Margherita Pizza
This, to me, is the perfect Margherita pizza. The crust is thin, light and crispy. The sauce is thick and tomato-y. The fresh mozzarella is mild and cheesy. The basil leaves are bright and fresh. When I bit in and my mouth filled with saucy, cheesy, herby goodness I’m pretty sure I had a pizzagasm. I’m really excited that the sauce turned out delicious because I basically made it up as I went along. I wanted it to be thicker than pasta sauce, so I figured if I used the whole tomatoes (canned) and blended them with a little tomato paste I could achieve that effect. It worked! I also like the basil leaves to be baked along with the pizza, but you can sprinkle them on top after baking if you prefer them uncooked. To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Margherita Pizza got its name in 1889 when Queen Margherita of Savoy was visiting Naples. The queen was served a red, white and green pizza representing the colors of the Italian flag. The simple and delicious flavors of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil have remained a popular combination over 100 years later – taste this pizza and you’ll immediately see why!
Margherita Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¾ cup canned whole tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, sliced thin
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 1 small bay leaf
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Boboli 12” Whole Wheat Thin Pizza Crust
- 4 oz fresh part skim mozzarella, sliced about 1/4” thick
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves, whole
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450.
- In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and add garlic. Cook until golden and fragrant. Combine the canned tomatoes and tomato paste in a blender and blend. Add the tomato sauce, sliced basil, oregano, sugar, bay leaf, salt and pepper to the saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 15 minutes until sauce is thickened. There should be about ½ cup of sauce. Remove bay leaf.
- Spread pizza sauce evenly across the top surface of the pizza crust, leaving at least a ½ inch edge around the outside. Lay the slices of mozzarella across the top of the pizza. Spread the basil leaves on top of the mozzarella. Finish the pizza by sprinkling the Italian seasoning over top.
- Place pizza on a foil covered baking sheet, a pre-heated pizza stone (my preference) or straight onto the oven rack (depending on how you like your crust) and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Notes
5 per slice (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
They say you can tell the quality of a pizza Perth place if you taste the basics, like margherita. This one looks straight out of Naples! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
This looks delish! I’m so excited I found this blog. Can’t wait to make this!
How many calories (per slice) for the Margherita Pizza? I notice, unless I’m missing something, there isn’t a nutrition chart for any recipes. Please let me know if I’m wrong.
Just found your site and tried this, so delicious!! Thanks!!!!!
This looks amazing, do you know the calorie count for this one?
Hi Emily – this was AMAZING.. the sauce was great and thick, however I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be using 3/4 of a 15 oz can or one of those bigger cans? Also, as everyone else mentioned, if you have the nutritional break down that’d be awesome!
Thanks
The recipe actually calls for 3/4 cup of canned tomatoes, so it doesn’t matter what size can you have.
Delicious – check out my version here http://www.missrosieo.com/2014/01/margherita-pizza.html#.Us2UoPRDunc
This was awesome!! This is a great recipe even if you’re not on WW. My kids loved it also, which is a huge plus!!
How many SP is this? I see a number in green by receipe. I just calculated it as 5 SP per piece. Is that correct?
Hi Stephany, I am working my back through my recipes as quickly as I can to calculate the SmartPoints, but if they are not listed on a recipe it means I haven’t gotten to that one yet. I have hundreds of recipes on the site and I’m only one person, but I’m updating as fast as I can! I am currently finished with my recipes from 2015 and 2014 and working through 2013. As this one is from 2011 it may be a couple weeks, but feel free to add the ingredients into the WW recipe builder yourself in the meantime if you need it sooner. Thanks for your patience!
Looks tasty but are you sure it’s 6 SPs a slice? Circa 36 SPs for the entire recipe seems high considering the ingredients?
You’re welcome to run it through the recipe builder with the specific brands and ingredients you’re using to see if it will be lower, that can happen!