White Pie with Italian Sausage and Homemade Pesto

Three cheeses, crumbled Italian sausage, and a from-scratch pesto drizzled on after the bake. Green on white done right.

Time: 8 min | Yield: 1 pizzas | Difficulty: Intermediate | Serves: 3 | Published: 2026-07-24

Although I will occasionally put pesto on a pizza pre-bake, it really should be reserved for post-bake application most of the time. Baked pesto turns dark, dull, and bitter. Fresh pesto on a hot pie stays vivid, perfumed, and tastes like summer.

The pie itself is a three-cheese white base (low-moisture mozz, fresh mozz, fontina) with a heavy cream drizzle and a quarter pound of Italian sausage. Cook the sausage about halfway before it goes on, it finishes in the oven and renders its fat into the cheese instead of pooling grease.

The pesto recipe here makes it two ways: pulse it chunky for spooning, or add the cream and run it smooth for a drizzle bottle. Either way, it hits the pie after the oven, never before.

Ingredients

Pizza

Pesto

Directions

  1. Refer to one of my posted dough recipes. You can make this pizza any style you want. Pizza
  2. Lay down low moisture mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, and fontina as the base layer. 1 ½ cups shredded low moisture mozzarella, ¾ cup cubed fresh mozzarella, 1 cup fontina
  3. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream over the cheese.
  4. Evenly spread the sausage over the pizza. I often use small chunks of raw sausage but you can partially cook yours before putting on. Just don't cook all the way through or it will dry out too much.
  5. Sprinkle a layer of pecorino romano evenly over the top
  6. Bake for 8 minutes on a stone or steel at 500-550 degrees. Optional: broil for an additional minute at the end.
  7. Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. lemon, 1 tbs water, 2 cups basil, 1 garlic clove, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper
    You'll know it's right: Chunky version: pulse until chopped and combined but still textured. You should see distinct flecks of basil and pine nut.
  8. For chunky pesto, omit the cream. Pulse until it's thoroughly chopped and mixed together.
  9. For thinner pesto to drizzle without clogging a bottle spout, add the cream and run until completely smooth
    You'll know it's right: Smooth version: with the cream added it should pour off a spoon in a ribbon, that's drizzle-bottle consistency.
  10. When the pizza is done baking, add Reggiano and the pesto however you'd like
    You'll know it's right: Pesto and Reggiano go on the finished pie. If the pesto sizzles when it lands, you waited the right amount of time, on hot, not IN hot.
  11. ENJOY!

Troubleshooting

Pesto turned dark and bitter

It went on before the bake. After. Always after. 550°F murders fresh basil, the pesto lands on the finished pie.

Greasy pizza

Big pieces of fatty sausage flooding one zone. Small chunks, spread evenly, raw is fine and stays juicy. If yours is extra fatty, a partial cook in the pan lets you leave some fat behind, just never cook it through before the bake.

Pesto was too thick to drizzle

Skipped the cream and water adjustments. For a drizzle, add the cream and run it smooth. Chunky is for spooning, smooth is for bottles, the recipe covers both.

Pesto tasted harsh

Raw garlic overload or oxidized basil. One clove is enough, and blend just until combined. Over-processing heats and darkens the basil.

White base was bland under the toppings

Skipped the pecorino layer. That even pecorino layer before the bake is the seasoning backbone of a white pie. Don't skip it.

Nutrition (2 slices (1/4 of a 14-inch pie)): 450 calories, 20g protein, 36g carbs, 25g fat.