Classic Margherita Pizza

A light and fluffy crust, sweet tomatoes and bubbly mozzarella garnished with fragrant basil. That’s all you need for a classic Margherita pizza - the perfect place to start on your journey in home pizza-making - as well as a tested-and-true recipe for when you’re looking to serve up something tasty and timeless. 

Our no-frills recipe relies on quality ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, soft mozzarella and fresh basil to really celebrate the beauty of this classic flavor combination. The red, white and green colours may represent the flag of Italy, but this pizza is enjoyed all over the world. 

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend using our Classic Pizza Dough for the base topped with our easy Classic Pizza Sauce. With a hint of garlic, salt and a touch of basil, it's the ideal sauce to bring out the flavours in the other ingredients. Your guests (and their stomachs) will thank you; and probably ask for the recipe too!


Margherita pizza on a wooden pizza peel baked using a Margherita pizza recipe.

Note

Make sure to prepare your dough ahead of time to ensure it rises at room temperature before firing up your oven, about 4 hours before cooking. Make your sauce ahead, or pull it together in the time it takes to warm up your oven.




1. Fire up your Ooni oven.

Aim for  500 ˚C (930 ˚F) on the stone baking board inside. You can check the temperature inside your oven quickly and easily using an infrared thermometer.

2. Using a small amount of flour, dust your work surface and your pizza peel.

 

3. Stretch the pizza dough ball out to 12 or 16 inches (30 or 41 centimetres) and lay it out on your pizza peel.

 

4. Top with sauce, followed by the mozzarella and olive oil, spreading both evenly on the dough and leaving room for the cornicione, or crust (about a ½ inch or 1 centimetre).

5. Slide the pizza off the peel and into your oven and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, making sure to rotate the pizza every 20 seconds for an even bake.

6. Once cooked, remove the pizza from the oven and top with whole, fresh basil leaves.

 

7. Slice, serve and enjoy!.

Slice, serve and enjoy!