Homemade Individual Pizzas
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
I love it when the whole family gets involved in making a meal. The process is seriously entertaining. I made the pizza dough (check out the recipe for perfect pizza crust below), then stood back and watched my two chefs create, each one trying to out-do the other.
My son kept saying that his was “the bestest one” because he didn’t add onions and because he used the most cheese. I call their pizzas “supreme” because they were loaded with nearly all the toppings I had out.
My son sure enjoyed building his pizza and he was so proud of his accomplishment. He sat in front of the oven until the pizza had finished baking. He was so excited! I savored every moment of it. I should have them make lunch more often! Keep this pizza recipe in mind for father’s day since the whole family can be a part of creating a delicious masterpiece that would make Dad proud 😉 
My son is 4, turning 5 in July and he’s already very good at sifting, mixing, mess making, cracking eggs, and using the hand cranked egg beater for anything he can get his hands on! I think he started mixing ingredients together when he was 2, but with practice, 90% of it is now in the bowl rather than the floor. Anyway, he was beaming when his pizza came out of the oven.
Ingredients for Perfect Pizza Dough:
3/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil + more to oil baking pan & work surface
2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup cornmeal for baking
Ingredients for Easy Pizza Sauce:
1 1/2 cup store-bought marinara (whatever brand or flavor you like)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp oregano, optional
Greek Pizza Toppings:
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Marinated artichokes, Quartered
Black olives or Kalamata olives, sliced
Baby tomatoes, halved
Red onion, halved and thinly sliced
drizzle of EVOO
Feta sprinkled for garnish after pizza is baked
Supreme Pizza Toppings:
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Ham, or pepperoni
Sliced black olives,
Mushrooms, sliced,
Red onion, halved and thinly sliced
Tomato, sliced
Bell pepper, thinly sliced or diced
Grated Parmesan Cheese, optional
How to Make the Pizza Dough:
(this dough can also be made in a bread maker):
1. Put warm water in a large bowl, add the yeast and let stand for about 7 minutes for the yeast to activate. Don’t use hot water or you will ruin the yeast.
2. Whisk in honey and olive oil. Add flour, then the salt and knead until well-combined (use a dough hook on speed 2 if using a mixer). The dough should be sticky.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in volume (45 min to 1 hr at room temp or 25-30 min in a warm 100˚F oven).
Prep the Sauce while the dough is rising since it will need time to cool down:
1. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan. 2. Simmer over medium/low heat until it is reduced by about a third. It needs to thicken or the pizza will be too juicy. If you need to cool sauce to room temp faster, transfer sauce to a bowl and place in a bath of ice water.
How to Assemble & Bake Pizzas:
1. Generously sprinkle baking pans with cornmeal; this keeps the crust crisper and prevents sticking to the pan. You can also oil pans if you don’t have cornmeal.
2. Grease a clean work surface and your hands with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled surface and cut into three even pieces. Form each piece into an 8″ round pizza crust using your hands and transfer to baking pans lined with cornmeal.
3. Spread 1/3 pizza sauce on each pizza leaving a 1/2″ border of dough all the way around. Add plenty of mozzarella cheese and any of your favorite toppings; this is where it gets really fun! (See list of toppings above for supreme pizza or Greek Pizza).
They were really, really proud of their pizzas. P.S. Tough guys make pizza… see their guns? 😉
These two… :).
4. Bake pizzas at 415˚ F for 15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and toppings are cooked. Cheese will be melted and turn golden in a few spots. For those of you who are visual learners, here’s a peak at how we assembled the supreme pizzas:
Please take a moment to wipe the drool off your keyboard.
And the Greek Pizza – my favorite: (Tips: once the toppings are on, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. After the pizza comes out of the oven, sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese. It’s so good!)
And a little more of the aftermath:
There was plenty of this happening:
And this (sweetest fish lips in the world? I think so):
If When you try these pizzas, report back and let me know what toppings you tried. You can totally get creative and make it your own. It’s such a simple and great recipe.
