Pav Bhaji Pizza is one of the best Indian pizza recipes. The spicy and delicious pav bhaji masala is spread on fresh homemade pizza dough base as a sauce and topped with cheese and toppings—a perfect savoy fusion recipe.
Check out some of the popular evening snacks and vegetarian dinner recipe ideas.
Always a special recipe - One of my first blog posts updated with new pictures and content.
About the recipe
Have you ever tried adding pav bhaji on a pizza base? If not, I recommend that you try this out. You will fall in love with this desi pizza recipe.
I am a big fan of pav bhaji, cheese, and pizza, and so is my family. When you combine all of them in a single recipe, it's a feast. Making this fusion pizza for dinner is the best way of using leftover pizza dough and leftover pav bhaji masala. I have used fresh mozzarella cheese, red onions, and signature coriander leaves or cilantro for pizza toppings.
Ingredients
To make Indian pav bhaji pizza, you will need
- Pizza dough: made using yeast, flour, salt, sugar, and warm water. You can even use naan as a base to make this pizza.
- Pav bhaji masala: I have used my traditional pav bhaji recipe. Just reduce the amount of water to get a thick sauce-like consistency so that your pizza won't turn soggy.
- Cheese: Fresh or grated or shredded mozzarella cheese
- Other toppings: Red onions and cilantro or coriander leaves.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Step-by-step instructions
Homemade Pizza dough (skip this if using a readymade pizza base or naan)
- Add warm water & sugar to a bowl. Sprinkle yeast, and leave it undisturbed for 10 minutes. Let the yeast activate.
- Add salt, olive oil, and flour in increments and knead to get a smooth yet slightly tacky dough.
- Transfer the pizza dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Make pav bhaji masala
Use your favorite pav bhaji recipe or follow my easy pav bhaji masala and prepare a semi-dry version. The only thing that I have changed for this recipe is that I have made the curry almost semi-dry and not add water. This ensures that your pizza won't be soggy.
Bake Indian pizza
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease the pizza pan with olive oil or butter.
- Transfer the risen dough to the floured surface and roll it out to a 14-inch or 16-inch circle of desired thickness. Transfer this to the prepared pizza pan.
- Evenly spread the pav bhaji masala on top of the base. Add dollops of fresh mozzarella cheese. Top it with some cilantro (coriander leaves).
- Bake pizza for about 8 to 12 minutes or until the bottom becomes light golden and the cheese is melted. Garnish it with red onions and more coriander leaves to get that traditional pav bhaji taste.
- Cut into slices, serve, and enjoy with a cup of Indian coffee or Indian tea.
Indian pizza on tawa
- Heat a cast-iron skillet or nonstick tawa pan on medium-low flame. Grease the pan.
- Once hot, place the rolled pizza base on the pan or tawa and spread the pav bhaji masala, cheese, and coriander leaves.
- Cover this with the lid and let the pizza cook on low flame until the cheese is melted and the bottom becomes golden brown.
- Garnish with more coriander leaves and pepper flakes and enjoy.
Tips
- The time to bake pav bhaji pizza may vary depending on the oven temperature and settings and the thickness of the crust. Bake till the cheese melts and the crust becomes golden from the bottom.
- Adjust the amount of all ingredients to taste.
More Indian pizza flavors
- Add tandoori paneer or tandoori chicken tikka for a smoky and spicy flavor to your desi pizza.
- You can sprinkle cumin, coriander powder, and garam masala powder into your pizza sauce to get that Indian flavor.
- Instead of pizza sauce, like pav bhaji masala, you can use tikka masala gravy or butter masala curry for a rich flavor.
- Like balsamic vinegar or pesto in margherita and Bianca pizza, you can drizzle mint chutney and sweet tamarind chutney to get street-style pizza flavor.
Recipe FAQs
Indian-style pizza, also known as desi pizza, is a fusion of Italian and Indian cuisine. The pizza base is topped with Indian-flavored sauce, spices like cumin, coriander, garam masala, and herbs like coriander leaves.
Traditional Italian pizza includes mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, and cured meats, while Indian pizza uses curry or gravy, spices from Indian cuisine, creating a fusion of flavors.
More pizza recipes
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Recipe card
Best Indian Pizza | Pav Bhaji Pizza
Equipment
- Pizza pan or Tawa
Ingredients
Homemade Pizza Dough
- 1 packet Active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp)
- ¾ cup Warm Water
- 1 teaspoon Sugar
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Olive oil
- 2 to 2 ⅓ cups All-purpose flour
Pizza Sauce and Toppings
- Pav Bhaji masala
- 4 oz Fresh Mozzarella or grated
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro or Coriander leaves (for garnish)
- 1 medium Red onion ,chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
Homemade Pizza dough (skip this if using a readymade pizza base or naan )
- Add warm water & sugar to a bowl. Sprinkle yeast, and leave it undisturbed for 10 minutes. Let the yeast activate.1 packet Active dry yeast, ¾ cup Warm Water, 1 teaspoon Sugar
- Add salt, olive oil, and flour in increments and knead to get a smooth yet slightly tacky dough.¾ teaspoon Salt, 2 tablespoon Olive oil, 2 to 2 ⅓ cups All-purpose flour
- Transfer the pizza dough to a greased bowl, cover, and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Make pav bhaji masala
- Use your favorite pav bhaji recipe or follow my easy pav bhaji masala and prepare a semi-dry version. The only thing I have changed for this recipe is that I have made the curry almost semi-dry and not added water. This ensures that your pizza won't be soggy.Pav Bhaji masala
Bake Indian pizza
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease the pizza pan with olive oil or butter.
- Transfer the risen dough to the floured surface and roll it out to a 14-inch or 16-inch circle of desired thickness. Transfer this to the prepared pizza pan.
- Evenly spread the pav bhaji masala on top of the base. Add dollops of fresh mozzarella cheese. Top it with some cilantro (coriander leaves).4 oz Fresh Mozzarella, 2 tablespoon Cilantro
- Bake pizza for about 8 to 12 minutes or until the bottom becomes light golden and the cheese is melted. Garnish it with red onions and more coriander leaves to get that traditional pav bhaji taste.1 medium Red onion
- Cut into slices, serve, and enjoy with a cup of Indian coffee or Indian tea.
Indian Pizza on tawa
- Heat a cast-iron skillet or nonstick tawa pan on medium-low flame. Grease the pan.
- Once hot, place the rolled pizza base on the pan or tawa and spread the pav bhaji masala, cheese, and coriander leaves.
- Cover this with the lid and let the pizza cook on low flame until the cheese is melted and the bottom becomes golden brown.
- Garnish with more coriander leaves and pepper flakes and enjoy.
Notes
- The time to bake pav bhaji pizza may vary depending on the oven temperature and settings and the thickness of the crust. Bake till the cheese melts and the crust becomes golden from the bottom.
- Adjust the amount of all ingredients to taste.
More Indian pizza flavors
- Add tandoori paneer or tandoori chicken tikka for a smoky and spicy flavor to your pizza.
- You can sprinkle cumin, coriander powder, and garam masala powder into your pizza sauce to get that Indian flavor.
- Instead of pizza sauce, like pav bhaji masala, you can use tikka masala gravy or butter masala curry for a rich flavor.
- Like balsamic vinegar or pesto in margherita and Bianca pizza, you can drizzle mint chutney and sweet tamarind chutney to get street-style pizza flavor.
Nutrition
Note: We originally posted this recipe in Aug 2018. It has now been modified in Aug 2023 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.
Chethana
Very attractive pizza, will try this out.