Homemade Pizza Recipes For When You Don't Want Delivery

Is there any food more universally beloved than pizza? It's delicious, customizable, inexpensive, and can be delivered to your doorstep in mere minutes. What's not to love? 

But as undeniably great as your local pizza joint is, and as convenient as it is to get pizza delivered, sometimes you just want a homemade meal. Plus, it's never a bad time to improve your kitchen skills — and especially your pizza-making kitchen skills. 

For those times when you're craving pizza but are not in the mood for delivery, fear not: A delicious pizza can be made right in the comfort of your own home. And you don't need to be a great chef. Most pizza recipes are simple enough for even the most amateur home cook to handle. Whether it's a traditional Neapolitan, a deep dish pizza, a heart-healthy or low-calorie personal pie — or even a pizza in a mug — these are the homemade pizza recipes you need to try.

There may be no pizza more classic than a Neapolitan. The pie's beauty lies in its simplicity, as it consists only of dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. Like all good things, however, you will have to wait to get your hands on this Neapolitan pizza, as the dough will take at least eight hours to rise. (You can always make the dough ahead of time and freeze it to have it ready when you're in the mood for homemade pizza.) 

Whether fresh or frozen, once your dough is ready, the rest of the pizza-making process is easy. Simply spread the dough over a pizza stone or parchment-lined baking sheet, add a layer of sauce, and top with cheese, oregano, and basil. Seven minutes in the oven and your perfectly simple, perfectly delicious Neapolitan pizza is ready to eat!

Pizza is notoriously carb-heavy so the idea of making a low-carb version might seem impossible — that is, until you discover this keto Margherita pizza recipe. (Keto is a low-carb diet.) This recipe cuts down on the carbohydrate total by replacing all-purpose flour with almond flour in the dough mixture, which also consists of shredded mozzarella cheese, an egg, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Once you have your dough prepared, the pizza assembly is pretty straightforward — a layer of marinara sauce, some sliced mozzarella cheese and shredded Parmesan, and any other ingredients you'd like to add. After 15 minutes in the oven, your keto margherita pizza is ready to enjoy.

Deep dish pizza is a whole other animal than traditional pizza, and you'll soon discover that once you start on this recipe for homemade deep dish pizza. We'll tell you know, this recipe is not for the faint of heart. It contains more than 15 ingredients and will take roughly three hours to complete, but we promise the final product will be worth it.

There are some notable differences between cooking traditional and deep dish pizza. The first is that the cheese goes on before the sauce in a deep dish pie. "Placing the cheese directly on the dough shields the crust from the pizza sauce, ensuring the crust will rise properly and bake up nice and crisp," says recipe developer Keith Kamikawa. Deep dish pizza is also baked in a pan not a sheet, so you'll want to break out your cast iron skillet. Once prepped, the pizza takes 30 minutes to cook and another 10 to cool before you can slice, serve, and devour! 

Can pizza be both delicious and good for you? The answer is a resounding yes, and it comes in the form of this recipe for heart-healthy pizza. "This heart-healthy pizza recipe is heart-healthy because of the whole wheat crust," says recipe developer and registered dietician Kristen Carli. "Whole grains are high in fiber, which contributes to lowering cholesterol levels. Additionally, this pizza does not have any meat products, as meat is high in saturated fat, which is associated with heart disease." 

Furthermore, this recipe will take you little more than 30 minutes to prepare once you have your dough ready. Simply build your pizza by spreading sauce over the dough, then add cheese and top with sautéed mushrooms and spinach. Twelve minutes in the oven and your pizza is ready to enjoy.

A low-calorie pizza may sound sacrilege to some who assume flavor is sacrificed in the name of healthy eating. But this low-calorie pizza recipe is here to disprove that notion. This healthy, personal-sized pizza has the flavor of four different toppings (plus cheese) while totaling less than 400 calories. 

To keep calories low and prep time short, the recipe uses lavash bread as the pizza dough. On top of that goes pizza sauce, skim mozzarella cheese, uncured smoked deli ham, spinach leaves, red onion slices, and green bell pepper slices. Once assembled, the pizza takes just 10 minutes to bake. The personal size of the pie means its hearty enough for a full meal but can easily be paired with a simple garden salad for a low-calorie side.

As great as homemade pizza is, it's not always the most practical, especially if you don't want to deal with an oven after a long day. Not only is this mug pizza recipe ideal for solo diners, but it can be prepped and cooked in all of eight minutes (dough included). The recipe uses baking soda and powder instead of slow-rising yeast, drastically reducing the leavening time needed.

This pizza-in-a-mug recipe, as you might imagine, is incredibly easy to put together. Simply stir together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, milk, and olive oil in the mug until the dough forms. Top with marinara sauce and cheese and then, pop it in the microwave for two to three minutes. Viola! In the blink of an eye, you have yourself a homemade pizza ready to enjoy — no large mess or fuss needed.