Goat Cheese and Rocket Pesto Pizza

Goat cheese, bacon and rocket pesto pizza, gloriously savoury and indulgent with a thick and voluminous crust that proves overnight!

I have provided instructions for cooking this delicious and slightly “different” pizza in both an oven and on the BBQ.

Rocket or Arugula Pesto Pizza

I love doing something a little different with pizza and this pesto and goats cheese offering joins an equally different BBQ chicken grilled pizza. 

Even the pesto is a little “outside the box” too a rocket pesto rather than the classic basil pesto that I use in my tuna pesto pasta recipe.

You could even use wild garlic pesto, pea pesto or even the pistou from my soupe au pistou recipe to top this delicious pizza. My next experiment is to play around with pesto alla Trapanese as a pizza topping.

I use an overnight pizza dough which has an incredible flavour and as you can see from the pictures, it gives a wonderfully voluminous rise.

And just like my previous pizza, I’ve given instructions for cooking this on a BBQ and in the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it best to cook this on the BBQ or in the oven?

In terms of flavour, I think cooking pizza on the BBQ has the edge over the oven.

Most domestic ovens cannot get up to the same temperatures, they also do not give you that smokey flavour. But let’s face it, not every day is a BBQ day, particularly in northern Europe, so go ahead use the oven it works well enough!

Do I have to use a pizza steel or pizza stone?

No, but they definitely help when cooking a pizza, they emulate the fiercely hot base of traditional pizza ovens.

I prefer a pizza steel over a pizza stone.

Do I have to prove the dough overnight?

No, you could prove this until it has doubled in size, which will take 2-4 hours depending on the ambient temperature.

But proving the dough leads to both better flavour and a wonderful light and fluffy thick-crust pizza.

What is streaky bacon?

This question is often asked by visitors to my site from the US, streaky bacon is what you guys know as “bacon”.

Back bacon is the predominant type in the UK, which is made from the loin rather than the belly, in the US you know this as Canadian bacon.

Serving Suggestions

If I am cooking this goat cheese pizza on the BBQ I will often knock up some wings as a bit of a nibble to get the BBQ vibe going with a few beers.

I’ve got plenty to choose from on my site and most of them have BBQ instructions too.

If spice is your thing, try my mango and habanero chicken wings, if you want something tasty but less blow your head off, how about some lemon pepper wings?

If I am cooking indoors, I usually get persuaded to cook some garlic bread, it seems like an odd choice with pizza to me, but it is incredibly popular!

I prefer a side of french fries with some dips, or even some air fryer sweet potato fries.

Equipment Used

I only name-check brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section after the recipe.

• Oven or BBQ.
• Mini blender or pestle and mortar.
• Large mixing bowl or stand mixer to make the pizza dough.
• Chopping board.
• Kicthen knife.
• Weighing scales and or a combination of a measuring jug, cups and spoons.
• Pizza steel or pizza sone.
• Pizza peel or some other method of transferring pizza to and from the cooking device.