Flatbread Pizza Appetizer or Entree
With tasty toppings like prosciutto, pesto, dried tomatoes and thyme, this Italian Flatbread Pizza Appetizer (or Entrée) is quick, easy and versatile.
Who doesn’t like a dish that can serve as a special appetizer—as well as a tasty entrée! And what if it’s also easy to make and (relatively) healthy!
Today’s Italian Flatbread Pizza is based on a complimentary appetizer I got during a challenging vacation. After our Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta events were canceled, my daughter and I drove 5 hours to Flagstaff to find our hotel was behind on cleaning and no rooms weren’t ready.
Happily, the hotel opened up the kitchen and a group of disgruntled guests quickly turned into a band of partiers.
And I was even happier when I realized that I could recreated this Italian Flatbread Pizza Appetizer easily, with just a few simple ingredients!
Why You’ll Love This!
Tasty. With delightful toppings like pesto, dried tomatoes, prosciutto and thyme, the complex flavor profile belies the simple ingredient list.
Easy. With just a few ingredients, this is a quick and easy recipe.
Versatile. While I first had this as a tasty appetizer, since then I’ve served it as a dinner entrée as well.
What You’ll Need
Ingredients
- Flatbread. This forms the base of the pizza.
- Sun-dried tomatoes. These add a concentrated flavor punch. You can use commercial in oil or home-dried and rehydrated
- Prepared pesto, prosciutto, fresh thyme. These adds additional topping flavors.
- Fresh mozzarella. This provides nutrition and creamy goodness.
- Olive oil, sea salt. Lightly sprinkled over the toppings they help finish the pizza.
Special Tools
- No special tools are required, though a pizza stone or the equivalent is nice to have.
Step by Step Overview
Dot flatbread with dried tomatoes and small dollops of pesto.
Pull irregular pieces of fresh mozzarella and add to the flatbread. Tear thin strips of prosciutto and place in any open spaces.
Strip leaves and small tender young stems of thyme and sprinkle over everything. Drizzle with olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt.
Place flatbread on hot pizza stone/pan or directly on rack in preheated 400 F oven. Bake for 7-8 minutes until mozzarella is melted and prosciutto is just starting to crisp.
How to Serve
This Italian Flatbread Pizza works well as an appetizer or as a light entrée. If serving for a meal, just add a nice salad, like this Spicy Italian Salad. In either case a nice glass of red wine is a great beverage option.
Variations
Another nice trait of this Flatbread Pizza is that it’s easy to change things up to make it your own. Swap the prosciutto for capers and you’ll have a vegetarian pizza. Or if you’re a big olive or artichoke lover, add those to the topping list!
if you’re looking for more pizza options, you might consider my White Seafood Pizza, Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza or Seasonal Garlic Scape Pizza. They’re not quite as easy, but all are delicious.
Tips & FAQs
Even though most olive oil bottles are made for drizzling, I have started pouring the oil into a tablespoon and dribbling from there. That reduces the risk of ending up with an olive oil slosh rather than a drizzle (ask me how I know this).
Sun dried tomatoes in oil are delightful but they’re not a budget item. So every fall I dehydrate some of my garden or farmers market tomatoes to use in recipes over the winter. Then since they’re less moist than their commercial counterparts, I briefly rehydrate in a little hot water.
I first tried this with an intense whole grain flatbread. The flavors definitely didn’t work together, so I recommend a white or sourdough flatbread base.
Delicious Italian Recipes
- Chicken Alfredo from Hezzi-D’s Recipe Box
- Italian Cream Soda from Jen Around the World
- Italian Flatbread Pizza from Art of Natural Living
- Mini Ciabatta Loaves from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Pasta Primavera Bake from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Shrimp Oreganata from That Recipe
We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you’re at it, join our Pinterest board, too!
Italian Flatbread Appetizer
Ingredients
- 1 Flatbread mine was 6 x 12 inches-- adjust topping amounts for larger flatbread
- 3 Tablespoons dried tomatoes in oil, drained & rinsed--or homemade, rehydrated
- 3 Tablespoons prepared pesto
- 2 ounces fresh mozzarella 1/4 of an 8-ounce ball
- 2 slices of prosciutto
- 3 large multi-branch sprigs of thyme
- 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Sea Salt
Instructions
- Dot flatbread with dried tomatoes and small clumps of pesto.
- Pull irregular pieces of fresh mozzarella and add to the flatbread. Tear thin strips of prosciutto and place in any open spaces.
- Strip leaves and small tender young stems of thyme and sprinkle over everything. Drizzle with olive oil and add a sprinkle of salt.
- Place flatbread on hot pizza stone/pan or directly on rack in preheated 400 F oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes until mozzarella is melted and prosciutto is just starting to crisp
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from the original published Nov 1, 2018.
What a great combination of flavors on this flatbread pizza! I love that this can be made in just 20 minutes!
Do you have a recipe to make the flatbread? Or did you just buy naan or flatbread at the store? Thank you for sharing. Great recipe.
I did buy the flatbread at the store. Someday I’ll be making it myself!
Next time, you should come south to Tucson! We would love to see you, though we don’t get our fall foliage until January or February! Sorry the balloon fest was “winded” out. I love Flagstaff, though – such a cool and wonderful college town!
The flatbreads look really wonderful and would make a great dinner, too!
I would so like to visit, David. Alas, this trip is a mad dash to do in 4 days/3 nights (including my flights in and out). Hoping to revisit the area in March if she’s not interviewing at home!
That would be great! Even if you can’t come down, I might be able to pop up!