Very Veggie Vegan Pizza

First full week of summer with Megan home. The apartment has a different energy when she's here during the day — books everywhere, music playing, the occasional FaceTime with her friend Jen that I overhear fragments of. I come home from the brewery and she's on the couch in pajamas at 5 PM and she says, "I've been very productive today," and the evidence is a reorganized bookshelf and a half-read novel and I believe her completely.

Summer at the brewery is intense — long days, high production, the taproom packed every weekend. I'm developing a new summer blonde ale that's lighter than the lager, more flavorful than a macro beer, and perfect for someone who doesn't think they like craft beer. I'm making it for Megan, essentially. She's my target market. If she likes it, the masses will follow. She tried it and said, "This doesn't taste like craft beer." I said, "That's the point." She said, "I like it." Mission accomplished.

We went to the farmers market on Saturday and I bought an embarrassing amount of vegetables. Zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, corn. Megan carried the bags and said, "We're two people, Jake. Two." I said, "We'll eat it." We won't eat all of it. Some of it will go to Tom and Linda. Some will become soup. Some will get forgotten in the crisper drawer and I'll find it in two weeks and feel guilty. This is the cycle of the summer farmers market and I refuse to change.

Made zucchini fritters this week — grated zucchini, squeezed dry, mixed with egg, flour, garlic, parmesan, herbs. Pan-fried in olive oil until golden and crispy. Served with sour cream. It's not Polish but it's in the pierogi family — dough-adjacent, pan-fried, served with sour cream. Everything I cook is in the pierogi family if you think about it hard enough. Megan says I have a pierogi-centric worldview. She is not wrong.

Megan was right — we were never going to eat all of it. But before the zucchini went into the fritters and the soup, before anything ended up with Tom and Linda, I needed one meal that used as many of those farmers market vegetables as possible in a single shot. This Very Veggie Pizza was it: a crispy crust loaded with everything we dragged home in those bags, roasted into something that felt intentional instead of desperate. It’s the kind of recipe that rewards an overly ambitious Saturday morning and makes you feel like the farmers market haul was a great idea all along.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 22 min | Total Time: 42 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb store-bought or homemade pizza dough, at room temperature
3/4 cup marinara or crushed tomato sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, halved (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional, for savory depth)
Fresh basil leaves, for finishing

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Place a baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 450°F. Let it heat for at least 15 minutes so the crust crisps from the bottom up.
Prep the vegetables. Toss zucchini, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, and mushrooms with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Set aside.
Roll out the dough. On a lightly floured surface, stretch or roll the pizza dough into a roughly 12-inch round or rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.
Build the sauce. Stir the minced garlic into the marinara sauce. Spread it evenly over the dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border around the edge.
Load the vegetables. Arrange the seasoned vegetables over the sauce in an even layer. Scatter olives over the top if using. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with oregano, red pepper flakes, and nutritional yeast if using.
Bake. Carefully transfer the pizza to the preheated baking sheet or stone. Bake for 18–22 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the vegetable edges are slightly charred.
Finish and serve. Remove from the oven, scatter fresh basil leaves over the top, and let rest for 2 minutes before slicing. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Very Veggie Vegan Pizza — When the Farmers Market Haul Needs a Plan