Make zucchini goat cheese pizza with juicy tomatoes, garden zucchini, red onions, and melty, tangy goat cheese baked on a soft homemade crust. It’s an easy vegetarian pizza recipe that’s perfect for summer!

 

Easy Goat Cheese Pizza With Zucchini

If you’re lucky enough to have a garden bursting with zucchini this season, this Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza is the best way to use them up! It starts with the easiest homemade pizza dough you’ll ever make. The base then gets layered with juicy ripe tomatoes, fresh garden zucchini, and red onions, all sprinkled with tangy goat cheese that turns into pockets of melty goodness in the oven. This vegetarian pizza recipe is fresh, healthy, satisfying, and perfect for summertime.

Why You’ll Love This Goat Cheese Pizza

• Fresh toppings. If summer were a pizza, it would be this pizza. Fresh zucchini, bright, juicy tomatoes, crispy onions, and goat cheese combine into something truly delicious.
• Quick pizza crust. My favorite homemade pizza dough takes minutes to make, with no yeast and zero resting time. You’ll want to save the recipe for all your future pizzas!
• Customizable. Pizzas are made for customizing. Change up the toppings and crust on your vegetarian zucchini pizza any way that you’d like.
• Family-friendly. This pizza is a total crowd-pleaser. No one can resist the tangy, creamy, zesty flavors, not even a toddler! Your friends and family are sure to love it, too.

What You’ll Need For Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza

• Pizza Dough: I use a variation of my no-yeast pizza dough made from flour, baking soda, salt, and butter. You can also make this recipe with a keto pizza crust, your favorite store-bought pizza crust, or even a flatbread pizza crust. Totally up to you.
• Toppings: There are so many toppings that you can add to a goat cheese pizza. We love the simple combo of zucchini, onion, and tomatoes. See the section below for details.

Ingredients For Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza?

• Olive Oil and Garlic: Because EVOO and freshly minced garlic go on everything, amiright? 
• Onion: I like the mild, sweet flavor of red onion on this pizza, but you can use any onion you have on hand.
• Zucchini: You’ll need 2 medium-sized whole zucchini, sliced thin.
• Salt & Pepper
• Pizza Sauce: Use your favorite jarred pizza sauce from the store or homemade sauce.
• Canned Tomatoes: Sprinkle on some stewed diced tomatoes for more flavor and sweetness.
• Goat Cheese: I don’t know about you, but I always have goat cheese in the fridge to use in everything from stuffed chicken to salads. Also called chevre, it’s usually sold crumbled or in “logs” at the grocery store. Goat cheese has a sharp, tangy, salty flavor, though it’s not the same as feta.

How to Make Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza

The difference between a good pizza and a great pizza comes down to great ingredients and a really great crust. Here, I’ll walk you through how to achieve both of these! This pizza comes together in under one hour.

Make the Pizza Dough

First, you’ll make a quick homemade pizza dough (you can find the full recipe in the recipe card). The crust turns out thick and soft and tastes a bit like a biscuit. And the best part? You can make this pizza dough in your food processor in under 5 minutes:

1. Blend the dry ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, and salt to the food processor and pulse a couple of times.
2. Add butter and milk. Toss in cubed butter and blend until you reach a crumbly mixture. After, stream in milk a little at a time, just enough to form the dough. It should be soft but not too sticky.
3. Knead and shape the dough. Next, turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead it for a minute or so. Roll or press out the dough into a 10” round, and transfer the crust to a greased baking sheet. You’re ready to assemble your pizza!

Assemble and Bake the Pizza

With the crust ready to go, let’s assemble this goat cheese pizza:

1. Saute the veggies. Pre-cooking the veggie toppings ensures that they turn out rich and caramelized in the oven. Add garlic, onion, and zucchini slices to a pan with olive oil. Season lightly and then saute the vegetables until softened.
2. Assemble the pizza. Start by spreading pizza sauce in an even layer over the prepared crust. Top this with your drained canned tomatoes. Add the sauteed zucchini, onions, and garlic, and finally, sprinkle over crumbled goat cheese.
3. Bake. Bake the pizza in the preheated oven at 425ºF for 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden. Take it out, slice, and serve.

