Pizza Fritta – Italian Fried Pizza

Can you believe this homemade pizza is ready in 10 minutes – the secret is frying the dough! Pizza Fritta is an Italian fried pizza recipe straight from Naples, topped with garlicky tomato sauce, chunks of mozzarella and fresh basil leaves. Yum!

Why We Love This Recipe

Forget the oven, no need to wait for it to pre-heat. All you need is one little frying pan and you are SET. We love being able cook fresh pizza so quickly – even quicker than frozen pizza out the oven. Such a game changer!

The size of each pizza base is great, as they make for perfect single serving size, so each person can pop on their own toppings once the bases are cooked. The frying actually only takes a couple of minutes!

What is Pizza Fritta? 

Pizza Fritta translates to literally fried pizza.  This humble yet amazing little Italian recipe comes to you all the way from Naples in Italy, where our amazing friend Ida and her mum Rita spilled the beans on their family favourite.

We’re still not sure why such a simple pizza recipe isn’t more well known around the world!

Now, the good news is you don’t need to be in Italy to get your hands on some amazing Italian Fried Pizza. The bad news is this is one totally addictive recipe and it will be super hard to stop at one.

Sorry Not Sorry?

But first, a quick heads up. If you’re after the most authentic flavours, you should definitely top it with Napoli Sauce and make your own homemade pizza dough. Making your own dough does take longer than 10 minutes, but it’s totally worth it. 

If, however, you’re after golden fried, soft and chewy pizza goodness – preferably RIGHT NOW – then you can easily make it with pre-made / store-bought dough. It won’t be quite the same, but it’ll be close enough. 

Either way guys, it’s up to you. Follow your heart OR your stomach. We won’t judge! We buy store bought dough whenever we’re in a time crunch – especially on weeknights!

What You’ll Need For This Recipe

Only 4 ingredients guys! The toppings are completely up to you though. So feel free to swap our the sauce, cheese and herbs for whatever you like. We recommend Napoli sauce, bocconcini (aka bite-sized mozzarella) and basil.

How to make Pizza Fritta:

Flour a clean surface and your hands, then pull off a portion of your pizza dough. A fist-sized ball of dough should be perfect. Flatten and hand stretch each ball out into a rough disk around 1cm thick and 10-15cm wide.

Pour oil into a small frypan until it’s just covering the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 a centimetre. Once hot (test with a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles).

Carefully place the dough into the oil one at a time, and cook for around a minute each side until it puffs up and turns golden brown on both sides.

Remove from the oil and place onto paper towel to drain, then repeat for your remaining dough portions.

Top each pizza base with sauce, chunks of bocconcini and fresh basil. Optional: Garnish with freshly grated parmesan.

Cook’s Tips

• Test the temperature with a wooden skewer or chopstick. When tiny bubbles form at the base, you know the oil is ready.
• If using store bought dough, let it sit on the bench to bring it up to room temperature before you cook it for the best dough texture and crispy outside.
• Flouring your hands helps to prevent the dough sticking to you, so you can work nice and quickly as you make each base.
• Stretch out the dough again just before cooking so it cooks evenly.
• For the amount of oil we use, as long as the base of the pan is covered, that’s usually all you need for one batch of frying.

FAQs

What else can I use the pizza dough for?

If you have left over dough, you can either make dessert bases and treat them as doughnuts with crazy toppings or very woofy pancakes.

You could also try frying it Calzone style – where you put the cheese and sauce in the dough as a pouch, then fry it. We’re going to try this next – stay tuned!

What’s the best oil for frying pizza fritta?

We recommend a vegetable based oil such as corn, peanut, sunflower or canola oil. They have a high smoke point and low flavour profile, which make them perfect for shallow frying the pizza.

Can you freeze?

Yes, so don’t feel like you have to use all the dough at once. You can portion it out and leave some in the freezer, some in the fridge and leave what you want to cook out on the bench. When thawing, leave it on the bench and use it once it reaches room temperature – depending on the frozen portion size this can take an hour or two.