Homemade Individual Pizzas
Ingredients
For the Pizza Dough:
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil + more to oil baking pan & work surface
- 2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup cornmeal for baking
For the Easy Pizza Sauce:
- 1 1/2 cup store-bought marinara, whatever brand or flavor you like
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 tsp oregano, optional
Greek Pizza Toppings
- my favorite pizza, hands down:
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Marinated artichokes, Quartered
- Black olives or Kalamata olives, sliced
- Baby tomatoes, halved
- Red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- drizzle of EVOO
- Feta sprinkled for garnish after pizza is baked
Supreme Pizza Toppings:
- Mozzarella cheese, grated
- Ham, or pepperoni
- Sliced black olives
- Mushrooms, sliced,
- Red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- Tomato, sliced
- Bell pepper, thinly sliced or diced
- Grated Parmesan Cheese, optional
Instructions
How to Make the Pizza Dough
- (this dough can also be made in a bread maker):
- Put warm water in a large bowl, add the yeast and let stand for about 7 minutes for the yeast to activate. Don't use hot water or you will ruin the yeast.
- Whisk in honey and olive oil. Add flour, then the salt and knead until well-combined (use a dough hook on speed 2 if using a mixer). The dough should be sticky.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in volume (45 min to 1 hr at room temp or 25-30 min in a warm 100˚F oven).
Prep the Sauce while the dough is rising since it will need time to cool down:
- Combine all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan.
- Simmer over medium/low heat until it is reduced by about a third. It needs to thicken or the pizza will be too juicy. If you need to cool sauce to room temp faster, transfer sauce to a bowl and place in a bath of ice water.
How to Assemble & Bake Pizzas:
- Generously sprinkle baking pans with cornmeal; this keeps the crust crisper and prevents sticking to the pan. You can also oil pans if you don't have cornmeal.
- Grease a clean work surface and your hands with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled surface and cut into three even pieces. Form each piece into an 8" round pizza crust using your hands and transfer to baking pans lined with cornmeal.
- Spread 1/3 pizza sauce on each pizza leaving a 1/2" border of dough all the way around. Add plenty of mozzarella cheese and any of your favorite toppings; this is where it gets really fun! (See list of toppings above for supreme pizza or Greek Pizza).
- Bake pizzas at 415 degrees F for 15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and toppings are cooked. Cheese will be melted and turn golden in a few spots.
- (Tip for the Greek Pizza: once the toppings are on, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. After the pizza comes out of the oven, sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese. It's so good!)
What are your favorite meals to cook as a family? Do you have any specialties?
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I make these pizzas once a week and they are fantastic. My question for you is I recently got a pizza stone and was wondering how I would adjust the temp and cook time for this recipe to use the stone. Thanks
Hi Jordann, I recommend trying or referencing our Pizza Recipe, where we use a stone to bake it! I hope this helps!
I like the idea of individual pizzas but I think these are a little bit small for me and my friends. If i make them about 12 to 16 inches do I need to adjust the time?
Hi Samantha, I have not tried that to advise but feel free to experiment and check it out before you decide to add time.
Does it make a difference if you use fast acting yeast?? I have plenty of that in my freezer.
Hi Denise, this recipe should work fine to substitute with 1 packet of instant yeast or fast-acting yeast. Be sure your yeast is brought to room temperature before using it.
It says servings 6-8 but the instructions say divide dough into 3 and use 1/3 pizza sauce so does this make 3 servings or 6-8 servings?
Hi Zahra, each pizza can serve 2+ people since they are still fairly generous sized. Also, be sure to try our new pizza dough recipe which is our favorite. It takes longer to make because it uses a cold fermentation, but wow it’s good!
Hi. I’ve made this almost weekly now, my kids love it. But I am now wondering do you use light olive oil for the dough or extra virgin? Does it make a difference?
Hi Mona, we used olive oil since that can handle baking heat better. I wouldn’t use light olive oil due to a lower smoke point.
Hi Natasha! I tried your pizza dough and it was ultimate! I just needed a little more water, since I mixed the old batch of flour with the new. How do I add flavor to the dough? I loved the picture of your son, he resembles you so much!
