Pizza Fritta - Italian Fried Pizza

Close up shot of a finished pizza fritta, ready to eat.

Pizza Fritta - Italian Fried Pizza

Pizza fritta is the BEST way to enjoy crispy Italian fried pizza at home in just 10 minutes! Layer your epic fried pizza bases with our quick pizza sauce, melty mozzarella and fresh basil for a fast and easy snack or dinner.

Course Dinner, Lunch, Snack

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 5

Total Time 10

Servings small pizzas

Calories 342kcal

Author Wandercooks

Cost $10

Equipment

1 Medium Frying Pan

Ingredients

For the sauce:

400 g passata sub homemade tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes
1-2 tsp garlic finely chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For the pizza bases:

250 g pizza dough homemade or store-bought
½ cup vegetable oil canola, sunflower, peanut or corn oil

For the toppings:

½ cup mozzarella or bocconcini sliced into small pieces
½ cup fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp parmesan cheese grated

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

For the quick pizza sauce (optional):

Heat up the passata in a small saucepan along with the garlic and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes for the flavours to infuse, then switch off the heat. Tip: You can skip this step if you want to use plain passata.
400 g passata, 1-2 tsp garlic, 1-2 tbsp olive oil

For the pizza fritta:

Sprinkle flour over a clean work surface and your fingers, then portion out pizza dough into pieces roughly the size of your fist. Flatten and stretch the dough out into rough circles around 1 cm / 0.4 inch thick and 10-15 cm / 4-6 inch wide.
250 g pizza dough
Pour vegetable oil into a small frying pan until it’s just covering the bottom of the pan by about 0.5 cm / 0.2 inch. Heat through. Test with a wooden chopstick or toothpick and when bubbles form on the tip, it’s ready to start frying.
½ cup vegetable oil
Stretch each piece of dough out again just before cooking, then gently slide into the oil. Fry each piece separately for 1 minute per side until golden brown and puffy. Drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Top fried dough with quick pizza sauce or passata, mozzarella / bocconcini and fresh basil leaves or your chosen pizza toppings. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan.
400 g passata, ½ cup mozzarella or bocconcini, ½ cup fresh basil leaves, 2 tbsp parmesan cheese

Video

Notes

Pizza Dough - Homemade pizza dough will always taste better, but feel free to use store-bought pizza dough to save time and effort. If using store bought dough, let it sit on the bench for an hour or so first to bring it up to room temperature before you cook it. This will give you the best texture and a nice crispy outside once cooked.
- Shaping the Dough - Dust your hands with flour while you shape the dough to stop it sticking to your fingers, and make it nice and easy to work with.
- Dough Size - With this method your pizza bases should be perfect for a single serving, so each person can add their own toppings once the bases are cooked. Cook one piece of dough at a time to allow plenty of space for the dough to puff up. This also maintains the oil temperature and stops the dough becoming gluggy.
Vegetable Oil - Use a vegetable oil for frying the dough (such as canola, corn, peanut or sunflower oil). The high smoke point and low flavour profile make them perfect for shallow frying the pizza and won’t fill your kitchen with smoke or smell. Only use olive oil as a topping for flavour if you like.
- Oil Temperature - Test the oil temperature with a wooden skewer or chopstick. When tiny bubbles form at the base, the oil is ready for frying.
Pizza Sauce - Follow the recipe below for a quick montanara style pizza sauce using passata, garlic and olive oil. Sub with crushed tomatoes, store-bought pizza sauce or use up leftover homemade tomato pasta sauce.
Toppings - This pizza is amazing with simple margherita style ingredients like mozzarella cheese or bite-sized bocconcini, fresh basil leaves and Parmesan cheese.
Bake the Crust - After frying the pizza fritta and adding your toppings, pop in the oven to bake for another minute or two. This is a nice way to add extra crunchy texture and smoky flavour! This method is great when using toppings like fresh ricotta cheese, spinach and red onion to enhance the flavour.
Make it a Calzone - Before frying, fold the dough into a half moon shape and stuff with traditional Italian ingredients like salami with mozzarella or provolone, black olives, charred capsicum / bell pepper, eggplant, or your favourite combo of classic pizza ingredients. Press the edges to seal, then fry as normal.
Extra Simple - Serve the fried dough with napoli sauce on the side for dipping.

Nutrition