Caprese Flatbread
Perfect for a quick vegetarian dinner or an easy party appetizer, this Caprese flatbread takes just minutes to throw together and includes a crispy, flatbread crust, homemade spinach pesto, lots of fresh mozzarella cheese, ripe grape tomatoes and a tangy balsamic glaze along with fresh basil!
You’ll Love This
- If you like traditional Caprese salad, you’re going to love this flatbread recipe! It’s got all the traditional ingredients of classic Caprese – fresh tomato, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella – but with a little added twist of fresh spinach pesto, and balsamic glaze – in the form of a handheld snacketizer. Yes, that’s right it’s a snack and an appetizer mixed together. And I AM thinking about trademarking that word! 😉
- It’s a super quick and easy weeknight dinner! It takes just minutes to throw together and you can easily customize it to suit your family’s tastes or switch up the ingredients based on what you’ve got in your fridge. It also works really well as a party appetizer or finger food – just cut it into smaller pieces to make it go further!
- It’s a gorgeous vegetarian meal that you can eat with your eyes and a great way to use up all those ripe tomatoes from the garden! Pin this recipe for later so that when you find your garden overflowing with juicy tomatoes this summer, you’ve got the perfect simple recipe to showcase the bounty of your harvest!
Instructions
Throw together my quick and easy flatbread recipe and follow the instructions for partially baking the crusts. Or use 2 store-bought flatbread crusts.
Divide olive oil evenly between the flatbreads, brushing it all the way out to the edges, covering the entire flatbread. This helps the edges get nice and crisp.
Divide spinach pesto evenly between the crusts, spreading it in a thin layer.
Top pesto layer with torn pieces of fresh mozzarella.
Top with halved grape tomatoes.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the edges of the crust start to get dark golden brown. Broil for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese starts to get dark golden brown.
Drizzle with balsamic reduction, garnish with fresh basil and grated Parmesan if desired, and sprinkle with a couple pinches of Kosher salt. Enjoy!
Tips
- You can use my quick and easy flatbread recipe or store-bought naan for this recipe. My flatbread recipe only takes 5 minutes to throw together AND requires no yeast but if you’re in a pinch, my favorite naan is the Stonefire brand. Either will work great for this recipe!
- You could also use storebought pizza dough for the base of this recipe or either of my easy pizza dough recipes – No Knead Pizza Dough or Quick Pizza Dough. Just make sure that you par-bake the crust before topping it so that it doesn’t get too soggy!
- If you can’t find balsamic glaze at the store, you can make your own! All you have to do to make balsamic glaze/reduction is to place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and simmer it over medium heat until it reduces and gets thick. Check out this Roasted Tomato & Burrata Recipe to see how easy it is to make your own reduction! If you’d prefer to buy it, this is my favorite brand of store-bought balsamic glaze.
- This Caprese flatbread is really good with sun-dried tomatoes if you can’t get your hands on any fresh tomatoes! I recommend the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. And I also recommend drizzling the flatbread with a little of that delicious sun-dried tomato oil also.
Family Favorite Flatbreads and Pizzas
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Caprese Flatbread
Perfect for a quick vegetarian dinner or an easy party appetizer, this Caprese flatbread takes just minutes to throw together and includes a crispy, flatbread crust, homemade spinach pesto, lots of fresh mozzarella cheese, ripe grape tomatoes and a tangy balsamic glaze along with fresh basil!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 flatbreads (8-10 servings) 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian/American
Ingredients
- 2 flatbreads (from my easy flatbread recipe or store-bought flatbread)
- cornmeal for dusting pans
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup spinach pesto (or your favorite store-bought pesto)
- 8 oz. fresh mozzarella
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- 1/4 cup balsamic glaze/reduction
- large handful fresh basil, julienne cut
- grated Parmesan for garnish, optional
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Throw together my quick and easy flatbread recipe. Follow instructions for partially baking crusts in this recipe or use store bought flatbread crusts.
- Heat oven to 500 degrees.
- Dust baking sheet with cornmeal (or line pan with parchment paper) and place crusts on it.
- Divide olive oil evenly between the flatbreads, brushing it all the way out to the edges, covering the entire flatbread. This helps the edges get nice and crisp.
- Divide pesto evenly between the crusts, spreading it in an even layer.
- Top pesto layer with torn pieces of fresh mozzarella.
- Top with halved grape tomatoes.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the edges of the crust start to get dark golden brown.
- Broil for 1-2 minutes or until the cheese starts to get dark golden brown.
- Drizzle with balsamic reduction, garnish with fresh basil, and grated Parmesan if desired, and sprinkle with a couple pinches of Kosher salt. Enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
You can use my quick and easy flatbread recipe or store-bought naan for this recipe. My flatbread recipe only takes 5 minutes to throw together AND requires no yeast but if you’re in a pinch, my favorite naan is the Stonefire brand. Either will work great for this recipe!
