Potato Pizza with Garlic Butter Leeks
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Potato pizza is a light, garlic butter and sautéed leek pizza layered with fontina, torn mozzarella, crispy linguica, and thin-sliced potatoes. The potatoes tenderize as the cheese melted and, once golden brown and well-baked, a sprinkle of green onions finishes it off. Use your favorite pizza dough and try something new for pizza night.
Ever since I achieved my family’s ideal thick and fluffy pizza dough we’ve been having pizza night at least twice a month. It’s a great end-of-the-week meal before I restock my groceries; my kids are young enough that cheese and maaaybe pepperoni are the only toppings they insist I have on hand. But for the husband and I? We’re gourmet pie people, 100%. This potato pizza was developed like many a recipes in my kitchen are. I looked at what I had, what made sense together, and boom, this delicious thing was born.
It starts with leeks the best way to cook them (butter and garlic, always), our favorite pizza cheeses, leftover linguica from a breakfast, and those last yellow potatoes from our garden harvest. I wanted an herb garnish, but instead we had a solitary green onion leftover from our BBQ turkey meatballs and so on it went. All of it just works so well that it’s now one of my favorite pizzas: light, buttery, and unique.
Key Tips & Tricks
- Slice the potatoes thin – Use a mandolin, food processer, or be very slow and patient with your knife, to slice potato-chip-thin slices, no wider than 1/8″. Thick slices will not bake through by the time the crust is done, and crunchy potatoes are nobody’s friend.
- Use a good dough – I’d love for you to try my pizza dough recipe, but there are often decent, fresh dough options near the deli sections of grocery stores. Or, look for local pizzerias, as some will sell you dough. Dough can make or break a pizza, so choose one you like.
- Good cheese, good flavor – Trust me, I buy the bagged shredded cheese for my kids; they still wince with fear when I pull out the ‘gooey’ fresh mozzarella. But for the adults (or the adventurous cheese-eating kid) I highly recommend going for quality. Potato pizza is best with just a light layer of cheese, so springing for the good stuff doesn’t need to mean purchasing a large amount.
Ingredients
Part of why I love this potato and leek pizza is the seasonality. We make this toward the end of summer and into the fall, when either our garden or the grocery store have leeks that are mostly light green and white, when our potatoes are freshly dug from the earth (they never last long enough to store), and I want to sip white wine and enjoy the last of the warm evenings of the year. I hope these ingredients bring you the same satisfaction.
- Pizza Dough – Fresh, pre-baked, or however you like it. Enough for one large 16-18″ pizza.
- Leek – One medium leek, maybe 1-1.5″ diameter, with at least half of it pale green/white (save the dark tops for homemade stock).
- Butter – use unsalted butter, or refrain from adding too much salt.
- Salt – To taste, as directed.
- Garlic – 4 fresh cloves finely minced, or 5-6 cloves of garlic confit or roasted garlic (my preference!).
- Potato – We like a waxy yellow potato, but I suspect most thin sliced potatoes would be just fine.
- Fontina – 2-3 cups shredded. If not fontina, Harvarti is a nice substitution.
- Mozzarella – We like about one 8 ounce log of fresh mozzarella per pizza.
- Linguica – Any meat you like that can be crisped and rendered works well. We used linguica, but chorizo, pancetta, or bacon are also great options.
- Dried herbs – these are optional, but can add a nice touch to the leek butter sauce.
- Green onion – totally optional addition for the top. I find they compliment the more subtle onion flavor of the leek, but fresh parsley would also be nice.
Step by Step Instructions
It’s always my goal that readers of my recipes feel empowered. I hope these directions make the process of making a potato and leek pizza easy and fun for you, even if it seems unusual!
Always preheat first! Get the oven on an assemble your ingredients. I’m a big believer in what I’ve watched my favorite chefs preach over the years: mis én pláce, or, get your ingredients prepped first. Shred the fontina, separate the mozzarella, chop the linguica, slice the potatoes, wash and slice the leeks, and if using fresh garlic, mince it finely.
Now we start cooking! Get a wide sauté pan out and melt the butter over medium-low heat. When hot, add the garlic whether you’re using fresh, roasted, or confit. Cook just until the garlic is fragrant and softened. If you’d like, you can add dried herbs at this stage, but they’re entirely optional. I like basil and oregano.
Once the garlic is cooked, add in the leeks. Keep the heat low enough to just maintain a gentle simmer so the leeks soften, instead of caramelizing and browning. Season with a pinch of salt at this point (unless you used salted butter) and stir often.
When the leeks are silky soft, about 10 minutes or so, they’re ready. Set them aside to cool (extra butter in the pan is expected). Next, roll out or stretch your dough as wide as your pizza pan of choice. I like a thin, metal pan or pizza stone, but a baking sheet works just as well if you don’t mind a rectangle pizza.