Hi and thank you for the sweet comment. I don’t usually add flavor to the dough once it is formed. Also, have you tried our new favorite pizza dough? I think you’d love it!
I made the New York pizza dough 3 times and I cannot get it right. The dough is very very sticky and soft. Can you please advice what I am doing wrong.
Thanks
Hi Amanda, are you measuring flour correctly? And are you using the same kind of flour recommended in the recipe? At what point does it seem too sticky? It may just need a little extra dusting of flour to make it workable in the last stage of stretching the dough into a pizza crust.
This is amazing! This is definitely the best homemade pizza recipe I’ve ever tried! I recommend adding a recipe for garlic butter to smother on the pizza crust before baking, it gives them a lot of flavor. Also adding garlic salt and powder to the sauce recipe, really helped with the margarita pizzas I made!
Fantastic! Thank you for your wonderful review and tips, Natalie. So helpful, we appreciate it!
Delicious crust recipe. We made my pulled pork “special “, BBQ sauce, pulled pork, jalepeno slices, and shredded cheddar cheese…. BEST HOME MADE PIZZA I’VE EATEN !!!
THANK YOU
Yay, Love it! Looks like you finally found your favorite pizza recipe.
I am wanting to make these with my daycare kiddos. Can I make the dough the night before? If so, when would you say I should pull the dough out of the fridge? Should I let it rise first the night before? I would like to start topping them and put them in the oven around 11:30-11:45am. Thanks!!!
Hello Jillian, I haven’t tried doing that but I think it would work if you make it ahead and refrigerate it, you would just need to bring it back to room temp to let it rise a little before using it.
nice one
Natasha, I had some dough and homemade sauce leftover from your Calzones (which we ate earlier this week) to use up. We LOVED the Greek pizza with feta cheese idea and may never order pizza from a shop again! Another Winner, Winner, Pizza Dinner!
So great to hear that you loved this recipe, Sharon. Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
pls how is this dough different from the recent crust you posted? and what does the olive oil do in this one, because you did not add it in your recent pizza dough post? i am also born in July and my 13th birthday is very soon.
Hi, this dough is very different and uses quite a bit more yeast for a quick pizza dough. The new pizza dough is by far my favorite in taste and texture.
how many individual pizzas does this make?
Hello Amy, it serves approximately 6-8 individual pizzas
I found this recipe a couple months ago and man does my family love this crust! I triple the recipe and make (8) 8″ crusts every week for my family of 4! The only thing I do differently is I parbake the crusts for 10-12 minutes before cooking them with toppings. But it’s perfect every time!
That’s just awesome Joy! Thank you for that great review!
If you don’t double the recipe how many pizza do you get? Right above Natasha says this recipe makes 6- 8 pizzas. You said you doubled it and got 8 pizzas.
my 5 year old daughter is known that she doesn’t eat pizza, and the only one she eats is from one specific place, and with black olives only. i have tried many times doing home made pizza she won’t like/eat. but when i tried this pizza dough here she literally told me this is the best pizza and she ate the whole individual one alone…since then she’s been asking me to eat pizza for dinner every night!!! now that is what i call a magic dough recipe!
Wow! That’s just awesome! That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Just made this for the family and everyone loves the crust. We left ours in a little longer than 15 minutes as it wasn’t quite ready at 15. We will be using your recipe for sure again!
for the pizza recipe on which rack in the oven do we bake? High or low rack? I have never made pizza and want to try making it with my boys!
Hi Tania, we like to keep our pizza on the middle rack.
I prefer my crust thin and crispy–would bread flour give that result?
Thanks—enjoy your recipes and video’s—very motivational!
That could work Cindy! I would love to know how you like this recipe if you test that.
I am not a cook at all. I’ve only gotten into cooking because I have to at least learn how to cook SOMETHING instead of ordering out or just not eating. This is the best homemade pizza recipe I have found thus far. I have scoured the internet, trust me. It’s so easy to follow. It was enjoyable to see your blog and pictures and I thought, heck if your kid can do it, then I can try. Overall the recipe is simple enough for an amateur like me and straightforward on the ingredients. You have helped a lot. I now try to experiment on recipes on my own. Cheers to you and your family!
