This Kid-Approved Summer Veggie Pizza is Ellie’s favorite pizza of the summer and is topped with basil pesto, sweet peppers, fresh corn and cherry tomatoes all covered with a big handful of shredded mozzarella cheese and is the perfect pizza for the entire family!!

Whole wheat veggie pizza on a cutting board with side bowls of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.
#proudmommoment when Ellie picked out ALL of these healthy ingredients for pizza night!

This colorful pizza came into conception not because she is a miracle child that craves veggies instead of ice cream, cookies and cake. No way! She would have those first in a heart beat!

Ellie’s love for this summer veggie pizza came when I let her help out in the kitchen one night. I got her an amazing book called The Forest Feast for Kids and let her pick out a recipe to try for family dinner. She, of course, picked out the Pesto and Pepper Pizza recipe and we made it together, side by side in the kitchen. We might have ended up with more flour on her and the floor then in the actual pizza crust, but that recipe got her to be more open to putting fun and colorful toppings on her pizza!

So the next time we where at the grocery store together, I let her pick out all of the ingredients for our next family pizza night. She went with sweet peppers, corn and cherry tomatoes, along with some homemade pesto for the #win!

Let’s roll up our sleeves and get rolling, it’s pizza time.

First, if you are actually going to make or roll out your own dough with your kiddo, you might want to make easy cocktail for yourself. It’s about to get messy up in your kitchen and you might need something to take the edge off the fact that you will be sweeping and cleaning up your entire workspace for longer then the actual pizza making is going to take.

Most of the time, I make my own pizza dough in the morning while I am making breakfast (recipe for my favorite whole wheat pizza crust coming soon), but you can also find pre-made pizza dough in almost any grocery stores (Whole Foods has an awesome multi-grain dough) or you can buy pre-made crusts, pita pockets, naan or flatbread for any pizza recipe. All are great options and it really just depends on how much time you have to make dinner. For the times we are cutting it close on time (or I forget to start the pizza dough), I always have a package of Italian Flatbread from Trader Joes in my freezer to use instead of my homemade dough.

First, we are going to roll out our crust. You can either make this recipe into one big pizza for the entire family or 4 individual pizzas.

Rolling out the dough is a perfect project for any kid to attempt. Just know that they will most likely eat a couple nibbles of the dough and that you will need to lend some additional rolling pin support when they think their 2-inch thick pizza crust is ready to bake.

Next we pre-bake our crust without any toppings for a couple of minutes <—- this is key!

I never understand why so many homemade pizza recipes skip this step, as it is pretty much the key to getting a crispy pizza in your home oven. It will make the bottom of your crust super crispy and not fall apart. I usually pre-bake the crust while I clean up any flour from the rolling process and then chop up any veggies for the pizza toppings.

Then, with help from the kids, we are going to top our pizzas.

We start with fresh or store-bought pesto, a sprinkle of fresh-off-the-cob corn, a splattering of sweet peppers and then a heavy hand of shredded mozzarella. Then we add a couple of halved cherry tomatoes and a pinch of red pepper flakes for the adult pizzas and into the oven they go.

The first time Ellie assembled her own pizza, I was amazed at how many veggies she used on her pizza. If I would have just made it for her, she would have proclaimed it ‘icky’, picked them all off and ate the cheese and the crust. When she did it herself, she added way more veggies then I ever dreamed possible and ate the entire pizza!

Give it a try and let me know which healthy toppings are your kids favorite!! #pizzaforthewin

Whole wheat veggie pizza on a cutting board with side bowls of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

Get the recipe: Kid-Approved Summer Veggie Pizza

5 stars (2 ratings)
This Kid-Approved Summer Veggie Pizza is Ellie's favorite pizza of the summer and is topped with basil pesto, sweet peppers, fresh corn and cherry tomatoes all covered with a big handful of shredded mozzarella cheese and is the perfect pizza for the entire family!!

Ingredients 

  • 1 pizza dough homemade or store bought
  • 1/2 cup pesto homemade or store bought
  • 1 large ear of corn kernels cut off (roughly 1 cup)
  • 3/4 cup sweet peppers de-seeded and sliced
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
  • 1/4 cup parmesan for serving

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 425° F. Lightly spray a baking sheet or pizza pan with cooking spray.
  • Let pizza dough come to room temperature if it was in the fridge. On a floured work surface, roll out or press the pizza dough into either 1 large pizza crust or 4 individual pizza crusts. Place crust(s) onto the baking sheet and pre-bake for 5-7 minutes or until the edges or just golden brown.
  • Turn the oven up to 475° F.
  • On the pizza crust, spread the pesto onto the entire crust leaving 1/2″ inch space on the outer edge, sprinkle the pesto with the corn and sweet peppers. Top with a layer of mozzarella cheese and then place the cherry tomatoes on top. For the adults, I like to sprinkle just a pinch of red pepper flakes onto the entire pizza but usually skip this for the kiddos.
  • Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
  • Let cool for 3-5 minutes, cut into wedges or squares and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Notes

Makes 1 large or 4 individual pizzas. 

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @babyfoode on Instagram and hashtag it #babyfoode!