Beetroot and Feta Pizza

When time slips through our fingers, we turn to simple, reliable recipes that we know taste great. These are the dishes celebrity chef and author (and winner of The Great British Bake Off 2015) Nadiya Hussain highlights in her Netflix show Nadiya’s Time to Eat.”

One recipe that particularly stood out to pizza hobbyist and Munich-based Ooni Ambassador Julia Ma (@manopasto) was Nadiya’s beetroot and feta pasta. It’s super quick to prepare, tastes delicious and — thanks to the eye-catching beetroot color — it looks as good as it tastes!

Adapting pasta recipes to pizza is a great way to experiment with existing flavor combinations. Classic pastas like carbonara and spaghetti alla puttanesca translate into delicious pies, and Nadiya’s beetroot and feta pasta is no exception. For this recipe, Julia uses a blind bake technique (a method where you pre-cook a pizza base before applying toppings), putting the beetroot sauce and cheese on post-cook. This brings out the fresh flavor of the beetroot sauce and the feta — which adds a salty, tangy kick.

You might be left with extra sauce after baking your pizza — so if you want to, put it back onto pasta! All you need to make this recipe is a blender, smoothie maker or food processor (whatever you have available). In addition to being simple, it’s also light and healthy.

Pizza topped with beetroot and feta on top of a wooden pizza peel

Note

  • For the blind bake, Julia uses a 9-inch steel pizza plate, which she puts on top of the pizza before launching it into the oven. If you don’t have a steel plate, you can top the dough with ice instead. See this technique in action here.
  • Julia Ma has been working with pizza since 2016, and she started her own blog, Manopasto, in 2020. Her favorite pizza types include Neapolitan, Roman and various American styles.