Thank you so much for your awesome review and feedback. It helps inspire me to do better and create more recipes for everyone to enjoy!
Hi. Can cornmeal be substituted?
Hi, Olga! One of our readers, Cindy, wrote a suggestion about parchment paper to omit cornmeal. “my new favourite that I now use exclusively is parchment. No oil at all, no cornmeal, no mess and it creates the perfect crust. You really should give it a try, you might love it as much as I do 🙂”
Pizza was amazing! My family said it was better than from a pizzeria ;). Good job Natasha, thank you for posting all of these recipes. The pictures also contribute greatly along w/ videos! You are the best!
You’re welcome Katya! I’m glad to hear how much you and your family are enjoying the recipes. Thanks for sharing your excellent review and encouraging comments!
I loooove this dough! Its delish and soft!
Yum! Also i like the fact it has honey and not sugar)
Isnt it interesting how most pizza doughs have same ingredients, but their proportions is whats the key)
I tried other recipe with same ingredients except honey and it tasted more like bread…..
Thank you, coach Natasha😉
You’re welcome Viktoriya! I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy the recipe. Thanks for sharing your wonderful review! 🙂
Can I make one big pizza instead of the individual ones?
Hi Vick, yes absolutely! Check out our single whole California pizza here.
Hey natasha, this recipe is so good it taste just like dominoes but much better thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome! Thank you for sharing your review Kristina! 🙂
Can you refrigerate the dough and use it for later?
Hi Lila, I haven’t tried doing that but I think it would work, you would just need to bring it back to room temp to let it rise a little before using it.
I did these a few days ago and they tasted so good! I doubled to recipie so I made my own sauce by blending 6 tomatoes 2 tblsp of tomato paste and some basic seasonings, then simmering it intill it was thick. I turned 12 a few days ago and this was so fun to make! I also made your chicken wraps on my birthday, they were really tasty!
That’s awesome! I love that you got creative and made your own sauce. It sounds like you’re quite the chef! Happy birthday and many blessings to you!
Thank you Natasha for the recipe, seeing your happy family puts a smile on my face, as I am married but no kids. It looks so fun!
Thank you so much Colleen :).
How many minutes should I work the dough if doing it by hand?
Maybe 5 minutes. It should just be well combined and elastic. If you find it too sticky to work it by hand, you might use a stiff silicone spatula to “knead” until combined.
Dear Natasha,
Thank you for all these simple, yet awesome recipes! My family is already complaining that they all are gaining weight 🙂
I’m a newbee at cooking, but your recipes are well detailed and broken down into simple steps.
Thanks a lot…greetings from Bahrain
Thank you writing in! I’m so happy to hear you all are enjoying my recipes and I really appreciate your feedback! 🙂
hey I was wondering if I can freeze one of the pizzas if I don’t want to bake them right away
Natasha, freezing pizza is totally fine :). Reading your comment is making me hungry for some pizza :D.
I am having trouble getting the dough as shown in your pictures. Mine comes out too hard and dosnt puff out on the edges at all 🙁 Helpl please.. what am i doing wrong?
Are you doing anything differently in your process of making the dough? Does your dough rise as shown in the pictures? I wonder if it’s maybe due to having yeast that isn’t fresh or possibly keeping the dough in too hot of a temperature to rise (which would deactivate the yeast and ruin the dough). It’s tough to say without being there with you, but I hope that’s helpful.
The dough does seem to rise as in shown pictures but alittle slower than it should, maybe it is the temperature. I will try it again today or tomorrow and hopefully it will work out good
Thank you
Natasha,
Thank you for this awesome blog!
Made this recipe with my boys and we all had a great time making it from scratch. Both of my boys love pepperoni so we improvised, it turned out delicious! I don’t think we will buy any pizza anymore!
Adriana, thank you for the great review and you are so welcome. I’m glad boys had a good time preparing it :).
made this pizza for my hubby.. he really liked it.. ate 4 pieces for his dinner. couldnt resist
You are on a roll!! Way to go Liliya! 🙂
Can honey be replaced?!
