French Bread Pizza
French bread pizza is an easy way to have a pizza night without ordering takeout! Make this easy dinner recipe with your favorite toppings for a family pizza dinner.
Friday night is pizza night and while we pick up from our favorite pizza place on the regular sometimes we like to change things up and make our own.
I’ve made my own pizza dough but I’m not gonna lie, I don’t usually have time for that. I like to skip the yeast and kneading and get straight to the good stuff. For a simple lunch the kids love little English muffin pizzas but when I’m feeding the whole family French bread pizza is the perfect solution.
We take a soft, crusty, loaf of French bread, top it with our favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake it for a perfectly crisp, cheesy, delicious pizza dinner. It’s an easy, great tasting dinner, or lunch, that everyone can customize with whatever toppings they like! Once you’ve tried the original you have to give this lasagna french bread pizza a try!
Want that great pizza flavor without the bread? Try our pizza casserole with pasta or …if you’re skipping carbs altogether try this keto pizza casserole or meat lover’s pizza stuffed peppers.
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you need to make this:
- French bread – French bread is the best choice due to its crusty outside and soft inside. Italian and other bread can work too, but I recommend toasting any softer bread before adding toppings to help it hold its shape.
- Tomato Sauce – You can make your own or use your favorite brand. Like other toppings, you can have fun with it. Like alfredo? Use alfredo instead of tomato based sauce. Or do you prefer pesto? Do that instead. Or you could mix and match your sauces! This is your pizza, make it the way you like!
- Mozzarella cheese – Mozzarella cheese is a great starting point and maybe all you want. But provolone, ricotta, asiago, and parmesan are all great choices too!
- Parmesan cheese – This adds a little extra flavor to your pizza. Mix it with the mozzarella for a one, two punch.
- Toppings – You can stick with classics like pepperoni, sausage, peppers, and mushrooms, leave it a cheese pizza, or use your own combination. Check out Pizza Toppings below for some more tips!
Instructions
Here’s what you need to do to make this quickly and easily for a great Friday – or any night – pizza dinner.
Step 1 – Prep the bread. Before starting, preheat your oven to 400°F.
As it heats, slice the French bread loaf in half lengthwise then cut each half in half again so you have 4 pieces of bread.
Step 2 – Top the pizza. Once the bread is cut and ready, place them with the cut side up on a cookie or other baking sheet. You may want to spray with non-stick spray to help prevent sticking if any cheese falls off onto the pan.
Spread sauce over each slice. You may want to leave a bit of room on the sides so it doesn’t spill over while it cooks.
After your sauce is ready, sprinkle on your cheese and any toppings you want.
Step 3 – Bake the pizzas. Once the toppings are on and ready, place the baking sheets with the pizzas on them into the oven. Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Remove from the oven and let them rest a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Pizza Toppings
Probably the absolute best thing about making your own pizza is that you can customize it any way you like. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Cheese: Some of my favorites include mozzarella (fresh and shredded), ricotta, romano, and/or goat cheese.
- Meats: For some added flavor and protein, you can add pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, ham, chicken, salami, or anchovies. Just make sure you cook the sausage, ground beef, chicken, or any other raw meat before putting it on your pizza. It won’t cook fully on top of the pizza! You could also try buffalo chicken, shrimp, crab, or lobster meat for speciality pizza.
- Vegetables: Some of my favorite veggies to add are green peppers, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, black olives, and artichoke hearts. You can also try roasted tomatoes or red peppers. Once it is done baking, you can add spinach or arugula to the top for extra green.
- Garnishes: For a boost of extra flavor, you can try adding fresh basil, fresh Parmesan cheese, or dried herbs (oregano, basil, or Italian seasoning). You can also use a dressing after it comes out, like Ranch, or if you make it buffaloized, you might want to try adding some blue cheese dressing once it is out of the oven.
Do You Have to Use French Bread?
You don’t have to use French bread, but it does give you the best texture for pizza. It is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.
You could use a loaf of Italian bread, but since it tends to be softer on the outside I suggest cutting it into your individual pizza pieces and then toast the pieces at 400 degrees F for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Once it has toasted a bit, you can then add your toppings and finish according to the instructions below. Toasting a softer bread first will give you a firmer bread to start with so you don’t end up with soggy pizza.
Looking for More Easy Dinner Recipes?
- King Ranch Chicken Casserole
- Slow Cooker Sausage and Ravioli
- Sheet Pan Chicken and Asparagus
- Oven Chicken Fajitas
- Instant Pot Salsa Chicken
- Taco Macaroni Casserole
- More dinner recipes…
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French Bread Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 loaf french bread
- 1 cup Tomato Sauce
- 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Any toppings you like on your pizza!
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Slice french bread loaf in half lengthwise and then slice each half into half again so you have 4 pieces of french bread.
- Spread 1/4 cup of sauce on each piece of bread.
- In a small bowl combine the two cheese and then sprinkle the cheese over each piece of bread. If you are adding topping place them on top of the cheese. .
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
If you are craving for a pizza and don’t have a dough on the fridge, this is one way you can make a home made and easy to prepare pizza. You can even create your very own pizza flavor with your favorite toppings. Great idea. Thanks.
I just made this for dinner for myself and kids. It is a hit! Although, I used a loaf of Asiago bread from my local market and it only needed about 10 minutes in the oven. I will definitely make this again!!
Ooo yum Asiago is one of my favorite breads I bet that was delicious!
I make a similar version of this but the first thing I put on is a layer of cream cheese (room temperature or microwaved for about 20 seconds to make it easy to spread). Then tomato sauce (pizza sauce), cheese, toppings, and more cheese.
Yum! That sounds delicious!
Sooooo Good ! !
We had this for dinner tonight. Husband, at first, was a bit askance.
Quickly decided it was delicious.
Approval Rating 10 out of 10 !
Yay.
Yay!!! Glad he liked it 🙂
This looks great! I’m hoping to make these for SuperBowl this weekend. Any ideas on how to keep it warm for awhile? I like to lay out a spread so guests can nibble throughout the whole game.
Hi Chad, the best suggestion I can come up with is to wrap them in foil after they come out of the oven. You could serve serve one and leave the rest wrapped in foil ready to be opened up once the first batch is gone. Just make sure not to press the foil down onto the cheesy top so it doesn’t pull the cheese off when you unwrap it.