or lamb) and onions with a pinch of cinnamon and allspice
- Jarred pizza sauce
- Tzatziki (yogurt + grated clove of garlic + drained grated cucumber + salt and pepper)
- Sliced cucumbers
- Arugula
- Feta
- Thin red onion slices
- Kalamata olives
Oktoberfest pizza (Flammkuchen)
- Creme Fraiche or sour cream
- Lots of pepper
- Bacon
- Thinly sliced shallots
- Nutmeg
- Cheese if you want (I like fontina; no it’s not traditional, but hey, we’re here making pizza on puff pastry)
Pesto puff pastry pizza
- Sauteed ground beef and onions
- Jarred pesto
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
BBQ chicken
- Shredded chicken
- BBQ sauce
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
- Green onions
Tips for making the best puff pastry pizza
- Thaw your pastry: Pop the pastry in the fridge overnight or set it on the counter for 30 minutes. Either way, the pastry will still be cold when you’re ready to bake which will ensure that you get that lovely puff from the pastry.
- Roll on the counter: While you can roll on a piece of parchment , it is better to roll on a lightly floured counter. Rolling on the parchment can leave you with weird creases or buckles.
- Make the dough no bigger than your sheet tray: So that it fits! A one pound portion of my homemade puff pastry rolls out to just the right size as should a frozen puff pastry sheet.
- Dock the crust: Poke the pastry with a fork. This will keep it from puffing up to crazy heights and making your toppings leak all over the place.
- Don’t add too much in the way of toppings: Puff pastry is not as sturdy as regular pizza crust, but if you keep a light hand with your toppings, you’ll have no problem getting good color and a crisp crust.
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Puff pastry pizza
- Total Time: about an hour
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
Description
A quick to make weeknight pizza built on ultra flaky puff pastry and topped with whatever meats and cheese you have on hand, this pizza is a great quick meal or a fun appetizer pizza perfect for football watching.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Puff pastry: frozen is just fine, though I’ll still advocate for you to stock your freezer with homemade puff pastry!
- 1 and 1/2 cups cheese: a cheese blend of mozzarella and provolone is great, but anything goes.
- 1/4 cup sauce: jarred pizza sauce, Alfredo sauce, BBQ, pesto, or even sour cream
- 1 cup meat (about 4 ounces) : leftover sauteed ground beef from another meal, pepperoni, prosciutto, bacon, chicken, etc.
Instructions
Roll the dough
- Thaw the puff pastry in the fridge overnight, or let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake.
- Preheat the oven to 425 F (220 C). Line one sheet tray with a piece of parchment paper.
- Lightly sprinkle your counter with a little flour. Place the sheet of puff pastry on top the counter, and then sprinkle a little more flour over the top of the pastry.
- Roll the dough into a rectangle that is close to the size of your sheet tray. If you feel like the dough is resisting rolling, let it rest for a minute before you continue to roll. If you’re using store-bought puff pastry, you probably won’t need to roll it much.
- When the dough is the right size, lift up the dough, and then set it on top of the parchment. You may need to roll the dough a little bit on top of the parchment as it will probably shrink a little bit, but avoid stretching the dough as it will buckle and not lay flat.
- Poke the dough with a fork all along the surface. This will keep the pastry from puffing up uncontrollably while it bakes.
Top the pizza
- Spread your dough with about 1/4 cup of your sauce of choice. If you want to make 2 flavors of pizza on the same sheet of dough, divide the sauce amount between the two. Here I used 2 tablespoons of pesto and 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce.
- Top the sauce with your cheese and then layer on the meat and any other toppings you’d like. Be sure not to overload the dough. If you want to add any seasonings like red pepper flakes, pepper or nutmeg, sprinkle them on top.
Bake the pizza
- Bake the pizza for 15-18 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the bottom is crisp.
- Let the pizza sit for a couple minutes, and then cut it up into small squares to serve.
- The pizza is best fresh out of the oven. Wrap up any leftovers in foil and store them in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat leftovers in a toaster oven at 375 just until the cheese is melty again.
Notes
On nutrition data: Since this is a “cook with your heart” kind of recipe, it’s hard to calculate specific data for your specific set of toppings. As such, I just went with doing my calculations for nutrition with the classic pepperoni.
Topping ideas
You can top these with just about anything, but here are some ideas that’ll get you started:
Classic pepperoni
- Jarred pizza sauce
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
- Pepperoni
Greek pizza
- Sauteed ground beef (or lamb) and onions with a pinch of cinnamon and allspice
- Jarred pizza sauce
- Tzatziki (yogurt + grated clove of garlic + drained grated cucumber + salt and pepper)
- Sliced cucumbers
- Arugula
- Feta
- Thin red onion slices
- Kalamata olives
Oktoberfest pizza (Flammkuchen)
- Creme Fraiche or sour cream
- Lots of pepper
- Bacon
- Thinly sliced shallots
- Nutmeg
- Cheese if you want (I like fontina; no it’s not traditional, but hey, we’re here making pizza on puff pastry)
Pesto puff pastry pizza
- Sauteed ground beef and onions
- Jarred pesto
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
BBQ chicken
- Shredded chicken
- BBQ sauce
- Shredded mozzarella and provolone
- Sliced green onions
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- + 30 minutes thawing time:
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
