Basil Meyer Lemon Pizza is unique, delicious and so pretty. A lemon pizza recipe with basil is packed with delicious garden flavors on top of melting, fresh mozzarella. It’s a delightful meal that’s beautiful for a casual lunch or dinner. 
Back in the day, I used to subscribe to at least four food magazines at a time.
(The day in question here was when I was single, had no kids, no pets, and had a whole lot of reading time.)
Inspiration for Basil Meyer Lemon Pizza
I’d spend hours and hours reading my food magazines — learning, taking notes, adding book marks, and getting lots and lots of culinary inspiration.
Going back through one of my old issues of La Cucina Italiana, I read about a lemon pizza recipe called Sorrentina, a pizza that got its name from the famous lemons of Sorrento, Italy.
Here’s part of my food magazine collection in our coffee table.
My lemon pizza recipe, which is more suitably called, “The Valentina Sorrentina,” is so pretty and so tasty. I’m really excited to share it with you today.
What in this lemon pizza recipe?
- Meyer lemons
- fresh mozzarella
- fresh basil
- pizza dough
- olive oil
- salt, sugar
Lemons are not typically thought of as an ingredient you’d slice and top a pizza with.
Which is all the more reason to do it — it’s so interesting.
Store-Bought Pizza dough vs. Homemade
It’s quite simple, if you find a premade pizza dough that you like, buy it!
Let’s be honest, making bread of any sort can sometimes be a bit of a production, and unless you love that production, skip it.
If you love it, go for it! Here’s a fabulous recipe for homemade pizza dough. And here’s one for a gluten-free pizza dough.
I happen to love the pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and find it’s delicious and quite easy to use. It will save a ton of time, which can be nice when you’re entertaining.
Check out this article on the best Store-Bought Pizza Dough.
Enjoy every scrumptious slice of this Meyer Lemon Basil Pizza!
Oh, and if you love lemons — which I’m assuming is why you’ve landed here — you will definitely want to check out my favorite 30 Most Creative Lemon Recipes.
This pizza recipe with basil is packed with delicious garden flavors on top of melting, fresh mozzarella. It's a delightful meal, that's beautiful for a casual lunch or dinner.
*Serves 1 as an entrée and 2 to 4 as an appetizer.
- ½ pound of your favorite pizza dough (see notes)
- 1½ cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
- ¼ pound fresh Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
- 1 small Meyer lemon, sliced as thinly as possible
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- coarse salt
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Preheat the oven to 425°F and get either a pizza pan or stone ready to use.
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Stretch the dough to about an 8-inch round and place it on the pan or stone. (When I use a pan, I like to lightly coat the bottom with olive oil, about 1 tablespoon -- it adds a nice crispness to the crust.)
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Gently press a single layer of the basil leaves directly on top of the dough, covering the entire surface.
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Lay the slices of fresh Mozzarella over the basil leaves -- many of the leaves may not be covered.
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Now distribute several lemon slices on top -- both basil leaves and cheese may not be covered.
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Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the top of the pizza. Evenly sprinkle with the sugar and coarse sea salt.
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Bake in the preheated 425°F oven until the crust becomes a golden brown, about 20 minutes.
If you're not making your own pizza dough, Trader Joe's sells a dough in their refrigerated section, and I think it's quite good.
If you don't have a pizza pan or stone, you can use a baking sheet.
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Betsy says
Yum! This looks really great. I love the idea of subscribing to one magazine each year (and changing it up) I too let my subscriptions pile up and have slowly been letting each one lapse. We only have so much time in the day right?
valentina says
Thank you, Betsy! Yes, only so much time in the day — if only it were enough! 😉
sippitysup says
I just let my CI subscription go. Now I regret it. GREG
sara says
Yum, this pizza looks incredible – wow! Fantastic flavor – love lemon and basil together. 🙂
Joy says
I just came back from Sorrento on Saturday and brought home one of the HUGE lemons from there. Does your recipe have anything different to it if I use that lemon for this? Do you eat the rinds?
Thanks!
valentina says
Hi, Joy! So envious you were just in Italy! How lovely! 🙂 You would make the pizza the same way. And yes, you eat the rinds– they are sliced so thinly that it becomes totally tender, it’s almost just like adding zest. Enjoy!!!
Patricia@FreshFoodinaFlash says
I loved this recipe in La Cucina Italiana. We made it in my Pizza Class. I, of course, love your story about all the magazines. After spending my career in the magazine business, I cannot part with ANY of my cooking magazines that grow around me. R.I.P. La Cucina Italiana U.S. edition as of Jan 2014. We will now have to read La Cucina in Italian if we want these authentic recipes.
valentina says
How cool that you made this in your pizza class! I’m truly going to miss La Cucina Italiana. Guess I’ll have to learn Italian to keep it in my life. 🙂