What Temperature Do You Bake a Homemade Pizza?

The secret to perfectly home-baked pizza is a hot oven, so get yours preheating to 425ºF. The high heat is needed to bake the dough quickly without overcooking or burning the toppings. If you happen to have a pizza oven or a pizza stone, go ahead and use it following the manufacturer’s directions. 

Tips for Success

• Use a good-quality pizza dough. Store-bought pizza dough is always convenient, but I’m a sucker for homemade. It takes a little extra effort but the flavor and texture are just the best. Of course, it’s your pizza, so use what you like.
• If the dough is a bit sticky, rub your hands with a little olive oil when rolling out the pizza crust.
• Try not to overbake the pizza. Take your pizza out of the oven when the crust is golden brown. Overbaking can dry out the toppings and lead to a tough, crunchy crust.

Goat Cheese Pizza Variations

I love the simplicity of a red-sauce pizza, but there are plenty of ways that you can adapt this goat cheese pizza when it comes to toppings. Here are some variations to try:

• Grill it. Follow the directions in my grilled pizza recipe to cook this goat cheese pizza on the grill. It’s seriously the best in the summer!
• More toppings. Other toppings that pair nicely with goat cheese are spinach, avocado, bell peppers, roasted butternut squash, sweet corn, and even fresh figs. 
• Protein. On its own, this zucchini goat cheese pizza is a great vegetarian dinner. If you’d like to add meat or protein, good options are prosciutto, pepperoni, or sausage. You might also like this bacon, goat cheese, and tomato pizza.
• White pizza. Skip the tomato base and spread soft goat cheese over the pizza instead. Then top with the rest of the ingredients and bake as directed.
• Different cheese. If goat cheese isn’t your thing, you can substitute it with feta cheese, mozzarella, or ricotta.
• Herbs and greens. Sprinkle the top of your pizza with fresh chopped basil or arugula.

What to Serve With Goat Cheese Pizza

This fresh goat cheese pizza is a meal on its own, or you can enjoy it with some easy sides. Here are some of our favorite ideas to serve with a hot-from-the-oven pizza:

• Salad. Pair pizza with a crunchy tomato and cucumber salad or a fresh chopped salad, like this green goddess salad.  
• Relish. Ajvar is a traditional Macedonian red pepper relish that tastes delicious on almost anything, from bread to meat to pizza. We always add it to my Macedonian fried pork pizza, and it goes great with this goat cheese pizza, too. Otherwise, regular roasted or grilled red peppers also make a tasty side!
• Chicken Wings. Serve your pizza pub-style with a side of crispy air fryer chicken wings with your favorite dipping sauce. Keep things vegetarian with these buffalo cauliflower bites.
• Grilled Vegetables. I love rounding out meals in the summer with grilled seasonal vegetables, like grilled eggplant or grilled vegetables with halloumi.
• Appetizers. These baked mozzarella sticks are an easy starter to make while the oven is hot. Stuffed grape leaves are another great vegetarian option.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

• Fridge. Store any leftover goat cheese pizza airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you need to stack the slices, place a piece of parchment paper between layers. Leftover slices are delicious cold, but you can warm them up in the oven or in the microwave.
• Freezer. Once your pizza is cooled completely, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, followed by a second layer of foil. Freeze it for 2 to 3 months and defrost the pizza in the fridge before reheating. Note that the texture of the veggies may change a bit after they’ve been frozen.

More Homemade Pizza Recipes

• Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza
• Spinach and Artichoke Dip Pizza
• Flatbread Pizza with Grilled Corn
• Whole Wheat Deep Dish Skillet Pizza