Key Tip: The pan affects bake time: if you choose stone, it tend to take longer, so I recommend shaping the pizza then transferring (via a wooden pizza paddle or carefully with parchment) onto a preheated stone.
Once the leeks are not piping hot, it’s time to assemble. Spread the leek garlic butter over the bottom of your shaped pizza dough. On top of that goes half the fontina, then the potatoes in a single, not overlapped, layer. Add the remaining fontina and tear the mozzarella over the top. Sprinkle over the linguica.
Place it in a preheated oven for 22-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the top is bubbly and melted. Top with chopped green onion as desired. Let it cool for 5 minutes or so, then transfer to a cutting board, slice, and enjoy hot.
FAQs
Sure, you can leave off the linguica, cook the leeks and garlic in oil instead of butter, and opt for vegan cheeses.
Pre-baked pizza doughs generally only need to cook for half the time, so I’d recommend ensuring your potato slices are very thin, or even pre-baked on a baking sheet with a light coating of oil first. That would prevent semi-raw potatoes on your pizza. Then just assemble and bake as directed, for the amount of time indicated on your crust’s packaging.
Absolutely, modify and adapt this to your tastes. You could leave the leeks out or swap in a deeply caramelized onion which might be just as delicious.
Absolutely! I highly recommend trying this pizza as a breakfast. Add a freshly fried egg on top and increase the linguica by double and you have a lovely, unique bake that I’d happily serve to guests at brunch.
Thanks for checking out my potato pizza, I hope you enjoy my take on a light, garlic butter-based pizza that relies on simple flavors and pairings to make the perfect bite. I’d love to hear how it goes! Don’t forget to also check out my garlic butter bread twists for another idea of what pizza dough can do.
Other Dinner Favorites
Potato Leek Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 pizza dough*
- 1 1/2-2 cups leeks
- 1/4 cup butter unsalted
- 1 tablespoon garlic*
- Salt to taste
- 1 small yellow potato
- 3 cups fontina cheese shredded
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella in slices
- 3 tablespoons linguica diced
- 2 tablespoons green onion sliced, optional
- 1 tablespoon dried herbs (basil, oregano, parsley) optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F, and preheat pizza stone, if using*.
- Prep all ingredients: dice the linguica, half the leek, rinse it, then slice it into thin half-moons, shred the fontina, tear the mozzarella, and thinly slice the potatoes. They should be as close to potato-chip-thin as you can manage.
- Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium-low heat. Once hot, add in garlic, sauté until beginning to soften and fragrant.
- Add in sliced leeks with any dried herbs, if using. Season with salt to taste, and sauté until the leeks are very soft, 5-10 minutes. Set leeks aside to cool slightly.
- Roll out the pizza dough to a 16-18″ round, or a rectangle if using a baking sheet.
- Spread the leek butter over the base of the dough. Sprinkle half the fontina over that.
- Layer the potato slices over the leeks and cheese in a single, not-overlapped layer. Add the remaining fontina on top of the potato layer.
- Arrange torn mozzarella pieces over the top and sprinkle on the diced linguica.
- Place in oven (or carefully slide onto the pre-heated pizza stone, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden, cheese is gooey, and beginning to caramelize.
- Sprinkle over the green onion, slice, and serve.
Notes
- Pizza dough: use a fresh pizza dough, enough for 1 large pizza. Often available in deli sections, or can be easily homemade. My pizza dough recipe creates enough dough for two pizzas.
- Garlic: Use 4-5 cloves to create 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, or use roasted garlic, garlic confit, or garlic paste in the same amount.
- Potatoes: A waxy yellow or red potato is great. Use a mandoline, food processor, or be slow and precise with your knife to create thin slices. Thick ones may not bake in the allotted time and can lead to crunchy potatoes.
- Fontina: use Harvarti if unavailable
- Linguica: pancetta, chorizo, or bacon are good alternatives.
- A thin metal pizza pan, a baking sheet, or a pizza stone are all good choices for baking your potato pizza. Pizza stones do best preheated, so build the pizza on a pizza paddle or parchment paper so you can slide the assembled pizza onto the waiting stone in the oven.
- Leeks are notoriously dirty. The best way to clean them is to slice them in half lengthwise without cutting off the root end. The root will keep the leek layers together while you gently rinse water through them. Alternatively, slice the leeks first then place in a bowl of cool water. The dirt will sink and clean leeks can be scooped from the top of the water.
Nutrition
Nutrition information and cooking times are provided as a best estimate. Values may vary based upon ingredients and equipment.
