Make this easy French Bread Pizza Recipe with pepperoni or your favorite pizza toppings. If your family loves pizzas, you have to try this simple dinner idea. Let’s cook!
Table of Contents
Why baking pizza on French bread is genius
- It’s fast and easy. When you tell your family “pizza’s for dinner tonight” – they’ll never see this tasty version coming! Instead of starting with homemade pizza dough, take a shortcut and use French or Italian bread for the pizza base to make pizza very fast.
- It’s great for both a family meal and a great option for entertaining. Serve it for a football game day party appetizer or for a get together party.
- Simple pizza instructions for cooking this meal right the first time.
- Learn how to make French bread pizza not soggy, but nice and crispy.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make French bread pizza with pepperoni on top.
- French bread loaf (or Italian loaf or any extra loaf of grocery store bought bread you have on hand).
- Olive oil
- Garlic powder
- Pizza sauce and extra Italian seasonings if desired
- Mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil leaves
- Extra pizza sauce as desired for serving
- Any other desired toppings (see my ideas at the bottom of this post)
How to make French bread pizza
Take the recipe step-by-step provided and make it a little more general and conversational. Leave a line between steps so a photo can be added in-between.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet (rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper or use a casserole dish to prevent the French bread loaf from shifting when you take it in and out of the oven.
- Season and toast the bread. Brush the French bread loaf halves all over with olive oil. Put the inside of the loaf facing up, and sprinkle it with garlic powder. Bake “naked” – without any sauce or toppings – for 3 minutes. This step makes French bread pizza that isn’t soggy, because it lightly toasts in the oven before toppings are added. Once it’s done toasting, raise the oven temperature to 450°F.
- Spread pizza sauce on each loaf of French bread. Sprinkle on Italian seasonings. Top with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted, about 7-10 minutes. Serve homemade French bread pizza with fresh basil and as much extra pizza sauce as desired.
Topping ideas for French bread pizza
Want more creative toppings ideas for this classic french bread pizza? Here are a few of our favorites beyond French bread pepperoni pizza.
- Fresh mozzarella with black olives and diced green bell peppers.
- Artichoke hearts and fresh tomatoes with a white pizza sauce.
- Italian sausage, a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes, and sauteed onions and red peppers.
- Pan seared chicken breast and barbecue sauce.
- Ground beef and caramelized onions on red tomato sauce for pizza.
Note: Any herbs like basil leaves should be added to the top of the pizza after it’s done baking.
FAQs
Yes, but a little better since it’s homemade French bread pizza. You can find similar oven baked French bread pizzas from Stouffer’s, Digiorno, Red Baron, Costco, and Lean Cuisine. Note that the French bread pizza cook time when homemade is different from frozen pizzas.
My belief is this isn’t necessary. I find no difference in baking mine in the top rack of the oven. You should be fine if you place bread in the top rack.
Yes, french bread pizza makes a delicious breakfast or brunch. Here’s an idea: make it up with toppings from my breakfast pizza with eggs and roasted tomato recipe. The family will love it!
If your French bread pizza is soggy, you may have overdone the sauce! Pizza sauce does add wonderful flavor, but it’s not a case of the more the better: too much pizza sauce, and your french bread will loose the airy fluffiness we all know and love. Be stingy with the sauce, but feel free to be as extravagant as you like with cheese and other toppings!
If your French bread pizza continues to be soggier than you’d like, even with limited sauce, consider pre-toasting your bread to a brown crisp before adding toppings.
If you’re serving French bread pizza for lunch, pair it with a light soup and salad— my make ahead zucchini soup and avocado ranch salad are good options.
This fun pizza variant is credited to a man named Bob Petrilloise, who ran a Hot Truck at Cornell University in Upstate New York and started serving up the innovative pizza to students back in 1960. Frozen french bread pizza debuted in 1974, now you can make it yourself with this from-scratch recipe.
The Perfect Pizza Setup
Want to make restaurant style pizza at home? I’ve got you covered! Here are some of my top tips, tricks, secret ingredients and tools for a pizza night everyone will look forward to, again and again.
- NEVER do this… Contrary to what most people believe, when baking pizza on a sheet pan, never add toppings to raw pizza dough. Instead, follow my recipe for making homemade pizza with ready made dough, which will teach you how to par bake pizza dough first.
- Get help from secret ingredients…
– This dough seasoning is the secret to real Italian-tasting homemade pizza dough.
– Add pizza seasoning to store bought pizza sauce. This makes the pizza taste really fresh! - Herbs are for after… In my weekly pizza making practice, I’ve found that fresh herbs, like basil, need to be added to pizza after the pizza is done baking (so the herbs don’t wilt).
- Buy fresh dough and get amazing results. Yup, fresh dough from grocery stores is one of my favorite short-cuts. Learn how to use fresh Trader Joe’s pizza dough and Whole Foods pizza dough with my tutorials.
- Frozen pizza can taste amazing, too!! Learn how to spruce it up with this recipe for pizza using frozen crust.
- Slice pizza pies like a chef with just a few swipes, using big ol’ pizza cutters.
- Want to grill pizza? Here are some pizza grilling tools to check out.
- Do you really need to cook pizza on the rack? Nope! I basically never do. Here are tools you see me using in my tutorials on cooking pizza in the oven…
– Bake pizza on a rimmed baking pan set to get a beautiful golden brown crust.
– Love crispy crust? Let the air flow with this dishwasher safe pizza pan.
– Get personal – let your fam / friends top their own pies with this set of personal pizza pans.
More pizza recipes from Sip Bite Go
- Chicken spinach pizza with bacon
- Ravioli pizza on flatbread
- Pear and goat cheese pizza
- See tips for stretching pizza dough by hand
- Learn how to make frozen premade pizza crust taste better
- Homemade pizza dough
- Philly cheese steak pizza
- Smoked Traeger pizza
- GUIDE: how to cook chicken breast for pizza
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, this easy French bread pizza recipe has been on our Friday night pizza night rotation for a few months now. It’s one of those always-good easy meals for weeknights. We like to eat it with air fryer chicken wings and a salad like this peach salad or strawberry feta salad on the side.
To get my latest and greatest creative recipes before they’re shared on the site, connect with me on Instagram @sipbitego. And for more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel.
To find more delicious recipes to try on your culinary journey, scroll through the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
French Bread Pizza Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread or Italian bread, about 10 inches wide, sliced half lengthwise
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil
- ⅛ tsp garlic powder
- ½ cup pizza sauce
- ⅛ tsp Italian seasoning dried (optional)
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ cup pepperoni
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 sprig basil fresh
- extra pizza sauce as desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet (rimmed baking sheet) with parchment paper or use a casserole dish to prevent the French bread loaf from shifting when you take it in and out of the oven.
- Season and toast the bread. Brush the French bread loaf halves all over with olive oil. Put the inside of the loaf facing up, and sprinkle it with garlic powder. Bake “naked” – without any sauce or toppings – for 3 minutes. This step makes French bread pizza that isn’t soggy, because it lightly toasts in the oven before toppings are added. Once it’s done toasting, raise the oven temperature to 450°F.
- Spread pizza sauce on each loaf of French bread. Sprinkle on Italian seasonings. Top with mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted, about 7-10 minutes. Serve homemade French bread pizza with fresh basil and as much extra pizza sauce as desired.
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