artichoke pizza with spinach parmesan cream sauce

This artichoke pizza recipe is layered with a creamy parmesan spinach sauce, mozzarella, pecorino and tender marinated artichoke hearts. The chewy pizza dough is blistered in a super hot oven for the artichoke pizza every time!

Think of your favorite spinach artichoke dip, spread on top of the best artisan pizza and topped with gooey melted cheese. No, you’re not in a dream. It’s creamy, it’s cheesy, it’s crunchy and chewy— it’s artichoke pizza!

The white sauce is flavored with garlic, Parmesan and the tiniest knob of cream cheese. Fresh baby spinach is packed into the sauce (more than you'd think possible, which, with the case of fresh spinach, tends to be almost enough). We sprinkle mozzarella on top with a small scattering of pecorino, which you don’t want to skip. It adds salty depth to the cheese layer. By itself, it’s almost like a spinach alfredo pizza.

Then we finish the pizza recipe with really good marinated artichokes. They should be good enough to eat from the jar and not rubbery or bland. Good artichokes are so important for good artichoke heart pizza, don’t overlook that here!

Then follow my guidelines on how to make homemade pizza— I’m biased, but I’d say it’s easily the best pizza dough recipe out there!

what you need for this artichoke pizza recipe:

• pizza dough
• marinated artichoke quarters
• baby spinach
• garlic
• heavy cream
• cream cheese
• mozzarella
• pecorino
• parmesan

how to make artichoke pizza:

1. Make your pizza dough
2. Make the creamy parmesan spinach sauce
3. Preheat oven to 500°F for at least 45 minutes
4. Assemble pizza: shape dough, spread sauce, sprinkle with cheese, place artichokes on pizza (don’t forget to generously flour your pizza peel!)
5. Bake!
6. Let cool 5 minutes (sauce will be runny at first), then slice and enjoy!

how to put artichokes on pizza:

• Pat the artichokes dry before placing them on the pizza. The leaves can hold a lot of extra marinade and make your pizza soggy!
• Sometimes when you slide the pizza off the peel into the oven, the artichoke hearts jiggle around and fall off. If you’re struggling with this, I’ve found it can be easier to just slide the pizza onto the peel and (very carefully) toss the artichokes on top of the cheese once the pizza is in the oven.

why this is the best artichoke pizza recipe:

Creamy spinach sauce: The sauce on this artichoke pizza is arguably the best part of the whole recipe. We reduce heavy cream with a garlic clove until really thick and fragrant, then we wilt in a ton of fresh baby spinach. It’ll feel like you’ve added way too much spinach, but trust the process and let it cook down. Then we stir in cream cheese and grated parmesan and let it all cool. It’s creamy and richly flavored, and I also love that it’s packed with fresh spinach.

Marinated artichoke hearts: Use flavorful, tender, olive oil marinated artichoke hearts for this artichoke pizza. Don’t use canned, which can be soggy, bland and rubbery. Pat them dry and either roughly chop them or toss them straight on the pizza. If doing the latter, make sure to buy quartered artichoke hearts or they’ll be too big and heavy for the pizza.

The cheese: We use mozzarella for a milky, creamy, perfectly meltable main cheese. But then we also use a handful of grated pecorino romano. This aged sheep’s milk cheese is hard, salty, and full of flavor. A small touch adds so much flavor and dimension to the pizza!

Pizza dough: Use the best homemade pizza dough recipe for the best homemade pizza! It’s high hydration and likely very different from what you’re used to making at home-- but it’s so good. You’ll get pizza with a chewy, bubbly, crispy crust and spots of char, just like the best artisan pizzerias!

what goes well with artichokes on pizza?

If you want to expand this pizza and add more fun toppings, here are some ideas to make this your own!

• olives
• thinly sliced potatoes
• sun-dried tomatoes
• roasted red peppers
• sautéed mushrooms
• pepperoncinis
• roasted garlic (blended into the creamy spinach sauce)
• salami
• chopped roasted chicken
• top finished artichoke pizza with arugula

tips on making this artichoke pizza:

• If possible, use full-fat shredded mozzarella (low-moisture, not the fresh balls). It’s not always available at stores, but it melts beautifully and makes this artichoke heart pizza super cheesy!
• A pizza steel is one of the best investments I’ve made in improving my homemade pizza game. That, and a good pizza peel! Check out my recipe for the pizza dough to get more help with the process.
• When you first take the spinach artichoke pizza out of the oven, the sauce will be very runny. That’s totally normal. Let it cool 5- 10 minutes to thicken up to a rich and creamy sauce. And believe me, you’ll want to let it cool a little bit anyways. The burns you can get from these molten hot cream sauce pizzas are no joke-- we learned the hard way with our morel pizza.

more pizza recipes to try:

buttery garlic pizza with fresh herbs

wild mushroom pizza

burrata pizza

black truffle pizza

sausage breakfast pizza

hawaiian pizza with caramelized pineapple and prosciutto

caramelized fennel sausage pizza with garlic oil

white sauce pizza with mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta

spicy calabrese pizza with salami and rosemary

morel pizza with fontina and crispy shallots

prosciutto pizza with arugula

pesto pizza recipe

Print