You could also use storebought pizza dough for the base of this recipe or either of my easy pizza dough recipes – No Knead Pizza Dough or Quick Pizza Dough. Just make sure that you par-bake the crust before topping it so that it doesn’t get too soggy!
If you can’t find balsamic glaze at the store, you can make your own! All you have to do to make balsamic glaze/reduction is to place balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan and simmer it over medium heat until it reduces and gets thick. Check out this Roasted Tomato & Burrata Recipe to see how easy it is to make your own reduction! If you’d prefer to buy it, this is my favorite brand of store-bought balsamic glaze.
This Caprese flatbread is really good with sun-dried tomatoes if you can’t get your hands on any fresh tomatoes! I recommend the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes. And I also recommend drizzling the flatbread with a little of that delicious sun-dried tomato oil also.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 289
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 525.8 mg
- Fat: 12.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.8 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 11.8 g
- Cholesterol: 4.1 mg
This bread was so flat. Just how I like it. Fantastic mouth feel. Also, 500 degrees is just so many degrees.
Delicious. Oven 450 for 15 minutes, then broiled for 2-3 minutes. Added black olives and used naan bread. Will be on the rotation for sure.
I will be making this next week and I think I will make the home-made pesto, as well. If I make the pesto according to your recipe, will I be using all of it for the Caprese Flatbread? Or will I have leftover pesto?
Good question, Rebecca! I suspect you will have some pesto leftover. The good news is that pesto freezes really well! You can either freeze it in one container or you can spoon it into an ice cube tray and freeze individual servings. If you need other ideas to use up the pesto here are some more recipes: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/#search/q=pesto
This was delicious! I made the pesto using your recipe and amounts. It yielded a little more than 1 cup. I want to try the blueberry goat cheese flatbread next!
I’m so glad to hear that, Rebecca! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review – I really appreciate it!
I made this recipe using a gluten free pizza crust. It was a big hit with the family. I made my own pesto using basil from my garden. I will definitely make it again and again.
It looks good and smells amazing. The only thing I would do differently is reduce the cheese. I made the suggested flatbreads which were easy to do and turned out great. I also made my own spinach pesto as I prefer the taste of fresh ingredients.
I made these to bring to a gathering. They were outstanding. I used (4) Naan and the recipe was perfect. I also used prepared (Kirkland) pesto as I was short on time. Lots of compliments and all 4 flatbreads were gobbled up quickly. I will definitely make the home made flatbreads and the spinach pesto soon. This one is a keeper!
Delicious! I made all of your recipes included in the Caprese and my son said it’s the best flatbread he’s ever tasted! 🙂 The spinach pesto, flatbread dough and Caprese flatbread recipes are easy to follow and no kidding, were an Italian delight, as my son said, “Better than a restaurant!” Also made our own balsamic reduction. Thank you for sharing these great recipes that are now, one of our favorites. Making again tomorrow night!!
So delicious! I made my own balsamic reduction, and happened to have some prosciutto in the fridge that I tore into pieces and added to the pizza. I was roasting cherry tomatoes for bruschetta, so I added those to the pizza. Grill season just began, so I cooked it on the grill. FABULOUS! My new fav!
Easy and beautiful.
My favorite go to lunch!
Woohoo! This is one of my favorites too. So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Kasey. Thanks for leaving a review 🙂
Loved this recipe, especially the spinach pesto with walnuts, SO delish!!
I made it many times, once I added chicken for some protein.
I do find 550 temp to high. 425-450 works best for me.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Jodi! The high temperature is meant to get the dough perfectly crisp on the outside while leaving it slightly chewy on the inside. If you don’t have an oven safe thermometer in your oven, I’d highly recommend getting one! You might be surprised that your oven runs hot if 500 seems to cook the crust too quickly. Hope that helps! Thank you for leaving a review 🙂
550 degrees produced after 12 minutes a severely charcoaled flatbread. Would have been awesome tAsting otherwise. Homemade spinach pesto was great. I’ll try again at lower temp. Maybe 425? We ate it minus the crusts.
Hey Pat! The instructions do include cook times but also indicate “or until the cheese is melted and the edges of the crust start to get dark golden brown”. Everyone’s oven is different which is why I choose to include estimated baking times as well as visual indicators of when the food is cooked. Do you have an oven-safe thermometer in your oven? I’d highly recommend getting one as you may be surprised to find that your oven runs hot. This is usually the case when this happens with the flatbread. Also, please make sure you are checking any food that you put in the oven and removing it as soon as it appears to be baked through. This should alleviate the problem you had. Thanks!