My bf is alergic to honey
You can use sugar instead 🙂
I posted a tweet too: https://twitter.com/AnnaZed/status/483386436839038977
We like making pizzas, spaghetti with all sorts of crazy ingredients or lasagna.
I love this! Homemade pizza is one of my favorites, although I’ve never tried the Greek one, I think I might have to!
We also love cooking basically anything with beef…living on a cattle ranch and all. My husband is a grill master with steaks and burgers. I love the help while I’m getting everything else ready.
Hey, I was wondering who won?;)
I emailed the winners email to BlogHer (they are in charge of following through with the prize) and they will contact the winner directly. As soon as the winner confirms their address, we will be able to announce who it was. 🙂
We like to cook borsh and soups together.
In my family we always doing together salad “Olivie” its our favorite to do with kids and my husband.
Oh I love home made pizza.
Our all time favorite food is potatoes. I’m always trying all kinds of potato recipes. Potatoes with gravy, fried potatoes, baked potatoes, etc.
Thank you for this awesome giveaway!
Grilled Steak and potatoes is our all time fave:)
We like to make anything with potatoes, true ukrainians =)
Love to make pizza. Going to have to try your dough recipe.
Thank you so much for you inspiring posts! I love to see your work and all the effort you put into making these recipes so easy to read and follow. They are so easy to copy, I love them! My next recipe to try is your cupcakes and the drunken cherry cake, so excited!
I love it when my sisters and I get together and make pelmeni
The pizzas look amazing!
I love homemade pizza, would love to win and get myself a pizza stone 🙂
Your website is a huge help and inspiration
We love making sauteed mushrooms dip together!! My toddler loves to help in the kitchen. He always peels garlic for me!! Love having his help in the kitchen. 🙂
We love to make homemade alfredo sauce!
As a family we love to do Katleti(any kind) So I do the preparation and my husband loves fring them!!!!
I have tweeted about the giveaway! https://twitter.com/MichelleBrigha2/status/479831747933114368
Thanks!!
Our favorite meal to cook as a family is in fact pizza! It is wonderful that they are so customizable and the smell and anticipation waiting for them to cook is so good 🙂
Our family loves to make pelmeni and varenyky, making them We have LOOOOTS of time for conversation and spending time together.
Our family loves to make pelmeni or vareniky toghether…
Our family loves to cook any kind of breakfast foods together, especially on the weekends.
Friday night – is pizza night!!
Very handsome boys you have, Natasha. I will definitely try it.
My kids love homemade pizza
We love making lasagna and pizza
We love to make desert together such as “oreshki” :-)))
We always make pelemeni and vareneki together as a family. Its our tradition:)
We like to make cupcakes together. 🙂
https://twitter.com/myfolly/status/479782514287190016
Yummy!
My husband and I love making marinated grilled chicken fajitas. He does the grilling and I do the vegies and the slicing of the succulent chicken!
https://twitter.com/thomasmurphy40/status/479705485809946624
We like to make tacos together.
We love making chili as a family. It’s such a good, filling meal that everyone will enjoy too.
https://twitter.com/aes529/status/479613969913483266
We love making pizza together
Tweet – https://twitter.com/willitara/status/479579853503877120
Tacos are a big family favorite especially since there are so many possible fillings everyone will be happy.
we love making flat breads with the family. we make tomato mozzarella and barbecue chicken flatbread.
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/kymom13/status/478699411451936768
As a family we make an omelet every Sunday with whatever we have in the frig. We rotate…cutting veggies, mixing eggs, and cooking. It’s a great way to end the weekend!
Gosh, love to cook just about anything on my 6-burner Wolf! Most recent adventure into a gastronomic experience was home made manicotti – my husband thought it was a 5-star meal. Can’t get that on just any oven!
Twitter Share: https://twitter.com/PrettyHotPink6/status/477845575086661633
We like to make homemade pizza, pasta dishes and while not a meal, baked goods like muffins/cookies together.
tweet–https://twitter.com/WildOrchid985/status/477772980282748928
We love to make spaghetti and meatballs together.