Variations & Substitutes

• Get crazy with your toppings. We’ve given you the traditional Napoli toppings, but if you prefer barbeque chicken or ham and pineapple, get creative and put your own on.
• Leftover dough? Turn it into a dessert. You can make the bases smaller, and after pulling them out the oil, pop them on a plate with cinnamon sugar. Boom, doughnuts. Top with cream and thank us later. 

Cooking up more Italian? Here’s a few popular recipes our readers love:

• Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce from Scratch
• Napoli Sauce with Pasta
• Napolitan Style Pizza Dough
• Cacio e Pepe (Parmesan and Pepper Spaghetti)
• Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta

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Pizza Fritta - Italian Fried Pizza

Fresh homemade Italian Fried Pizza, ready from scratch in 10 minutes? Topped with garlicky tomato sauce, chunks of mozzarella and fresh basil leaves? Oh yeah. Homemade pizza doesn’t get better than this!

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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Course: Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 6 Small Pizzas

Calories: 342kcal

Author: Wandercooks

Cost: $10

Ingredients

For the Pizza Bases

• 250 g pizza dough homemade or store-bought
• ½ cup canola oil for cooking, you can substitute with sunflower, peanut or corn oil

For the Sauce

• 400 g passata or chopped tomatoes (make your own homemade tomato sauce)
• 1-2 tsp garlic finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil

For the Toppings

• ½ cup bocconcini sliced into small pieces (or any mozzarella style)
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves

Optional

• 2 tbsp parmesan grated

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

• Flour a clean surface and your hands, then pull off a portion of your pizza dough. A fist-sized ball of dough should be perfect. Flatten and hand stretch each ball out into a rough disk around 1cm thick and 10-15cm wide.
• Pour oil into a small frypan until it's just covering the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 a centimetre. Once hot (test with a wooden chopstick and look for bubbles).
• Carefully place the dough into the oil one at a time, and cook for around a minute each side until it puffs up and turns golden brown on both sides. Remove from the oil and place onto paper towel to drain, then repeat for your remaining dough portions.
• Top each pizza base with sauce, chunks of bocconcini and fresh basil. Optional: Garnish with freshly grated parmesan.

Video

Notes

Cook's Tips

• Test the temperature with a wooden skewer or chopstick. When tiny bubbles form at the base, you know the oil is ready.
• If using store bought dough, let it sit on the bench to bring it up to room temperature before you cook it for the best dough texture and crispy outside.
• Flouring your hands helps to prevent the dough sticking to you, so you can work nice and quickly as you make each base.
• Stretch out the dough again just before cooking so it cooks evenly.
• For the amount of oil we use, as long as the base of the pan is covered, that's usually all you need for one batch of frying.

FAQs

• What else can I use the pizza dough for? If you have left over dough, you can either make dessert bases and treat them as doughnuts or very woofy pancakes. You could also try frying it Calzone style - where you put the cheese and sauce in the dough as a pouch, then fry it. We're going to try this next - stay tuned!
• What's the best oil for frying? We recommend a vegetable based oil such as corn, peanut, sunflower or canola oil. They have a high smoke point and low flavour profile, which make them perfect for shallow frying the pizza.
• Can you freeze? Yes, so don't feel like you have to use all the dough at once. You can portion it out and leave some in the freezer, some in the fridge and leave what you want to cook out on the bench. When thawing, leave it on the bench and use it once it reaches room temperature - depending on the frozen portion size this can take an hour or two.

Variations & Substitutes

• Get crazy with your toppings. We've given you the traditional Napoli toppings, but if you prefer barbeque chicken or ham and pineapple, get creative and put your own on.
• Leftover dough? Turn it into a dessert. You can make the bases smaller, and after pulling them out the oil, pop them on a plate with cinnamon sugar. Boom, doughnuts. Top with cream and thank us later. 

Nutrition

Calories: 342kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 353mg | Potassium: 299mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 459IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 2mg

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