buttery garlic pizza (2024)

This recipe has everything you want in a garlic pizza! Rich pools of garlic butter, a scattering of fresh herbs, and a crispy chewy crust to soak it all up.

You could add cheese— sometimes I love it with a few thick shavings of parmesan— but this pizza really doesn’t need it. The combination of butter, garlic, chives and green onions is just so flavorful and perfect together. The crunchy flakes of salt make the flavors pop, and a good pinch of red chile flakes adds complexity. It's absolutely delicious.

This might sound weird as the author of a garlic pizza recipe, but I’m not the biggest garlic lover. I cook with it every day and I value its role in food, but I always use much less than what recipes call for. I prefer it be subtle.

But surprisingly, this pizza isn’t too garlicky for me. It could be all the butter. Or the fantastic pizza dough. But I think it mainly has to do with letting the garlic cook in the butter to soften the flavor. And the herbs (specifically the green onion and chives) echo some of the flavors of garlic, but they also bring depth with their herby freshness. It’s so flavorful and rich— garlic butter truly is one of life’s greatest pleasures. So take it to the next level and slather it on pizza!

By the way— if you have extra garlic butter, don’t toss it! Save it for dipping the crust. It’s a thousand times better than Papa John’s garlic butter dip, and so easy to make.

what you need to make garlic pizza

• pizza dough
• butter
• garlic
• green onion
• thyme
• rosemary
• flaky salt
• black pepper
• red pepper flakes
• chives

How to make garlic pizza

1. Make pizza dough
2. Make garlic butter
3. Brush garlic butter on dough
4. Sprinkle with minced herbs, flaky salt and pepper
5. Bake on pizza steel or stone
6. Sprinkle with fresh chivies
7. Serve with extra garlic butter sauce and red pepper flakes!

How to make garlic butter sauce for pizza:

1. Melt salted butter in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Add chopped garlic.
3. Cook for a few minutes, until very fragrant.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Spoon on pizza before baking, use as a dip for crust, or read below for more uses!

If you want to make sure you have enough of this garlic butter sauce for two garlic pizzas and extra for the crusts, use 1 ½ sticks of butter and 4 cloves of chopped garlic!

Tip: Salted butter is key for the best flavor! The salt is fully dissolved and dispersed, giving the garlic butter sauce has the richest flavor. It’s difficult fully dissolve salt in melted unsalted butter (since we aren’t adding any liquid), so avoid the hassle and use a salted stick.

More uses for garlic butter:

• Dipping sauce for pizza crust or breadsticks
• Brush on focaccia
• Drizzle on vegetables before roasting
• Dip for artichoke leaves
• Sauté mushrooms in it
• Spoon on mashed or baked potatoes
• Drizzle over seared steak
• A dip for seafood (shrimp, crab, lobster)

Answers to common questions about garlic and pizza:

Can you put raw garlic on pizza?

You can put raw garlic on pizza, but I prefer to cook it a bit to soften the sharp bite. Heating the garlic for just a few minutes in the butter is all you need!

Is roasted garlic good on pizza?

Yes! Roasted garlic is delicious on pizza! And if you really want to ramp up the garlic, it would be a great addition to this garlic pizza recipe. I would mash up a few cloves of roasted garlic and stir them into the butter, then spoon that onto the pizza.

Should I saute garlic before putting it on pizza?

Yes, most people prefer the pungency and bite of raw garlic to be softened by cooking. With pizza, the best way to do that is sauté the garlic before hand or, as is the case here, gently cook it in butter.

more homemade pizza recipes to try!

morel pizza with fontina and crispy shallots

wild mushroom pizza

burrata pizza

black truffle pizza

spicy calabrese pizza with salami and rosemary

artichoke pizza with spinach parmesan cream sauce

caramelized fennel sausage pizza with garlic oil

white sauce pizza with mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta

hawaiian pizza with caramelized pineapple and prosciutto

sausage breakfast pizza

prosciutto pizza with arugula

pesto pizza recipe

stuffed focaccia with mozzarella and pistachio pesto

best homemade pizza sauce

Watch our web story to see how to make this garlic pizza!

To make it a meal, serve this garlic pizza with deliciously creamy pasta al forno by Mandy at Splash of Taste!

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