Thanks for the chance to win!
wildorchid985 at gmail dot com
https://twitter.com/ajoy1332/status/477475238385442816
I like to cook Jambalaya.
Tweeted -https://twitter.com/neiddy_ruiz/status/477453656569044992
My family loves tacos! Our specialty is Mexican Tacos de Bistec ( steak tacos in homemade corn tortillas topped with cilantro, onion, avocado and cheese)
I love making any Italian meal and although I do not have a specialty meal I make, I do have a special skill. I can take random things out of the fridge and/or freezer and turn it into a delicious balanced meals in no time.
https://twitter.com/momsfocus/status/477250276210905088
We like to cook veggie pizza with kids
Sweet Vidalia Onion Pie!
Home made pizza is a favorite and anytime we grill, everyone pitches in.
http://twitter.com/ccboobooy/status/477215140090089472
My favorite is my homemade baked chicken with pesto.
My specialty dish is Baklava and chicken biryani. I mild down the chicken biryani for my sons and add whole almonds (skin blanched off).
My specialty is fajitas. I like them with chicken, shrimp and steak. We like to bake cookies together as a family. On fajita night we let the kids help get the toppings in bowls and on the table.
We love putting together our own calzones. In fact, we bought the Publix pizza dough that was BOGO last week to make them. Our latest calzones were made with meatballs, pepperoni, and cheese. We might try your recipe for dough next time, but if you have a Publix nearly I highly recommend trying their dough in the bakery the next time it is buy 1, get 1 free.
our favorite meals to cook as a family are one pot/skillet meals, since its easy to just throw stuff in. no specialties, though.
My favorite meals are one pot meals. For example, lasagna that I put in the oven. Also, I like making roasts with potatoes, carrots, and onion in the crock pot. These meals are easy and delicious.
https://twitter.com/dddiva/status/477150659331256320
We like to make fancy salads and bake bread.
Those pizzas look delicious. We enjoy making pizza together too. I printed out your recipe, I want to try making your pizza crust and sauce. Thanks!
Taco night around here is for everyone. Ground mix, chicken or veggie tacos are great to experiment with. All types of cheese, sour cream lettuce, tomato, spices and everything under the sun.
We also like to make our own pizzas, as you did. We all like different toppings, so it works great. We make “build your own burritos” too… always a lot of fun! When it comes to specialties, I don’t really have any. I love cooking, so I keep trying new things. If I’d have a specialty, it would most likely be one of my desserts.
We love to make our own pizzas. It’s amazing what toppings you can find around the house to put on them.
https://twitter.com/eaglesforjack/status/477111609601851392
We love making, tacos, pizzas and lasagna together as a family.
The whole family pitches in to make Taco Tuesdays
We like to cook breakfast together, and making cookies together is always fun
My family’s favorite meal to cook together is kabobs. Everyone puts what they want on their skewer and makes as many as they wish. It’s easy, fun and delicious.
tacos are always fun for us
https://twitter.com/slehan/status/476956673970798592
Tacos are fun to put together. We set up a taco bar and everyone makes their own.
Thanks for the contest.
https://twitter.com/SkyShyskyk/status/476915142996000770
Our family specialty is probably ‘eggs in a basket’.
nachos and tacos
Cookies
We love to make taco pizza at our home! We use a cornmeal crust and taco toppings. It’s amazing!
We love to try new recipes and cook as a family.
My daughter and I love to make chicken soup together. It is a tradition in our house the first days of autumn we make a huge batch of soup while my husband makes fresh bread and we invite friends to enjoy with us.
tweeted – https://twitter.com/Giantsis/status/476801146020200448
We love to make taco salad – so many options and everyone can tailor it to their own liking!
https://twitter.com/klp1965/status/476796185336766464
we love to make shepards pie and spaghetti and meatballs 🙂
We love to make tacos together. My specialty dish is chicken casserole.
Our family meals are cheesy chicken balls and pizza!! ky_grandma40@yahoo.com