White Pizza with Spinach, Fennel, and Feta
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This spinach, feta, and fennel pizza is what happens when you take a few simple ingredients and let them shine. Garlicky spinach, tangy feta, and just the right amount of fennel seeds make this pizza feel both fancy and effortless. It’s the kind of recipe that’s quick enough for a weeknight (using make ahead dough) but still feels special enough to impress. Bonus: it’s ready in less than 10 minutes once it hits the oven (preheating time. not included!)
Why Make This?
- You enjoy garlicky spinach
- Perfect for feta cheese fans
- You prefer minimal ingredient recipes
- Homemade pizza night is your thing!
Ingredient Notes
- Pizza Dough: Use store-bought or homemade dough.
- Spinach: Fresh baby spinach is ideal; sauté until wilted for the best texture.
- Garlic: Minced garlic adds a deep, savory flavor.
- Feta Cheese: Crumbled feta provides a tangy, creamy contrast to the garlic and spinach.
- Fennel Seeds: Adds a subtle, anise-like aroma that pairs beautifully with the cheese and garlic.
Other white spinach pizzas we love include fresh spinach and ricotta cheese, spinach and artichoke with roasted garlic, as well as this pizza.
Method Overview
I’m very happy with my pizza dough recipe, but I’m still fiddling with ways to bake it in my non-commerical home oven. Until recently, I’d been preheating my stone for at least an hour at 550 degrees, while the stone has been placed within 6 to 8 inches of the top of the oven. This way, the top of the pizza browns in tandem with the bottom, which is cooked by the heat of the preheated stone.
This week, I became more daring and moved my stone up to the first position, within 4 inches or so from the top of the oven. I’ll admit – it was very difficult to launch the pizza from the pizza peel to the stone but I successfully launched 3 of the 4 pizzas (don’t ask about the last one!).
I feel that the oven spring was much improved, although I’m not sure if it was due to the newest oven position. I’m guessing that the more intense heat (the pizza cooked in about 1 minute less time than usual), is causing more oven spring to occur during the initial bake.
For this pizza, while the oven heats, sauté the spinach until wilted and set it aside to cool. Shape your dough into a circle, top with the spinach, garlic, feta, and fennel, and bake for 4 to 6 minutes until golden and crisp. That’s it—simple, fast, and totally delicious.
Tips & Techniques
- Preheat the oven sufficiently to heat the stone or steel properly (an IR [infared] thermometer works well to check!)
- Saute the spinach ahead of time to let it cool and remove excess moisture.
- Use parchment paper or a well-floured pizza peel for easy transfer to the oven.
- Keep an eye on the pizza as it bakes to prevent over-browning.
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📖 Recipe
Irresistible Homemade Spinach Pizza
Equipment
- pizza steel or stone optional but highly recommended
Ingredients
- 2 balls pizza dough ~11.5 oz
- 3 cups fresh spinach (tightly packed) baby spinach recommended
- 4 cloves garlic minced (use half for each pizza)
- 12 ounces crumbled feta cheese divided (use half for each pizza)
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds divided (use half for each pizza)
To Make a Large Pizza
- 1 pound pizza dough
- cups fresh spinach (tightly packed) baby spinach recommended
- 3 cloves garlic smashed and minced
- 8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
- 1.5 tbsp fennel seeds
Instructions
- If using a pizza stone or steel, position the oven rack within 6 to 8 inches of the top of the oven and place the stone or steel on the rack.
- Preheat oven to 550 degrees for at least one hour before baking to heat the stone/steel.
- If you are not using pizza stone or steel, position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.
- In the meantime, saute spinach over medium heat in a nonstick skillet for 4 to 6 minutes or until wilted and set aside to cool.
- Before you are ready to bake, shape your dough(s) into a 12-inch circle for two smaller pizzas OR if making the larger pizza, shape it into a 16-inch circle and gently place it on floured pizza peel or on parchment paper.
- Immediately top the pizza with the cooked and cooled spinach, the minced garlic, the feta cheese, and one tablespoon of fennel seeds.
- Launch pizza onto stone (or on a pizza pan in the lower third of the oven), and bake for 4 to 6 minutes until bottom and top are sufficiently browned.
Nutrition
It’s really good with fried eggplant on this pizza.