An Inspired Cook

Spinach Artichoke Pizza is one of my favorites.  Instead of layering pizza toppings, I make what I call “The Mix” which is a blend of spinach, artichokes, cheese, garlic, green onion and a dry Italian herb blend.  From there you can add additional toppings but the mix makes this pizza easy and flavorful.  And there’s no sauce for this pizza, instead I like to add fresh, roasted, or sun dried tomatoes.  Tonight we made several different pizza’s but the favorite was topped with cream cheese and grilled chicken which tasted like spinach artichoke dip.  I’m sure you will agree!

These are the ingredients to make the spinach artichoke mix.  It will keep in the fridge for several days so you can make it up ahead and have pizza in minutes.

You can use a bag of spinach but I prefer to buy a bundle of the large spinach leaves.  They will need to be rinsed and run through a salad spinner to get rid of the excess water.  Finely chop the bundle of spinach and place in a large bowl.

Here’s a big bowl filled with the chopped spinach.

Drain the artichokes from the can and cut into smaller bites.  I like the quartered artichoke hearts that come in a can rather than the marinated artichokes.

Add the artichokes, green onion and italian herb blend to the bowl of spinach.

Time to add the grated cheese.  Gently mix it in with tongs so that the cheese will not clump together.

Since I am using sun dried tomatoes tonight, I’m going ahead and adding to the mix, however if I were to want fresh or roasted tomatoes I would add those to the pizza as a topping.  Fresh and roasted tomatoes will make the spinach artichoke mixture soggy so leave those separate until time to bake the pizza.

You want it to look like a tossed salad with all the ingredients evenly mixed.

Just adding a little salt.  We are cutting back on the salt intake so I only add a pinch, but you go ahead and salt to your taste.

I made a batch of flatbreads, 8 in all but we are only making 3 pizza’s now.  I put a layer of the mix directly on the flatbread.  Both the flatbreads and spinach artichoke mixture will keep in the refrigerator so you can make a pizza in minutes.

Now it’s time to put your toppings on.  If you like the spinach artichoke dip idea, place little dollops of cream cheese on top.  They will melt right along with the cheese and have a creamy taste.

Cameron wanted fresh tomatoes so we diced a roma tomato and added over the top along with some grilled chicken.

Once you have topped your pizza, drizzle olive oil over the top. Place in the oven at 425 degrees for 7 – 8 minutes or until cheese has melted and crust is crisp.

The cheese has melted and the crust is ready.  This one had grilled chicken.




The fresh tomatoes were a big hit on this pizza too.  Time to eat!





Spinach Artichoke Pizza

Spinach Artichoke Mix
1 bundle fresh spinach,  rinsed and run through salad spinner
1 can quartered Artichoke Hearts, diced into bite size pieces
1 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, sliced
1 8 ounce pkg Mozzarella Cheese, coarsely grated
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
2 teaspoons Tuscan Sunset (or other dry Italian Herb blend)
2 cloves Garlic, grated on microplane hand grater
8 Flatbreads, Naan, or Pizza Dough
Your choice of toppings such as grilled chicken, fresh diced tomatoes, roasted tomatoes, cream cheese, mushrooms, red onion, red pepper.

Finely chop the spinach and set aside in a large bowl. Add the diced artichoke hearts, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, Italian herb blend and garlic. Gently toss with tongs until the mix is evenly blended.

Place a small layer of spinach artichoke mixture over flatbreads, top with favorite toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 7 – 8 minutes, or until cheese has melted and crust is crisp.

Note** The spinach artichoke mix will last in the refrigerator for several days.  Fresh or roasted tomatoes should be added to the pizza as a topping instead of adding to the mix because they will not keep fresh and the mix will turn soggy.  However, sun dried tomatoes can be added to the mix if desired.